Apple Pie Quick Bread

October 7, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 192 Comments

The sweet flavors of apple pie transformed into a healthy gluten-free vegan quick bread! This apple pie quick bread recipe is the perfect autumn breakfast, snack, or even dessert!

I love quick breads! They’re so easy to make; from the classics of banana, zucchini, or pumpkin bread, the flavor options are endless. So when I found myself with a nice batch of fresh homemade applesauce, an apple quick bread was the first thing that popped into my mind! I wanted to make something special with that applesauce and not just eat it all before I could actually “use” it!

I made a good decision with this bread and was able to use my applesauce in two ways. Directly in the bread and as that lovely topping you see running down the middle of the loaf. That topping was the inspiration for the whole bread. I thought of that before I even began baking. That led me to thinking of apple pie and how this bread reminded me of an apple pie.

If ya’ll remember though, I’m not the biggest fan of pie. Except for maybe this specific “pumpkin pie“, o and these “portable” pie bites. I really don’t like apple pie. I’ve never liked apples cooked and baked like that. The chunkiness of slimy apple cuts in an apple pie just has no appeal to me. So by using my applesauce, which is smooth and lovely, not slimy gelatinous chunks of apple, I fixed that problem. The smooth applesauce acted as part of my vegan “egg:, oil, and sweetener in the bread, and the lovely topping.

I also tried something new in this bread. A psyllium husk “egg”! I never used psyllium husk powder in my baking before, but so many vegan and gluten-free baker do, so I though I’d finally try it myself. Now it may be my favorite binder to use in baked goods! The psyllium worked wonders in the texture, hold, and crumb of this bread! The bread held up so well, was not soggy and sad, and was the perfect density! The trick with the powder though is mixing it with water the second before you put it in the actual batter you are making. Otherwise, it forms in to a thick ball that isn’t easily broken up if you aren’t using an electric mixer.

And will it (not) surprise you that I enjoyed this bread for breakfast? Okay, and at dinner, but it was so delicious! In my opinion this was gluten-free vegan quick bread perfection (my mom agreed as well). I think that’s enough for me to stick to breads and not pies. I haven’t even had my favorite pie in 2 or 3 years now, being away at school and all during the holidays. I do plan on making pie again, probably “redoing” the recipe a bit too. There’s plenty of pie-baking months ahead though, all in due time!

O I remembered something! Another pie I loved, my whole family loved, years ago was from Costco! They make the best pumpkin pies, but I think we also enjoyed the Entenmann’s pumpkin pie before we discovered Costco. Needless to say, never homemade, but needless to say now, always and forever homemade. Homemade by me 😉

Apple Pie Quick Bread