How to throw together a delicious quick bread when your cupboards are bare and you ain't goin' nowhere!
Steve and I are snowed in today! There are blinding and stinging winds out there and only large trucks and snowmobiles are moving. I know because we attempted to go for a walk in it. It was more of a hunched stumble, but we made it around the block in one piece. Steve's idea, naturally.
We seriously have no food! That's what I said this morning, and I was really bummed because today would be a perfect baking day. Then I thought, you know what? I bet I could scrape together a quick bread. And I did. Quick breads are so forgiving, mine turned out to be dee-lish even though I didn't have everything I needed and was forced to do some improvising.
Throw together an apple streusel when you have only one egg, no fresh apples, and your butter is frozen!
I adapted this recipe from Beatrice Ojakangas' recipe for apple pie coffee cake. I only had 1/2 cup of already cooked apples in my house but her recipe called for 2 cups of fresh apple. No problem!
Apple Streusel- when making do
Makes one small loaf. If you don't want to mess around with half an egg, the recipe can be doubled (in that case use a 9" cast iron skillet or square pan). Also, any available fruit jellies and jams can be substituted for the applesauce. It's a very forgiving quick bread.
You will need:
flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, egg, milk and apples or preserved fruit
Mix in a bowl:
1/2 cup plus a few tablespoons flour (give or take)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
generous pinch of baking soda (or extra baking powder)
generous pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (very tasty but optional)
Add to bowl and mash between thumb and fingers until it's evenly crumbly:
1/4 cup butter (from fridge or freezer or room temp), diced or in pieces
Shake one egg in a lidded jar until liquified. Pour out 1/2 of the liquid (reserve for another day if desired).
In jar, mix together:
1/2 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (yummy but optional)
Add liquid to your crumbly dry mix and stir until well blended. Pour batter into a greased and floured smallish (~8") loaf pan.
For the streusel topping: using your fingers, crumble together in a little bowl, and set aside:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
In a little pan on the stove, melt together 1/2 cup leftover applesauce, 1/2 cup any flavor of fruit preserves (today I used some old spiced cherry butter) and 1 tablespoon butter. Or use one cup of apples sliced and cooked until tender with a bit of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a little water and butter.
Over the batter in the loaf pan, sprinkle half of the streusel topping. Pour the warm apple/preserve sauce over this, then finish with the remaining topping.
Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Cool 10 minutes in pan then remove. Slice gently when warm. Mmmm..mm!
Enjoy, and stay warm!
thanks for linking this and the apple chips in - I have put the title into the first link and corrected the url for the streusel so it is all good to go now. Have a nice week.
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