What to with Apples & Banana's

One of my favorite parts about apple picking, is what comes after when I need to use up all my apples and I get to bake lots of fun apple goodies with them. I love that part almost as much as I love picking the apples. Every year I make a variety of all different types of apple recipes. I always try to find new recipes to try and then bake several different recipes.

This year I had some ripe bananas I needed to use up as well so why not combine that with the apples and this recipe was perfect. I loved that for this recipe you took the apples and cooked them in the pan with melted butter and brown sugar. The end result of the bread was an extremely moist and delicious banana bread with the apple chunks, it was so good. We all loved this bread and gave it 5 stars, def goes into the make again pile. No picture though - it got eaten too fast!

Mom’s Banana Apple Bread
Source: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy as seen on Hot Oven Warm Heart

For the apples:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the banana bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups very ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)

Before you start:
 Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 1 1/2-quart loaf pan.

To make the apples: 
Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and brown sugar and heat until bubbling. Add the apples and cinnamon and sauté until golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

To make the banana bread:
 In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
 In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
 In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vanilla.
 Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the orange juice mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.
 Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.