Apple-Cranberry Spice Bread; (Fall is coming)

Several times in the past week I have been seriously conflicted. At my job as a baker, I have found myself preparing for a season gear switch, and have reached for the pumpkin at least fifty times....

I love fall, so it's no surprise that I'm ready to fill up my kitchen with the warm smells of cinnamon, cloves, pumpkins, squash, and apples. 

         And, as a true Minnesotan, I'm ready for it to quit being so blasted hot so I can turn on my oven at home and heat the house while I cook. I also have respect for the fact that people need to ease themselves into the fact that another summer is behind us, so I decided to wait until the first day of Autumn to bust out the pumpkin (albeit begrudgingly). 

      

Apples, on the other hand are fair game. I went to my mom's house this weekend and as soon as I walked in the door I could smell nothing but apples and cinnamon. Almost my entire family ( it is quite small, but that doesn't matter) was in the kitchen, making dehydrated apples and apple sauce with what appeared to be ten million apples in boxes on the floor... Needless to say, I got sent home with about 300 apples, and the need to use them up in a jiffy...

 There have been a few new developments here at the 3rd Story Bake Shop, that will hopefully very soon result in moving out of this area to a hobby farm. When I moved to this neighborhood 3 years ago, it was very near my college, and had a nice friendly college- student  atmosphere. Very rapidly in the last two years it has gotten downright funky, with vandalism, drugs, and general nastiness that's been all over the news and has impacted many a friend of mine in my hood. The last straw was last week when someone was shot in broad daylight two blocks away from our house... 

Now, I'm not sure what's causing this craziness here in my neck of the woods. General poverty? Stupidity? Drugs? Desperation? I'm pretty hard up for cash sometimes, but have never felt the need to steal from someone or shoot them for something... I'm not sure I care to stick around and ponder the socio-economic crisis of old, but I'd rather pick up and move myself to a better area to a place I'd feel more comfortable raising my hypo-allergenic dogs.. Being in my final year of rather intense schooling, I'm not working much, so we are trying to save as much money as possible to get out of the ghetto upon my graduation this spring...

          SO, this money saving budget  translates to  a lot of at home baking, and I'm going to try and make all our bread and other things for this year so we can get the hell out of dodge at the end of spring. Luckily, my family cans and grows a ton of food, so I am able to have a nice pantry full of reserves, and get sent home with pounds of fruit and veggies to freeze and bake and make into my strapped-for-cash budget for this next year.

       

Here is just a few of the lovely, slightly bruised bounty from my mom's tiny orchard. They are perfect for baking, tart, crisp and delicious. I decided to make a few loaves of an Apple Cranberry spice quick bread that I adore to make in the fall, it will hopefully ease you into the idea of not getting watermelon or peaches for a while....

Apple Cranberry Spice Quick Bread
  - 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 t.ground cinnamon
-1 t. ground ginger
-1 t. ground  nutmeg
-1/2 t. ground clove
-1/2 t. salt
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup shredded unpeeled apples (I ground them in a food processor)
-1/2 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup canola oil
-1 egg
-1/2 cup ground walnuts
 Directions: grease a 9 inch glass or metal bread pan. In a mixing bowl combine flour and spices. In another bowl combine wet ingredients, sugar, apples, oil, and egg. Fold together to combine, fold in cranberries and walnuts. Bake in 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.




                                                            tis' a thing of beauty.

  The shredded apples give it a delicious and moist texture, while the juicy cranberries, spices and nuts make it extra awesome tasting and complex.

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                                                   This. is. really. delicious. 

And pretty healthy too, which is an added bonus...


I put butter, honey or peanut butter (or Nutella if I'm feeling extravagant) on this, and it's great. If it sits around a few days and is a bit less-than-fresh ( if it's possible for this to last that long) you can toast it or make french toast...

This is a recipe hybrid that I made up from a combination of 4 (at least) other recipes, so I guess you'd call it original at this point. 

I promise you won't miss summer at all once you try this recipe. It will get you motivated to put on a hoodie with your apron and turn on your oven and ease yourself into the beautiful world of fall baking.