Apple Pie Pull-Apart Bread Recipe

Delicious apple desserts are a favorite year-round, and this apple pie pull-apart bread will stand out from the rest. Made with canned biscuits, fresh fruit, warming spices, and a sweet icing, it doesn't get much better (or easier to make) than this. "This might not be the prettiest loaf ... but ... good golly, it is the tastiest," raves Mashed recipe developer Patterson Watkins, the mastermind behind this sweet treat. 

Every element fits together to make this dessert loaf an absolute success. "The sugars caramelize during the bake, creating this crispy, cinnamon-sugary upper crust and this gooey yummy caramel bottom," Watkins describes, adding, "The apples infuse each bite with that baked apple flavor and keep the interior of the cake moist and tender." Finally, crunchy walnuts sprinkled over top bring an earthy element and add a contrasting texture. If you happen to end up with leftovers, Watkins recommends reheating them in the toaster oven to revive the freshly-baked taste. Alternatively, you could freeze the loaf without the icing (or double the batch and freeze one), simply thawing and reheating it when you're ready to enjoy.

For the pull-apart bread, you'll need granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, a can of flaky-style biscuits, a stick of salted butter (melted), cored red and green apples (grated or chopped), brown sugar, lemon juice, and chopped walnuts. As for the icing, pick up powdered sugar, whole milk, and vanilla extract.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and generously spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl, stirring to combine.

Using your hands, separate the 8 whole biscuits into 16 individual rounds.

Dunk the biscuit rounds into the melted butter, letting any excess drip off. Then, coat the biscuits in the sugar mixture. Transfer the coated biscuits to a large baking sheet.

Once all the biscuits have been coated, transfer any remaining butter and any remaining sugar mixture to a large bowl. Add the grated apple, brown sugar, and lemon juice, stirring to combine.

Divide the apple mixture between the biscuits (use a slotted spoon if your apple mixture is extra juicy).

Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the apple mixture.

Stack the biscuits on top of one another in sets of 4, making 4 total stacks.

Transfer the stacks to the prepared loaf pan (it's okay to smush the stacks to get them all to fit).

Place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the top of the bread is crispy and the center of the loaf is cooked through (thermometer reads 165 F and comes away clean). Once cooked, set aside to cool on a wire rack.

While the loaf is cooling, place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine the icing.

Once the loaf has cooled, remove from the pan, and set aside on a serving platter.

Drizzle the loaf with the icing and serve.

Watkins uses a can of Pillsbury flaky biscuits for this recipe, and there's a reason why. "Homemade biscuits wont have that same flaked consistency you'll need to really get that pull-apart finish — not without some tweaking," she explains. If you are adamant about working from scratch, she recommends making small, thin biscuits from the get-go. "You can simply divide the dough in half and roll [it] out into smaller rounds," she notes. Alternatively, she suggests "slicing raw, pre-made, homemade biscuits in half to make thinner portions." 

Meanwhile, if you're opting for canned biscuits but can't get ahold of that specific flaky Pillsbury variety, she recommends splitting the dough into portions and rolling them into thin rounds. "Before going through all that dividing and rolling, I would test a raw biscuit to see if it splits easily just using your hands — just in case a can not listed as flaky, might actually be flaky," she adds.

This delicious apple pie pull-apart bread features a multitude of flavors and textures, making for a very tasty treat. If you're looking for ways to play around with the nuances, Watkins says, "I look for flavor balance when I pick my apples for baking. If I am using a tart apple (like, Granny Smith), I want to pair it with a sweeter apple (like a Fuji or Honeycrisp)." According to her, "The trick is one sweet, one tart." This will ensure the loaf has just the right amount of sweetness. That said, if you only have sweet apples on hand, she suggests, "add a little lemon zest to the filling to add that pop of tartness."

Aside from the crunchy texture, Watkins describes, "Walnuts add a super earthy element to this recipe." This is another way to balance out the sweetness. "Alas, if you are walnut-less, feel free to substitute with pecans," she says and adds, "Almonds would work here as well, just avoid crushed slivered almonds, and opt in for chopped whole almonds."