Lately I have been wanting snacks, and plenty of them. Crackers and cheese, pickles, tiny salami and mustard sandwiches, baby carrots, smoked almonds, clementines: ALL THE SNACKS. So I was not surprised to find myself looking through the internet to find a recipe for some sort of snacky baked business, and even less surprised to find myself whipping up a batch of cakey quickbread filled with apples, oats, and yogurt. What could be better for snacks than an easy slice-and-go loaf?

This cake is moist and nutty, a bit crumbly, and studded with delicious fruit chunks. If you like a streusel topping (with walnuts?), I imagine that it would be an exceptional addition.

It's perfect for breakfast, whether toasted gently (in the toaster oven; this is too soft to put in the actual toaster) and spread with peanut butter or cream cheese, or just eaten cold out of hand as you run to catch the train. And it's a nice not-too-sweet dessert for those of us who always want a little something a couple hours after dinner, but hate the crash of a serious sugar bomb.


Apple oat yogurt cake
Adapted from Stonyfield's apple oatmeal bread.

1 cup plain full-fat yogurt
1 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup diced apples

Before baking, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.

Start by mixing the oatmeal with the yogurt. Set aside for a few minutes to let the yogurt soak into the oats.

In a large bowl, beat together the wet ingredient mix: egg, oil, sugar, and vanilla. If you are a traditional baker, your next step will be to sift together the dry ingredients and fold them into the wet mix in three or four batches. I am not a traditional baker, so I first mixed in the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and then mixed in the flour in a few batches. Either way works just fine.

Fold your yogurt-oat mixture and diced apples into the batter. I used fuji apples, since we had a big bag of them, but you can use whatever apple you like best. Lots of other fruit would work well here. I think pears would be a particularly good idea.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan, trying not to get any batter sandwiched in between the parchment and the side of the pan. As you can tell, I totally slopped some batter over the edge and had to do a bit of emergency spatulating. It worked out fine, though.

Bake your cake for about 45 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before lifting the whole thing out by the parchment edges and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.

Eat your cake! While this is great plain, adding nut butter or whipped cream can take it in either a savory or a sweet direction. A simple pat of butter is always a good idea too.

What are you guys baking this spring?