Praline-Apple Bread (Southern Living)

**Picture coming soon (Have the picture; need to find the disk!)

As promised I'm sharing the recipe I tried for Apple Bread. I personally didn't give this a 5 star, but many of the friends I shared it will loved it and asked me for the recipe. I thought it would be sweeter, more like a Banana Bread or Zucchini Bread. One friend suggested it might be that the apples I used might not have been as ripe or juicy as another variety. (I can't tell you what variety it was because they were off my sister-in-laws tree and they don't know what kind there are-came with the house;-) ) Give it a shot and if you have suggestions and thoughts on how to improve this bread, please share! Maybe I should have tried the Granny's!

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided (I cut cost here and only used 3/4- 1 cup)

1 (8 oz) container sour cream

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups finely chopped, peel Granny Smith apples (about 3/4 lb)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Bake 1/2 cup pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 to 8 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 4 minutes.

Beat sour cream and next 3 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until blended. Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to sour cream mixture beating just until blended. Stir in apples and 1/2 cup toasted pecans. Spoon batter into greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chopped pecans; lightly press pecans into batter.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean, shielding with aluminum foil after 50 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.

Bring butter and brown sugar to a boil in a 1 quart heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and spoon over top of bread; let cool completely (about 1 hour).

Note: To freeze bread, cool completely; wrap in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

Southern Living Magazine September 2009 P. 120