I finally had to bring my basil plants indoors last night. Here we are, mid-November, and it is only now getting into the freezing range of temperatures at night. Being on the third floor of an apartment building, my heat has barely kicked on this fall. Yay heat rising (although not fun for the summer months ). It also means that I can bake like crazy and enjoy the extra heat coming from the oven. Why not just bake all day and then your heater will be rendered completely useless! Someone should look into the price differential between oven-heating and central heating. I bet central wins for least expensive, but I’m going to ignore that fact and continue staying warm in front of the oven. Let’s bake!

Chopped Caramel Apple Milky Way candy bars were actually used in this recipe and not the regular candy bars, as implied in the title. Yea, I kind of lied to you about what you’re reading about today. But since that flavor candy bar is seasonal I left the description out for those of you who did not get your hands on a bag post-Halloween sale. I suppose you could use regular Milky Way candy bars, but I just had the Caramel Apple ones to use up after making cinnamon roll cupcakes with them, so I did!

Now that I have fully disclosed my deceitful ways, prepare yourself, because this is one sweet bread. I substituted apple butter for the pumpkin originally called for, but didn’t think to reduce the sugar. Thankfully, I have no problem with the sweetness of this bread. Besides, I added some whole wheat flour, which totally makes up for the sugar content O:-).

STREUSEL-TOPPED CHOCOLATE CHIP APPLE BUTTER BREAD

Makes 3 small loaves or one regular loaf

Ingredients:

TOPPING

2-1/2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch salt

BREAD

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup 100% whole wheat

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup apple butter

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

2 oz cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 Tbsp buttermilk

1/2 cup chopped Caramel Apple Milky Way candy bar minis (or regular Milky Ways, or chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. To make the topping: Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and mash together with a fork until the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside while you make the bread batter.
2. To make the bread: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 3 small loaf pans (or one 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan) with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Add the apple butter, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to a large saucepan. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring almost constantly, until the mixture has reduced to about 3/4 cup. Remove the pot from the heat and add both sugars, the canola oil and cream cheese. Stir until combined (but not completely incorporated, there will still be clumps of cream cheese). Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until the mixture is completely homogeneous.
4. Combine the eggs and buttermilk in a large measuring cup and whisk to incorporate. Add to the pumpkin mixture, whisking until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the pan and fold them in with a rubber spatula. Fold in the chopped candy bars.
5. Divide the batter between the prepared loaf pans. Distribute the topping evenly over the loaves. Bake for 35-40 minutes (45-50 for one larger loaf), or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pans to wire racks, and let the bread cool for 20 minutes before turning it out of the pans. Allow to cool for at least 1-1/2 hours before serving.

Source: Halved and adapted slightly from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.