Cream Cheese Apple Crisp Bread
Layer upon layer of creamy, comforting, fall flavor.
When it comes to loaf breads, I generally think that the ones with a hidden surprise in the middle are the best. I mean, who couldn’t do without a secret ribbon of cream cheese running through the center? But this particular bread offers so much more than a ribbon of cream cheese. See, Cream Cheese Apple Crisp Bread has a nice thick layer of cream cheese filling, sure, but there’s also cinnamon-kissed apples and an oat streusel topping. And they’re in there multiple times. Dream bread come true? Maybe so.
I’m not going to lie to you — this bread has four different components and it’s a little bit involved. Is it hard? No. It just takes a little bit of time. But the best things are worth some effort, aren’t they?
You need all the usual baking pantry stuff — flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and the like — but also cream cheese (maybe that much was obvious), apples (also obvious), and oats. You’re basically going to make four components, but many of those ingredients are repeated in those components.
There’s the batter — a single bowl situation where you start by creaming together butter and sugar. Easy. There’s the apple filling — a situation where you dice two apples and toss them with cinnamon and sugar. Also easy. There’s the cream cheese filling — where you sugar, flour, and egg. Anyone can handle that. And then there’s the streusel — mix some oats and flour with cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter. Simple.
The assembly isn’t all that tricky either. You layer half of the batter in a loaf pan and top that with half of the apples. All of the cream cheese mixture goes on top, and it helps to dollop it on and gently smooth it out — don’t take it all the way to the edge of the pan, leave a border. Then comes the rest of the batter, which you spread out to cover the cream cheese layer. Next up is the remaining apples and finally alllll the streusel topping.
I don’t know about you but I love a streusel topping. And a cream cheese ribbon. And apples cooked in cinnamon and sugar. In other words, there’s a whole lot to love about this bread.
Cream Cheese Apple Crisp Bread
For the topping:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
For the apples:
- 2 medium baking apples, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the batter:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
For the filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
Preparation
- Adjust oven rack to lower third position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray, then line greased pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang over the sides to easily lift bread out of pan. Set aside.
- First, make the topping:
- In a small bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour in the melted butter and whisk with a fork until evenly combined. Place in fridge until ready to use.
- Next, prepare the apples:
- In a medium bowl, toss the apples with sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Next, make the batter:
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined. Add vanilla and eggs and mix once more. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and mix until just combined. Gradually mix in milk, scraping down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula a couple of times. Set aside.
- Next, make the filling:
- In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese with the sugar, flour, and egg until well mixed. Set aside.
- Now, assemble the bread:
- In the prepared loaf pan, spread half of the batter along the bottom. Top with half of the apples, followed by the cream cheese mixture, spreading it out gently with a spoon or rubber spatula, but leaving a border around the edge of the pan.
- Spoon remaining batter over the top and smooth out, followed by remaining apples, and finally the chilled crumble topping.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 60-70 minutes. If bread begins to brown too much, cover top with foil.
- Let cool about 30 minutes before lifting bread from pan with parchment paper.
- Let cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from OMG Chocolate Desserts.