Caramel Apple Walnut Bread

     Sunday was once again a baking day for me. This time, however, I went with a dessert bread. The original recipe was for a Caramel Apple Bread from Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals. I made a few changes and have to say that I was very pleased with the results. The wife loved it and it's been very well received over on my Facebook page. The bread was moist with a nice crust. What was neat was that the top of the loaf split while cooking, so when the time came to put on the caramel topping, some of it leaked down into the center of the bread.

You can see the caramel running right down the center. It's magical.

     There's a whole lot of changes you can make with this. I imagine you could swap in pears or other firm fruits. Just about any nut could be swapped in or left out if you don't like nuts. As always, I will give you the original recipe with any changes I made or notes in blue.

Caramel Apple Walnut Bread

Ingredients

Batter

• 1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup white sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (I misread the directions and added this in to the batter. It still came out delicious, so no harm, no foul. It's staying in. Now the recipe is mine! Muahahahahaha!)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cup chopped peeled tart apples
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (I didn't have pecans in the house, and the wife wouldn't have let me put them in there even if we did. I used 1/2 cup chopped walnuts instead)

Caramel Glaze

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon fat-free milk (I used 2%. YOLO)

Directions

Batter

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the yogurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla. 
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to yogurt mixture and beat until combined (I totally didn't do it that way. I just threw everything into the yogurt mixture while the Kitchenaid was running. I figure it will all get combined eventually. Whoever said "focus on the journey and not the destination" has clearly never watched me cook.) 
3. Fold in apples and nuts
4. Pour into a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (Mine took 105 minutes. One and three-quarter hours. There could be many reasons for this. Maybe my loaf pan was smaller than requested. Maybe my oven is off kilter. Maybe whoever originally wrote this recipe was drunk at the time. We'll never know. Just keep an eye on it after the suggested baking time. You'll know when it's finally done)
5. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Caramel Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter and milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Cover and cook for 1 minute (how can I possibly stir constantly if I just put the damned lid on? The lid's staying off. I'm not a magician.)
2. Cool slightly (this is needlessly vague. I'm thinking somebody at the publishing company needs a whack in the head. Let cool until it thickens up. It should still be viscous, but not runny. We're looking to be able to spread it with a spatula)
3. Spread over cooled bread. Let stand for 15 minutes.