Taking your average, basically beautiful banana bread and giving it a fall twist via some fresh apple cider and a freshly grated apple. Moist and much more nuanced in taste, this is the banana bread to make for the season.
Taking your average, basically beautiful banana bread and giving it a fall twist via some fresh apple cider and a freshly grated apple. Moist and much more nuanced in taste, this is the banana bread to make for the season.
Even if in its very basic form banana bread is perfect, I think it’s fun to add twists here and there. Like a pumpkin banana bread, or a chocolate, or a hazelnut. For this one I wanted something that had a zing of fall in it. With both fresh cider and a fresh grated apple, this apple cider banana bread this one is so much more ‘fall’ like than your year round bb. I also think the cider adds this depth to the taste and curbs the overly sweetness of a basic banana bread.
Bananas: Very ripe! The softer, the mushier the better. Maybe avoid the ones that are black though.
Apple: Grate it right after you mash the bananas or it’ll go brown. Any apple that’s good for baking will do. Get a large one. The apple’s function here is to add moisture to the bread (the cider tends to dry it out a bit so this compensates). No need to skin the apple ahead of time, you wont notice the skin once it’s baked.
Fresh apple cider: unfiltered apple juice, it’s dark and cloudy and definitely not apple juice and absolutely not apple cider vinegar. These jugs are available in the fall in the US in the fridges of most grocery stores.
Mulling spices: you can either buy these in packs (or jars) or add your own. It’s basically cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and ginger. You can also skip them for less of a spiced taste.
Brown sugar: I never use granulated sugar in my banana bread as I think that molasses addition is part of what gives it that iconic flavor. Light or dark is fine.
Canola oil: or any oil that is flavorless. Don’t use butter here, oil is best for fruit-based cakes.
Flour: all purpose. This one is a really moist bread so it lends itself well to a flour swap, if you wanted to add something like oat flour or white whole wheat swap 1 cup of the ap for either of those.
It’s fresh cider that is boiled (with mulling spices, if desired) to remove most of the water. You’ll have a concentrated, very sweet and strong-tasting cider ‘syrup’. Here’s an apple cider cheesecake, an apple cider caramel, cider marshmallows and an ice cream and the best apple muffins. I got all the cider inspo here lol.
How do I make an apple cider reduction?
Get some fresh cider, pour it into a deep pot and boil it on high for about an hour or more (depending on how much you are reducing).
Can I make the apple cider syrup ahead of time?
Yep! Store it in a sealed mason jar in the fridge and it’ll last weeks.
Can I use a different apple?
Any apple that is good for baking: honeycrisp, pink lady, junagold…etc.
Can I use more or less cinnamon?
As much as you like as well as any other spices that you want.
How should I store this apple cider banana bread?
Airtight container to keep its moisture level.
Can I make apple cider banana bread ahead of time?
Yep, as with all fruit based cakes this one stays good for awhile (and even better the next day).
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This was such a fun fall twist on banana bread, so glad I tried it out! I used a grated Courtland apple since that’s what I had on hand, and subbed 100 g of the AP flour for whole wheat flour. The final result was moist and perfect!
P.S. I noticed while I was making this that the pecans shown in the step by step photos are not mentioned in the recipe, I added about 1/2 c chopped toasted pecans at the end
Abi, thank you for the review! Will make a note on the pecans.
This is such a nice twist on a classic banana bread! Thanks for the yummy recipe!
This sounds so delicious! By large loaf pan do you mean a 9×5 (1.25 lb) or even larger?
Hi Abi! 9×5 is fine. Some loaf pans run as small as 7×3 and the batter won’t fit in there.
love these twists, makes it so much more interesting and as you write, adds some needed moisture since to me plain old banana bread can usually need some moisture and it needs some help in the visual department to elevate it a bit beyond just a plain loaf, so thank you for this wonderful twist!