Apple Fritter Bread

Makes one 9x5 inch loaf

Ingredients:

1/3 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 apples (granny smith or other tart firm apple good for baking), diced
2/3 c. sugar + 2 Tbsp.
1/2 c. butter (softened)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. milk plus 1 to 3 Tbsp.
1 c. powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x5 in. loaf pan with cooking spray. (you can also line the pan with parchment at this point to make removing the whole loaf from the pan easier after baking. If you do this, also spray the parchment paper with cooking spray. Spraying the pan before laying down the parchment will prevent the paper from sliding around as you fill the pan.)

Mix brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Toss apples with 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar and remaining tsp. cinnamon in another bowl and set aside.

Beat butter and remaining 2/3 c. granulated sugar together with mixer until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time and the vanilla.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in another bowl, then add to creamed butter mixture and beat until blended. Mix in 1/2 c. milk until smooth.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan; add half of the chopped apple mixture. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture over the apple layer.

Pour the remaining batter over the apple layer and top with the remaining apples and then the remaining brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Lightly pat the apples into the batter. Swirl the brown sugar mixture through the batter with a butter knife.

Bake until done when tested with a toothpick - about an hour and 10 minutes. (If your bread is browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes of baking time.)

Let loaf rest for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before applying the glaze.

For the glaze: Mix powdered sugar with remaining 1 to 3 Tblsp. mil, thinning to desired consistancy. Drizzle the glaze over the bread.

lazy eggs

Dear Mom,

Christmas was an especially lazy holiday for us this year.  For the past 8 years while living in Chicago, John and I would pack up the Honda-sleigh with Christmas gifts and the pup and cross the winter wonderland of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania towards either Pittsburgh (John's hometown) or Rochester.  This year, between moving to New York and just a generally crazy year, we opted to stay in NY sans parents and siblings.  While at first this sounded great, we would sleep in as late as we wanted, veg in our PJs and eat what ever we wanted, when the day actually came after the presents were opened we found ourselves drumming our fingers and wondering what to do.  There is surprisingly little good TV on on Christmas day.  The day did start out pretty strong for us though, we had the traditional Christmas Breakfast Casserole and then opened presents, which got us to about 11am.  Then, due to a miscalculation of preparing dinner the night before, the boredom set in.  Next year we'll be heading back out for the holidays for sure.

breakfast casserole
(This doesn't have to be made on Christmas of course, but it works out quite well for that particular holiday because you have to prep it the night before and let it sit in the fridge over night.  Then in the morning it has to sit on the counter for an hour and then in the oven for an hour, so you can open presents in the two hours while its resting/cooking.)

1 lb. breakfast sausage
12 pieces of white bread, cubed with crusts removed
1-1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (not pre-shredded)
9 eggs
3 cups 2% milk
1-1/2 tsp. dry mustard
salt and pepper

Spray a 9x17 glass or ceramic casserole.  Brown the breakfast sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Remove sausage to a plate to cool.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs, milk, dry mustard and salt and pepper together.

In a large bowl toss together bread, cheese and cooled sausage.  Pour egg mixture over bread mixture and fold gently until combined.  Pour mixture into prepared casserole, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. 

In the morning, remove the casserole from the refrigerator and let it sit on the kitchen counter for 1 hour.  Preheat the oven to 350, and bake the casserole for 1 hour, until browned on top. 

breakfast bourbon

Dear Mom,

Well, hang on, I must first address any possible readers we have out there:

Dear Readers,

Never fear my mother is safe, she has been absolutely fine in fact, and I certainly will not sit here an apologize for her! 

OH SNAP!

Dear Mom,

Well I miss your posts, I don't know how other people feel out there, but I'm let down.  I know you've been busy (busy watching YouTube videos of funny dogs!), but come on...  Have you not been eating?  Did you get involved with the librarian mafia again and they broke your fingers?  They're silent but deadly you know...  Alright, enough with the chastising, I have a recipe to share! 

Actually I have two recipes, because its been so long!!!

The hubs and I just got back from a little mini vacation to Louisville, Kentucky.  Yes, that's right, Louisville.  Believe it or not its a fun little town with lots of good food and good booze.  There are pretty city parks, cute neighborhoods, great restaurants and pubs, friendly folk, and bourbon.  Bourbon, bourbon, bourbon.  I'm not a big bourbon fan, but the hubs likes it quite a bit.  And while we were down there we did a couple distillery tours (basically think a boozier winery tour).  I tried a few and it is still far from my drink of choice, but one great little restaurant we found made an awesome bourbon cocktail.

The restaurant is called Rye.  Its a great place with a nice interior and some really quality stuff coming out of the kitchen.  We tried a bunch of small plates, they change up the menu seasonally so one of the stand outs was a sauteed asparagus kimchi-type dish that had that addicting salty, sweet, umami, spicy combo that kept us going back for more.  To quench the heat I tried one of the cocktails that sounded refreshing after the warm spring day that we were there.  And it had bourbon in it, which even though as said I'm not a natural born bourbon lover, I figured, when in Rome...

What I liked so much about the cocktail is it was basically like you gave a mimosa a kick in the pants, hence the name "manosa" (not what the restaurant called it, but what I'm calling it).  It was grapefruit juice, orange bitters, prosecco, and bourbon.  The bourbon adds a complex slightly smokey, vanilla, spicey flavor that helps tame the sweet/sour/tart of the prosecco and grapefruit.  So, to go with the amped up mimosa, I'm also going to give you all my recipe for chocolate chip pancakes.  I found this recipe for pancakes a while ago, and its been my go to as of late.  All of the baking powder that goes into it makes them super fluffy and able to hold up to any additives such as chocolate chips or fruit if your feeling like being healthy.  They also have very little sugar in them, so you can focus on the more yummy complex sugars of the maple syrup or chocolate chips.  I've never tried making them normal sized, I always go for the silver dollar size, that way you can always easily pop them into the toaster to warm the leftovers up.

manosa

1 oz. bourbon
2 oz. grapefruit juice
3 dashes orange bitters
the juice from one slice of orange
ice cubes
3-4 oz. chilled prosecco
orange peel, for garnish
1 mint leaf, for garnish

In a standard shaker, add bourbon, grapefruit juice, orange bitters, the juice of the orange slice, and ice.  Shake until ice cold and frothy.  Pour into a collins glass.  Top with prosecco, 1 ice cube, orange peel and mint.

chocolate chip pancakes

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3-1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1-1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup chocolate chips
canola or veggie oil

In a large bowl whisk all dry ingredients (flour through sugar).  In a measuring cup stir together milk, egg and butter.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture.  Stir together until smooth.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add the oil and when the skillet is piping hot,  pour 1/4 cup measurements of the batter onto the skillet.  Cook 1-2 minutes per side, until golden.