Easy Brown Butter Apple Bread Recipe
Another amazing apple recipe for the books! This easy brown butter apple bread recipe is a great addition to your Thanksgiving table, as a sweet treat for a neighbor or a yummy snack on a cozy fall night.
How to Make Brown Butter
- Place your butter in a saucepan and melt butter over medium heat.
- Bring the butter to a low boil and let it simmer until it begins to foam. Turn the heat down if it begins to foam too much.
- Continue to stir until the butter begins to turn brown. You may have a hard time seeing it because the butter will be foamy before it browns. But you will begin to see streams of brown in the foam
- Generally the foam will dissipate as the butter browns, leaving a nutty brown butter perfect to add to pastas and desserts
Tools you’ll need
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Get the full Brown Butter Apple Bread recipe below!
Brown Butter Apple Bread
Ingredients
Bread Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown butter
- 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Sauteed Apples
- 2 cups peeled and chopped apples I like to use Jonagold or Granny Smith apples
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Brown Butter Sauce
- 1/4 cup brown butter
- 2-3 tablespoons reserved sauteed apples
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Brown Butter
- First lets make the brown butter. In a medium saucepan add 1 cup butter (you will use 3/4 cup for the bread and 1/4 cup for the toppign)to the pan. Bring the butter to a boil and continue to stir. The butter will begin to foam, turn the heat down and continue to stir until the butter begins to brown. The butter will have a nice nutty smell to it. Turn off the heat and let it cool while you assemble the rest of this bread.
Saute Apples
- In a medium skillet add your diced apples, maple syrup and cinnamon and saute until they are tender but still with a bit of a bite. Set aside while you make your bread batter.
Apple Bread
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 5 by 9 loaf pan by spraying with nonstick spray or butter. You can also add parchment paper to make it easier to remove from the pan. I like to cut a strip just thinner than the pan and have it long enough to stick up on both ends. This way you can easily use the two ends to pull it out of the pan.
- First, the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, or stand mixer add 3/4 cup of your brown butter and your sugars. Cream them by using a whisk or by using your stand mixer. Add your eggs and continue to mix together.
- Next add your milk, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and combine with the butter mixture.
- Next add the dry ingredients. Add the flour and the baking powder and mix together until combined. Do not overmix or you will develop the gluten and it will make a more tough bread. Mix until just combined.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of your apples and then fold the rest of the apples into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and place on the center rack in your oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is fully cooked. You can use a toothpick to check for doneness.
- Once it is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 20 minutes. If you added parchment paper, you can try to remove it at this point to cool. If not I would wait another 30 minutes before removing it.
Apple Brown Butter Icing
- In a small bowl mix the brown butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and milk. Mix together with a spoon or whisk. If your butter has set up, heat it for a minute to soften it.
- Drizzle the icing over the top
- TIP: Once the bread is cooled its time to add the brown butter icing to the top. Let it drizzle down the sides or whatever you choose. I have also added the icing to the top of the bread while it is in the pan and slightly warm, which allows the icing to soak into the bread a bit making it even better.
- Store leftover bread in the fridge. I have left it on the counter with no issues as well.
- You can also freeze the bread in the freezer and defrost when really to serve it. Add the frosting after it has been defrosted. Do not freeze with the frosting on it.
Imagine grabbing a slice of this and enjoying it by the fire, or with a group of friends, maybe with a nice cup of coffee.
The flavor of the brown butter is so amazing with the apples and the cinnamon. The brown butter adds a nutty, almost caramely toffee flavor. Its insane.
I prefer to eat this at room temperature, when it is soft and tender. If you are a fan of nuts in breads or cakes, you could add walnuts or pecans to the batter as well.
You can store this in an airtight container in the fridge or on the counter if you feel comfortable doing that. I am not suggesting you do, but I have kept it on the counter in my kitchen.
I think it is the best apple bread recipe, and mostly its that brown butter that brings it above and beyond.
Tips
- If you choose you can do 1/2 cup brown butter and 1/4 cup vegetable oil. This tends to make it a bit lighter.
- Add pecans or walnuts to your batter if you like nuts in your breads or cakes.
- You can also use this recipe to make muffins. Simply fill your tins 2/3 full and make for 20 minutes. Brown butter apple muffins are so good.
- If you freeze your bread, wrap it in plastic wrap first. Freeze it without the glaze on. Let is completely thaw before adding the glaze.
This brown butter cinnamon apple bread recipe is one I worked on for a while. The spices go so well with the brown butter. I’ll take this over apple pie anyday!
I have found that many of my recipes coincide with the seasons of our harvest. We are in fill swing with apples in our backyard and I am using them up as much as I can!
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