Snow Day Apple Streusel

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!