Apple Loaf with Walnuts and Cranberries

For the first lab we had to do in Food Art was the loaf! Our assignment was to make two loafs (on different days) and to choose the ingredients in them. My group choose the apple (as you can see in the title) as our flavor for the first loaf because I had this urge to eat something apple flavor...and for our mix-ins we had walnuts and cranberries. I think the cranberries didn't really go well with the loaf so if I were to make this next time I wouldn't put it in.

Our end product

The recipe:

Ingredients:  

• 1 Apple (shredded and squeezed dry)
• 185 mL walnuts (chopped)
• 125 mL cranberries (fresh or dried)
• 310 mL flour
• 185 mL sugar
• 5 mL baking powder
• 5 mL salt
• 2 mL baking soda
• 2 mL cinnamon ( you could put lesser if you don't like cinnamon or none at all)
• 1-2 mL of nutmeg (same with the nutmeg)
• 2 eggs
• 125 mL vegetable oil (we used vegetable oil) or butter (melted) or plain yogurt (it doesn't really have to be plain yogurt) or sour cream
• 5 mL vanilla extract
• 5 mL citrus zest (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Lightly butter/spray one 9-by-5 inch loaf pan or three 6-by-3 inch mini pan.
2. Mix in the flour, sugar, baking powder, alt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Add your dry mix-in (walnuts and cranberries) in the flour mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 125 mL of vegetable oil (or the other ingredients that you choose), 5 mL vanilla extract and the citrus zest (optional).
5. Stir in your fruit or vegetable (apple) into the egg mixture.
6. Fold in the egg mixture into the dry mixture until combined.
7. Spread the batter in the prepared pans. Baked until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes for a standard loaf pan and about 35-40 minutes for mini loaf pans.
8. After they are done baking, cool 30 minutes in the pan(s) on a rack and then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

 The glaze:

The glaze is an optional thing for your loaf. For this loaf we made a Brown Butter Glaze which was really simple to do.

Ingredients:  

• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 2 mL of confectioner sugar (which is icing sugar)
• 1 mL of mil

 Method:

1. Brown the 3 tablespoon of butter over low heat; cool slightly. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar and milk. Use immediately!    

 Our product: