Apple Crumble Bread

All year round favorite, apple crumble bead is an easy moist quick bread made with ground cinnamon, brown sugar, maple syrup, and juicy apples. It is topped off in the most delicious crumble topping.

If you love apples, this apple bread recipe is just for YOU. So enjoy the perfect breakfast with this yummy bread and slathered butter.

The cinnamon and nutmeg spices will have you in the whole spirit for all favorite autumnal changes.

The caramel flavor of brown sugar pairs perfectly with sweet apples, seasonal warm spices, and cinnamon crumb topping.

Honestly, this sweet bread has the best crumb ever. Since I am a big fan of toppings, I often experiment with streusel ingredients. And I think this recipe's combo makes an extremely nice crunch.

I love the most about this crumbled bread recipe because it is so versatile.

It makes a quick breakfast, afternoon snack, or delicious dessert. To make it even fancier, top a slice of this easy apple loaf off with your favorite ice cream or salted caramel sauce.

Moreover, the recipe is fully customizable, and I will show you how to make more than just this apple crumble bread!

Replace grated apples with mashed ripe bananas and make a moist Banana Bread recipe. Or enjoy another fall favorite - Pumpkin Streusel Bread.

Jump to:

• Why you shoud try this recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make crumble bread
• Recipe variations
• Storage instructions
• Expert tips
• Frequently asked questions
• Love quick bread recipes? Try these next!
• Recipe card
• Comments

Why you shoud try this recipe

1. This crumb bread recipe is easy and affordable to make. It calls for only basic ingredients.
2. It is a perfect recipe to make with kids: they love to make the crumble. Yes, they squeeze it and press it to the batter as much as they can!
3. Apple bread with crumb topping is one of the most famous fall recipes. It is the best to celebrate apple season.
4. It is moist and crunchy, yummy and delicious.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Butter: use unsalted butter to make brown butter (beurre noisette in French) and salted butter to make the crumb topping.

Brown sugar: the recipe calls for golden brown sugar, but feel free to use muscovado sugar (for the deeper caramel flavor and taste) or white granulated sugar.

Eggs: use large eggs at room temperature.

Flour: this quick bread is made with all-purpose flour, but you can replace it with whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free flour.

Baking powder: use fresh aluminum-free baking powder (not baking soda).

Cinnamon: use ground cinnamon that pairs beautifully with apples.

Apples: they are the stars of the apple crumble loaf. Use fresh apples (you will need about 2 medium-sized apples), with peel or without the peel.

The recipe calls for grated apples, but you can replace half of the grated apples with diced apples.

I don't recommend making the recipe with only diced apples. The batter is too think to incorporate them.

Maple syrup: it is a lovely addition to this quick bread recipe. Replace it with golden syrup if desired.

Icing sugar: make it yourself with a coffee grinder or buy powdered sugar.

Toasted hazelnuts: these nuts are used to make a crunchy topping with a distinct nutty flavor.

To toast hazelnuts at home, heat the oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees C and toast nuts for 15 minutes.

Chop nuts with a knife or pulse them in a food processor until the desired size.

How to make crumble bread

Start by preparing the streusel topping. To do this, mix in a medium bowl brown sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, and salted butter (cold!), cut into small pieces, and chop toasted hazelnuts.

Mix with your fingers to obtain the moist crumbs that resemble coarse wet sand. Reserve in the fridge.

Next, make the brown butter. Place the unsalted butter in a small saucepan, and heat it on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

The melted butter will go through the foaming stage; then, it will turn out to be brown with little brown flecks and a nutty flavor.

Pour brown butter (with solids) into a small bowl to stop cooking. Let it cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees C. Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch silicone loaf pan or 23 x 13 cm baking pan. Make sure to read about baking with silicone molds.

To make the bread batter, pour the brown butter into a large mixing bowl, add sugar, and beat with an electric mixer for 1 to 2 minutes.

Next, add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, spices, and salt in a separate bowl and sift dry ingredients.

Add flour mixture to the principal preparation and gently mix with a rubber spatula.

Grate the unpeeled apples (no need to wring them out) and add them to the batter. Mix just to combine. Add maple syrup and gently mix.

Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Take the crumble out of the refrigerator and sprinkle the streusel on top. Lightly press the crumb topping to adhere to the batter.

Bake the bread for 80 to 90 minutes. Then, insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf: if it comes out clean, the bread is ready.

Let the sweet bread rest in the pan for 30 minutes. Then remove it and let it cool on a wire rack.

Dust the cooled loaf with a little bit of icing (powdered) sugar if desired.

Recipe variations

Versatile bread? You bet! This crumble bread recipe can be used in so many different ways that you will never get bored of the possibilities.

If you want to make a healthier version of the bread, use whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free flour instead of all-purpose flour. You could also mix whole wheat and all-purpose flour as 1:1.

To bring even deeper caramel flavor to apple crumble bread, replace brown sugar with light or dark brown muscovado sugar. Or simply use white sugar if you are not a fan of caramel flavor.

This quick bread is moist enough, but you can make it even moister by swapping butter with flavorless grapeseed oil, avocado oil, or healthier alternative - coconut oil.

For 3.5 oz. or 100 g butter, you should use ⅓ cup or 80 g vegetable oil; use coconut oil at a 1:1 ratio to replace butter.

Olive oil has a strong flavor, and I don't usually recommend it for making desserts. However, it is perfect in some recipes like this Apple And Olive Oil Cake.

Want to play with add-ins? Try to add a few chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds. Dried fruit such as cranberries or raisins would be lovely too.

But use add-ins in moderation, no more than ¼ to ⅓ cup. Otherwise, the butter will overflow the loaf pan during baking!

Add fresh orange or lemon zest if you love citrus notes in the baked goods.

Finally, how to choose apples to make fresh apple bread. You can use one type of apple or mix two varieties of apples, for example, sweet Honey Crisp and tangy Granny Smith apples.

Use Jonagold and Honeycrisp apples if you like things sweeter, or red Cortland apples and yellow Golden Delicious for a nice balance color.

The best way to customize the apple crunch bread is to play with the crumble topping (aka streusel).

While it is made with a few ingredients, it is a great way to change up your crumbled bread's flavor, taste, and crispiness.

So don't hesitate to learn how to make the best streusel ever. And if you feel that the crumb topping is not enough to upgrade your bread, drizzle some maple glaze over the top too.

Storage instructions

Store the apple crumble bread at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. You should cover it with plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container.

You can also refrigerate your bread and keep it in the fridge wrapped for up to one week. 

Can you freeze crumbled bread? Yes, you can freeze it as an entire loaf well wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil or a Ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Or slice your bread into apple crumble slices, wrap them up individually and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Expert tips

1. Spray your baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or use parchment paper (leave large edges of paper on the sides of the mold) instead of buttering and flouring the tin.
2. Use 5.3 oz. (150 g) of softened butter (unsalted) to make the bread batter if you want to omit the step of making brown butter. Whisk it with brown sugar for 5 minutes in this case.
3. Use grated apples (as in the recipe) or replace half of the grated apples with pieces of apple. Peel apples or not peel; it is a personal preference.
4. Don't over mix the bread batter: mix ingredients until just combined.
5. Use a fork, two butter knives, or a pastry cutter to make the crumble topping.  
6. Make crumbs bigger or smaller by squeezing the crumb topping mixture in your fingers or by rubbing and fluffing the streusel dough with your hands.

Frequently asked questions

Love quick bread recipes? Try these next!

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.