Apple-Cinnamon-Oatmeal Bread, or, Banana Bread without the Bananas

Okay, so I'm pretty fond of making quick breads. Extremely fond. I can make real bread, too, but I don't always have the patience or time for it.

I'd been hankering for some time to try making the Chai-Spiced Apple Oatmeal Bread over at Cheap Healthy Good. However, my recent move to Boston means I'm on a tighter budget and no longer have access to my parents' accumulated baking supplies. I gave it a lot of thought, but I just couldn't justify shelling out 10 bucks for a little jar of cardamom that I only wanted for the one recipe. Nor did I feel like buying honey, as I hardly use that outside of baking recipes that specifically call for it either. I decided to start looking elsewhere for my quick-bread fix, for now-- I'm a fan of adapting recipes to ingredients I have on hand, but I'm pretty sure I shouldn't attempt to make chai-spiced bread without chai spices.

This weekend I just happened to spot a quick-breads cookbook for fifty cents at a thrift store. Just what I needed-- there had to be something in there I could make.

Flipping through it, though, I realized that although the book contained lots of lovely recipes that I will be trying for many years to come, they didn't quite have the recipe I was craving right now. I wanted apples. I wanted oatmeal. Maybe a little spice. But I wanted a savory, hearty, grainy kind of bread, one I could have alongside a thick stew-- not a sweet dessert bread like the recipes for cinnamon-raisin bread or blueberry bread. Pumpkin bread or gingerbread seemed a better choice for autumn. Other intriguing recipes contained lots of ingredients I didn't have on hand, and half the point was to make something without going on an epic and expensive shopping expedition. What was I to do?

That's when I flipped back to the recipe for Old-Fashioned Banana Bread. This one I had mentally ruled out right away. I have an intense aversion to bananas; always have, always will. For whatever reason, bananas are a food I just cannot eat in any capacity.

But being an experienced baker, for an amateur, I know that any fruit puree can work as a substitute for oil or shortening in a recipe: in banana bread, mashed bananas are used, but that doesn't mean you couldn't substitute applesauce if you wanted to. Banana bread without the bananas? Oh, this was sounding good.

Using the banana bread recipe as a reference for amounts and baking time, I cobbled this together with my own inventive flair.

Apple-Cinnamon-Oatmeal Bread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or buttermilk substitute (1/2 teaspoon lemon juice plus enough milk to fill to 1/2 cup mark; let stand)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled or quick oats (not instant)
1 1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened


Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, oat bran, baking powder, white sugar, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy; stir in buttermilk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well.

Stir in oats until combined, then add the brown sugar. Make sure there are no lumps! Add in flour mixture slowly. Finally, beat in the applesauce.

Pour batter into greased and floured 9.5" loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes until edges begin to come away from pan and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Bread will be very hot and steamy; allow to cool or it may fall apart upon cutting. Close your eyes and enjoy.