Washington Apple Bread with Streusel Topping

Today's recipe comes from Cooking in Style THE COSTCO WAY and can be found on page 192. I must admit that I'm cheating a little with this recipe since I'm pretty sure I've made it before, but it has been so long that I can't remember how it turned out. Also, I made an alteration on the fat source, so technically it is a different recipe! Here it is:

APPLE BREAD
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened *
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped

STREUSEL TOPPING
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar*

Preheat oven to 350 F.
To prepare the topping, combine flour, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Set aside.
To prepare the bread, combing flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until moistened. Add apples and stir gently to combine.
Spoon half of the batter into a buttered 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with half of the topping. Spoon remaining batter into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining topping. Finish by sprinkling evenly with brown sugar.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the pan and set on a rack to cool.
Makes 10 servings.

*I used 1/4 cup of butter and a 1/4 cup of unsweetened plain applesauce in an attempt to make it a bit healthier. Also, I did not read the instructions carefully enough, so I accidentally added the brown sugar in with the other topping ingredients. This alterations are likely to result in a slightly different bread than the original that I have posted above.

So, everything was going good, looking good, and smelling good... that was until I tried to get it out of the pan. Oops, I've never been very good at that particular step. Thankfully, messy looking sweet bread tastes the same as perfect looking bread... guess I'll just have to serve it in the bottom of a bowl of ice cream to disguise the mishap! :)

As far as a review of the bread with the alterations, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 meaning that it was good and I'd make it again, but I'm sure there are better recipes out there. According to our neighbor who came over and shared some with us, she says it deserves an "A++" (thanks Marti, but I think you were being a little too nice with that rating). Craig gave the bread a 4 out of five.

It should be noted that this tastes exceptionally good served warm with a little ice cream on top of it. I think the next time I try it I'll use half wheat flour, half white flour, I think it would make for a nice taste and texture.