Monday, August 24, 2009

Apple Treats -- Sweet Potato Apple Bread and Applesauce Spice Bars




Two apple recipes in one week, so I'm doing a double post!

Joy, of Hot Oven, Warm Heart chose Banana Apple Bread for Sweet Melissa Sundays; and Karen, of Something Sweet by Karen chose Applesauce Spice Bars for Tuesdays with Dorie.

Both recipes were delicious, but then I'm a huge apple lover. The spice bars were sweet but still full of apple flavor. And instead of raisins, I added dried cranberries. I did not add the topping to the bars since I thought that they were plenty sweet as is. Instead, I just used a bit of powdered sugar.

I had to make a major change to the bread. The original recipe calls for bananas, but at 3:30am Saturday night--when I was baking, I realized that we had no bananas in the house. In fact, the only fruit we had was apples. (Yes, I definitely need to do some grocery shopping.) So, I took a big chance and substituted cooked sweet potato for the banana. I'm so glad I did because the apple-sweet potato combination was amazing! The bread stayed nice and moist, and almost tasted like a sweet potato pie--which is one of my favorites. I love when an emergency substitution works out well. I followed the recipe exactly, but just used the same amount of mashed, cooked sweet potato in place of the banana.

Here is the recipe for the applesauce bars:
http://somethingsweetbykaren.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/tuesdays-with-dorie-applesauce-spice-bars/#comment-2007

Here is the recipe for the banana apple bread: http://hotovenwarmheart.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/sms-moms-banana-apple-bread/#comment-233

You can find all the Sweet Melissa bakers here: http://sweetmelissasundays.wordpress.com/bakers/

And the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers here: http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

6 comments:

  1. That actually sounds wonderful! I love sweet potato bread and I'm sure the apples tasted wonderful in it.

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  2. apple and sweet potato? Sounds interesting and I'm glad it worked out for you!

    <3

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  3. I'm happy I saw that sweet potato worked so well since I didn't really like the banana taste in this bread, but I loved the apples. Brilliant idea, Michele!

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  4. Hi Michele!

    Thank you so much for baking along with me this week! I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe, even with your on-the-fly FANTASTIC substitution! Never in a million years would I have thought of adding mashed sweet potatoes, but that is such a smart idea and a wonderful way to change up this recipe seasonally. Your version SCREAMS fall, and I think I'll definitely be giving it a try this coming November around the holidays. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to stop by and comment sooner- I’ve been really under the weather for the past two weeks, so unfortunately I haven’t been on the computer too much… but I’m glad I had the chance to see what you did with your bread. I LOVE your creativity and I really admire your adventurous attitude in the kitchen!

    I hope you’re doing well- have a great rest of your week! Hope to hear from you again soon!

    <3,
    Joy

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  5. Sounds delicious with the sweet potato!
    Very creative!

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  6. Both look great! Sweet potato sounds interesting and delicious.

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