FALL HARVEST QUICK BREAD

Fall Harvest Quick Bread image

I started making quick breads recently for pot lucks at work, mainly for Thanksgiving and Christmas and moved on to a bread using fall fruits. It's almost more like a coffee cake than a bread, but either way it came out awesome.

Provided by George Levinthal

Time 1h30m

Number Of Ingredients 25

Ingredients

2 large apples, red or green
2 large pears, bosc or bartlett
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c brown sugar
2 Tbsp light rum, or rum flavoring
1 tsp lemon juice
QUICK BREAD
3 c all purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c softened, unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp light rum or rum flavoring
1/2 c plain yogurt, regular or greek
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c dried cherries, soaked in warm water
TOPPING
1 crunchy oat or granola bar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp melted, unsalted butter

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 deg. F. (Note: I set it higher because when you open the oven to put the loaf pans in, the oven looses heat and this will get the oven temp back to 350 when you close the oven door.)
2. Core and peel the apples and dice. Peel the pears, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and dice.
3. Add the pears and the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon zest, and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Lower the heat to medium low, stir in the lemon juice and keep the mixture warm.
4. Add the first 6 quick bread ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
5. In a second bowl cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. You can use an electric mixer or good, old fashioned elbow grease. Mix in the eggs until smooth, followed by the rum, and yogurt.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine thoroughly, but don't over mix. A few lumps are good. Fold in the apple/pear mixture.
7. In a small separate bowl, toss the walnuts and cherries in the tablespoon of flour and then add to the other ingredients and combine.
8. In a small separate bowl, toss the walnuts and cherries in the tablespoon of flour and then add to the other ingredients and combine.
9. Smash up the bars and mix together with the brown sugar and melted butter. Sprinkle over the top of the loaves.
10. Put the loaf pans into the oven, lower the heat to 350 deg. and bake for 55 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. When done, remove from the oven, cool in the pans for 20 to 30 minutes, remove from the pans and continue cooling on a metal cooling rack. Slice and serve warm with butter or topped with ice cream for an awesome dessert.