Apple Fritter Loaf

As the month of August ends, apple season begins. A much welcome sign foreshadowing the arrival of fall and the return of applesauce making and the apple baking season. In the next couple of weeks we will take a drive up to our favorite apple orchard to pick a couple of bushels of Honey Crisp Apples. In addition to making Homemade Applesauce, there will be a number of apple desserts and savory bites going into rotation. Joining the Apple Crisp, Apple Fritter Skillet Cake, Apple Fritter Cake, Caramel Apple Dutch Babies, and Cinnamon and Apple Crumble family this year will be this scrumptious, spiced, moist Apple Fritter Loaf. Having all of the flavors of apple fritters but taking only half of the work makes this the easiest, most crowd pleasing way to satisfy an apple fritter craving. 

Other than warm cinnamon sugar coated Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts, there may be no other dessert better at capturing our cravings for the seasonal flavor of apples. When chunks of apples tossed in cinnamon and brown sugar are combined with layers of a sweet brown sugar-cinnamon mixture and a buttery, moist cake, the result is the most flavorful, gorgeous quick bread. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a mid-day snack, a thick slice of this Apple Fritter Loaf may be one of the most tempting, irresistible, droolworthy things you can make for your family and friends. 

Other than allowing time for your butter and eggs to come to room temperature (I take mine out the night before), this isn't one of those recipes requiring a significant amount of preparation time. The entire loaf comes together in less than thirty minutes (maybe even closer to twenty) and bakes for somewhere between 55 and 65 minutes. 

In addition to the Honey Crisp Apples, the cinnamon and dark brown sugar are what makes this Apple Fritter so incredibly flavorful. The dark brown sugar gives this loaf a depth of flavor (with nots of caramel and toffee) light brown sugar just can't.While many will say it's okay to swap out the dark brown sugar with light brown sugar, I am very reluctant to tell you it's okay in this particular recipe. 

The layers of apples and dark brown sugar mixtures is what gives the loaf its' gorgeous dark stripes. In order to achieve a loaf with discernible layers of lusciousness, each component of the loaf is divided in half. 

Baking time for the Apple Fritter Loaf is somewhere between 55 and 65 minutes. For that hour your kitchen will be swimming blissfully in the heavenly, intoxicating aromas of cinnamon, apples and dark brown sugar. 

The key to making the perfect loaf is to neither over nor under bake this loaf. Begin checking for doneness at 50 minutes by inserting a long toothpick or skewer into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean or with very few crumbs, your loaf is done. Allow the loaf to rest in the pan for thirty minutes before you drizzle on the icing.

The confectionary icing truly is the literal and proverbial icing on the loaf. The sweetness and creaminess of the icing compliments and contrasts perfectly with the dense, spiced loaf. 

Cut this Apple Fritter into thick, hefty (almost 3/4") slices for the absolutely best eating experience. This is not one of those cut into thin slice kind of loaf. 

Bringing on the smells and flavors of fall in late August is one of the best decisions you can make! Sure you can wait until September to make this Apple Fritter Loaf if you are one of those delayed gratification kind of people. But there is much to be said about living in the moment. And the moment of apple season has arrived.

Recipe

Apple Fritter Loaf

Makes one loaf

Ingredients

Apple Mixture

2 cups (1 pound/454g) Honey Crisp Apples, peeled, cored, and cut into a small 1/4'-1/3" dice (about 4 small or 2 large apples) - See notes

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sugar Mixture

1/2 cup (100g) dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Batter

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (134g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups (210g) all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Pinch of nutmeg

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup (80g) sour cream

Icing

3/4 cup (90g) confectionary sugar, sifted

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of Kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a metal 8" x 4"pan with parchment paper. Butter paper and sides of pan not covered by the paper. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the apples, dark brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the dark brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter for approximately one minute.

5. Add in the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes).

6. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

7. Beat in the vanilla.

8. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Kosher salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

9 .In a small-medium bowl, whisk together the milk and sour cream.

10. Add half of the flour mixture to the batter. Mix until blended.

11. Add half of milk-sour cream mixture to the batter. Mix until blended.

12. Repeat adding in the remaining flour and milk-sour cream mixture. Beat until well blended.

13. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.

14. Evenly top with half of the apple mixture. Note: Do not add the liquid released from the apples.

15. Evenly top with half of the sugar mixture.

16. Repeat with remaining batter, apples and sugar mixture.

17. Place the baking pan on a baking sheet. Insert into oven and bake for 55-65 minutes our until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Note: My baking time was closer to 65 minutes and I rotated the pan midway through the baking process.

18. Remove from the oven. Let the Apple Fritter Loaf remain in the pan for 30 minutes.

19. Whisk together the icing ingredients (confectionary sugar, milk, vanilla and Kosher salt). Note: If your icing is too thick, add slightly more milk.

20. Remove the loaf from the pan. Drizzle the loaf with the icing.

21. Let the icing set and cake cool for another 30 minutes before slicing with a serrated knife.

22. Serve and enjoy. 

23. Store any leftover loaf in the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Note: The loaf was incredibly delicious on the day it was baked and equally, if not a tad more delicious the next day. So if you want to serve it for breakfast, you can make it the night before.

Notes: (1) Weight of the apples was before peeling and coring. (2) I love the flavor of baked Honey Crisp Apples. If you wanted a sweet, slightly tart Apple Fritter Loaf, use half Honey Crisp Apples and half Granny Smith Apples. But cut your Granny Smith apples into a slightly smaller dice.

Levain Style Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

 

Two weeks ago I had my very first bake sale! The motivation for having the bake sale was to raise money for PAWS, my nephew's marathon charity. Our bake sale was hugely successful thanks in large part to the generosity of the runners in the marathon training running group. Next to spending an entire day baking and packaging everything up, deciding on what cookies and confections to make was my second biggest challenge. Our predictions on which items would sell out first completely missed the mark. In a last minute decision I decided to make two batches of the Levain Style Lemon Cookies. Turns out, those were the cookies that sold out first! I shouldn't have been surprised because there is something very appealing about a perfectly golden brown, humungous cookie. Which is why I decided I needed to create my version of Levain's Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies. 

In spite of having numerous recipes for chocolate chip cookies on the blog, only one other contains coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts. Additionally, the size, texture, taste, and look of these cookies are nothing like anything I have ever shared with you before. Had I brought these cookies to the bake sale, they might have given the Lemon Cookies a run for their money.

If chocolate chip cookie are one of your favorites, you absolutely want to have this almost too pretty to eat version in your repertoire. 

This version of a chocolate chip calls for using chocolate chips and not chopped chocolate. Buy either good quality semisweet or dark chocolate chips. Chips made by Guittard or Gharadelli are my favorites. 

The cookie recipe calls for two kinds of flour: all-purpose flour and cake flour. Cake flour when combined with all-purpose flour helps to create a more tender crumb, a melt in your mouth texture, and a thick without being cakey cookie. Unlike some other more traditional chocolate chip cookies, the dough is made with only one large egg and one large egg yolk. Save the extra egg white for your morning scrambled eggs. 

I used only light brown sugar, but you easily replace a couple of tablespoons of the light brown sugar with the dark brown sugar. Even a little bit of dark brown sugar will give your cookies a hint of molasses flavor.

Instead of dividing the dough into 8 equal portions, I divided it into 9 equal portions instead. The size of each baked cookie was still substantial enough. I would be reluctant to make these cookies any smaller as they would lose their 'Levain-style' look and eating experience.

The dough should be chilled for at least 60 to 90 minutes, however, it can also be chilled overnight. 

Baking the cookies at the slightly higher temperature of 375 degrees (F) helps to shock and prevent them from spreading too too much. You want the finished cookie to be hefty in appearance. 

The biggest challenge in making the cookies is determining their doneness. Particularly being careful in not under baking or over baking them. They should be golden brown along the edges and allowed to rest on the hot baking sheet for at least 10 minutes when they come out of the oven. If this is the first time making them, I recommend bake just one cookie to start. This will help you gauge the right amount of time they need to spend in the oven.

A light sprinkling of flaky sea salt on the balls of dough before they go into the oven is optional, but it helps to further ramp up the cookie's overall flavor.

Levain style cookies are my newest, latest obsession. And these Levain Style Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies are my newest chocolate chip cookie obsession. No, I am not abandoning my favorite Jacques Torres Style Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. But if I wanted to sell, bring, or serve some 'eye-popping' chocolate chip cookies, I would make these Levain Style Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies. They are as irresistible and impressive as they are delicious. To use an Olympic analogy, they are gold medal worthy cookies.

Recipe

Levain Style Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

Makes 9 humungous, gorgeous cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar

2/3 cup (134g) light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 Tablespoon good quality vanilla

2 1/4 cups (293g) all-purpose, unbleached flour

1 cup (118g) cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

12 ounces (340g) semisweet chocolate chips (e.g., Guittard or Gharadelli)

1 1/4 cups (125g) walnut halves, toasted and coarsely chopped

Flaky Sea Salt

Directions

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter for approximately 1 minute.

2. Add in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat until light and fluffy (approximately 4 minutes).

3. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat until well blended.

4.In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and Kosher salt. Add in the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Beat on low-medium speed until the dry ingredients are almost all incorporated.

5. Add in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix until completely blended (and no white streaks of flour remain).

6. Roll in 9 balls, slightly more than 5 ounces (164-168g) each. Break each ball in half and press sides into each other to create a round ball with a top of the craggle-y edges.

7. Place balls of dough onto a platter or baking sheet. Cover and chill for 60-90 minutes or overnight.

8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).

9. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Note: You will bake only one sheet at a time (unless you have a double oven).

10. Place 4 or 5 balls of dough on a baking sheet, spacing more than 2 inches apart. Lightly sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Note: Do not bake up more than 5 balls of dough on a single baking sheet.

11. Turn a baking sheet upside down. Place the baking sheet with the balls of dough on top of it. Insert both of them onto the middle rack of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Note: Rotate the baking sheet midway through the baking process and check for doneness at the 16 minute mark.

12. Remove from the oven and let the cookies remain on the hot cookie sheet for at least 8 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

13. Bake the remaining cookie sheet.

14. Let the cookies cool before eating. Note: If you are gifting them or selling a bake sale, package the completely cooled cookies in a cellophane bag and tie rightly with ribbon or string. Do not wrap in 'plastic' bags as the cookies will lose their crispness.

15. Store the baked cookies at room temperature. Ideally, store them individually wrapped in a cellophane bag or waxed bag. To recreate the just out of the oven taste, reheat the cookies in the microwave at high for 8-10 seconds.

Notes: (1) There is another version of a Levain Style Chocolate Chip Cookie. There are differences between that recipe and this one. Both are good, but I am partial to this one now. (2) To make a milk chocolate chip cookie version, eliminate the semisweet chocolate chips and walnuts. Replace with 16 ounces (453g) milk chocolate chips. I highly recommend using Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips. (3) Cookies that were chilled overnight baked up slightly faster than the ones chilled only for 60-90 minutes. (4) To toast your walnut halves, put them on a baking sheet and bake in.preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Transfer the toasted walnuts to a cutting board to cool before chopping.