Apple Cinnamon Bread

Week 347. Fall 2022. I am 39 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like cinnamon and falling leaves and this is my life. This is the life I built.

Brett came Wednesday. We sat on the porch and talked about nothing, and the nothing was perfect, the way nothing between siblings is always perfect — full of history, empty of agenda, the purest form of company.

Mason is 11 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 9 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made butternut squash soup this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

When I say the house smelled like cinnamon and falling leaves, I mean it literally — I’d had this Apple Cinnamon Bread in the oven while the butternut squash soup simmered, the way my kitchen often runs these days, two things at once, warmth layered on warmth. It’s the kind of recipe that doesn’t ask much of you, which is exactly what I needed on week 347 — something steady and familiar, something that smells like the life you built.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups peeled and finely diced apple (about 2 medium apples)
Cinnamon swirl: 2 tablespoons granulated sugar + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, combined

Instructions

Preheat. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the oil, vanilla, and sour cream and whisk again until fully incorporated.
Combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the diced apple.
Layer and swirl. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter. Add the remaining batter and top with the rest of the cinnamon-sugar.
Bake. Bake for 50–55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 35 minutes.
Cool. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple Cinnamon Bread — The Thread That Connects Every Week