Apple Praline Bread - Double Yum!

 Monday, Monday.....you know what the song says. (Bet you are singing it right now.)   I looked up the top 10 songs about Monday and not one of them has a positive title.  The closest one is Manic Monday.  The rest are pretty much downers.  On top of that, it is the last day of September.  Where did that month go?  Wow. Welcome October!

We are tired today.  We spent Sunday helping our best friends from our home town move into their new place right down the street from us.  (Yay!)  Thankfully, it did not pour down rain all day as predicted.  There were a couple of light showers off and on and that was it!  There was plenty of good help and things went fast and smooth.  Awesome.

In order to make their day easier, I fixed brunch for everyone.  We had Chinese Eggs, fruit salad, sausage gravy and biscuits, hash brown potatoes fried with onions, Amish cinnamon bread and this wonderful apple praline bread.  (You can find several of these recipes on my blog.)  I had never made this recipe before, but had pinned it to my Pinterest board for a future "must try." Apples are starting to come in now and I had some fresh from the Farmer's Market so I gave the recipe a try.  Yes, it is a keeper.

It is soooooooo good.  The only thing I would add to the recipe is some cinnamon - mainly because I like the taste of cinnamon and it goes quite nicely with apples, but it is not necessary.  Here is what you need to make this super yummy bread:

1 cup sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups peeled apples, finely chopped
1 cup nuts - walnuts or pecans, chopped
*Optional, 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

Praline Sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.  Set aside.

Use an electric mixer to mix sour cream and brown sugar until well blended.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix.  Add flour and baking powder.  Add apples* and nuts.  Pour into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour until brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  (My oven bakes right to temp and it took 1.5 hours for this bread to bake.  Just a little FYI so you don't panic if it's not done at 1 hour.)

After the bread cools, remove from pan and make the praline sauce by putting the butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat until it bubbles for about 1 minute.  Remove from stove and add nuts.  Pour over cooled loaf of apple bread.  Try not to eat it all at once.

* Be sure and drain any liquid from the chopped apples before adding to the bread.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, YUM!  So good.  This recipe was from a site called Ziplist.com.  You really might want to give this recipe a try, especially while apples are so good and plentiful.  Dan loves apples but doesn't like cooked apples.  He did like this bread a lot.  (He called it cake.)   Whatever you want to call it, I call it delicious!  This is one more recipe that will go in the fall/winter rotation of breads that are delicious for breakfast, brunch, or anytime - especially with a good cup of coffee.  Come on October!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

I can't tell you enough about cinnamon.  Cinnamon is an awesome spice to use and it goes great with something like apples in the morning, or in a mixture of fruit, or in your oatmeal, or even in your cereal.  Emeril Lagasse  

- or in your apple praline bread!  It would kick it up a notch for sure.  donna

Waldorf Salad With a Twist

One of my childhood favorite salads is Waldorf Salad.  You know, apples, celery, walnuts and mayonnaise.  Simple.  Easy.  Delicious.  Sweet.  Fresh.  Crisp.  Mom didn't make it often, but I was so happy when she did.  It's such a nice change from lettuce salads, or jello salad, or broccoli salad or cole slaw (what we always referred to as the Indiana state vegetable).  It's super good in the fall when beautiful, crisp, fresh apples start coming in - Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Honey Crisp, Jonathan - just to name a few varieties.

Here is a little history on Waldorf Salad.

The salad was first created between 1893 and 1896 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City (the precursor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which came into being with the merger of the Waldorf with the adjacent Astoria Hotel, opened in 1897).^[1]

Oscar Tschirky, who was the Waldorf's maître d'hôtel and developed or inspired many of its signature dishes, is widely credited with creating the recipe. In 1896, Waldorf Salad appeared in The Cook Book by 'Oscar of the Waldorf'; the original recipe did not contain nuts, but they had been added by the time the recipe appeared in the Rector Cook Book in 1928. The salad became popular enough that Cole Porter featured it in his 1934 song "You're the Top".  Wikipedia

As you can see, Waldorf Salad has been around for a long, long time.  Thank you Oscar Tschirky for a recipe I have loved since childhood.

I add a few extras to my Waldorf Salad to make it even crisper and crunchier.  I add grapes and raw broccoli.  YUMMMM.  It is so good, I could eat an entire bowl at one sitting.  Here is what you need.

3 large crisp apples (Dan and I are Golden Delicious fans)
3 ribs celery, diced
1 cup walnut pieces
as many grapes as you like (I used several hands full, cut in half - we have little ones eating and don't want them getting choked on whole grapes)
1 cup broccoli florettes
a pinch of salt
3 Tbsp Mayonnaise (I like the kind with olive oil)

After washing and drying the apples, put the apple bottom on a cutting board and cut the apple away from the core on 4 sides.  Lay the apple pieces flat side down, cut long ways about 1/2 inch apart and then crossways to form bite sized pieces.

Wash the celery ribs.  Cut each rib in half longways, then cut crossways into 1/4 inch pieces.

Add the apple pieces and celery pieces to a salad bowl.  Add the walnut pieces.

Wash grapes and cut in half long ways.  Use as many as you like.  Add to the bowl.

Separate the broccoli florettes into small pieces and add to bowl.

Add a pinch of salt and mix.  Add 3 Tbsp. mayo to the bowl and mix, making sure all pieces are coated.  If you like more mayonnaise, feel free to add as much as you want.

Traditionally, Waldorf Salad is served on a bed of salad greens, but is not necessary.  That is your choice.

I made a huge pan of Waldorf Salad at the CoOp last week using a 1/2 bushel of apples plus all the other ingredients.  All of our clients LOVED it.  It makes an excellent side dish for fall recipes because it's a nice contrast to the heavier food items we start to serve after summer grilling and lighter fare.  There is nothing like the sweet/tart/crunchiness of fresh Waldorf Salad.  You can keep it for several days if it is covered tightly.

If you've never tried Waldorf Salad, now is your chance.  It is super delicious and kids love it.  You might even convince them to eat some broccoli.  If no one in your house likes broccoli, simply leave it out and add all the other yummy ingredients.  Since Dan doesn't like mayonnaise, I take his out of the bowl before adding the mayonnaise.  He loves it with just a little salt.  Now, you have options.

Maybe it's time to go apple picking if you have an orchard near where you live.  Me, I like to get my apples in a basket at the Farmer's Market.  It's just easier that way.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Mr. Hamilton: Would you make me a Waldorf Salad? 
Basil Fawlty: [having never heard of it] I beg your pardon? 
Mr. Hamilton: Get me a Waldorf Salad. 
Basil Fawlty: Well, I think we just ran out of Waldorfs! 
Fawlty Towers, Movie, 1975

As American As Apple Pie Bars

Good Monday to you one and all.  Hope your weekend was enjoyable.  Here were are in the last few days of August already.  Where has the time gone?  Seems as though it was just the beginning of summer and we are now in the waning days.

This summer has been an amazing year for peaches and we have certainly enjoyed our share of wonderful desserts made with them.  When I was at the Farmer's Market last week, lo and behold, apples are starting to come in.  Big, beautiful Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples, oh my.  I know that Granny Smith's are supposed to be better for baking, but our favorite is Golden Delicious.  Slightly tart, slightly sweet, and much better for eating if you just want to enjoy a nice juicy apple.

Needless to say, I had to buy a basket of these beautiful apples.  They were huge, so I shared them with our daughters because the grandsons love a good apple too.  The remaining apples were destined for a dessert that I have been making since 1990, when I purchased a little cook book published by Land O Lakes  - you know the butter right?  It's a collection of favorite cookie recipes and they are outstanding.   My favorite recipe in the book is for apple pie bars which may be better than any apple pie I have ever eaten.  Dan is not a fan of apple pie (I know, I know), but he really likes these.  He is a bit averse to cooked fruit (the texture) and these are not as thick as apple pie.  I think that is why he likes them, that and all the wonderful cinnamon flavor.  Yum, yum.

They do take a little more effort than some cookie bars because you make a crust like apple pie, but it is really worth the effort!  They are baked in a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan, so you have to roll the crust to fit the pan, but that is the most difficult thing about the recipe.  Here is what you will need.

Ingredients:

Crust

Milk
1 egg yolk (reserve egg white)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup Land O Lakes butter, softened

Filling

1 cup crushed corn flake cereal
8 cups peeled, cored, 1/4 inch sliced tart cooking apples (about 8-10 medium)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 reserved egg white
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  For crust, add enough milk to egg yolk to measure 2/3 cup; set aside.  In medium bowl, combine flour and salt.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  With fork, stir in milk mixture until dough forms a ball; divide into halves.  Roll out 1/2 of the dough, on lightly floured surface, into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.  Place on bottom of ungreased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan.

For filling, sprinkle crushed cereal over top of rolled out dough in the pan.  Layer apples over cereal.  In small bowl, combined 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon.  Sprinkle over apples.

Roll remaining 1/2 of dough into a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle; place over apples.  (It will be lumpy, but will smooth out when apples cook down).  In small bowl, with fork beat egg white until foamy; brush over top crust.  In another small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; sprinkle over crust.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, or until lightly browned.

For glaze, in small bowl, stir together all glaze ingredients.  Drizzle over warm bars.  To make drizzling easy, put the glaze in a small zip lock bag, snip off a corner, and drizzle by squeezing the bag.

Cut into bars and enjoy.  I cut them more into a square than a bar because we like a nice dollop of ice cream on ours.  If you cut into bars, you will have about 3 dozen.  It's your choice.  These are so extraordinarily good, that you won't mind the effort to make them one little bit.

The awesome thing is, you can eat them without a plate or fork, unless you are enjoying them with some ice cream!  It's so much easier than eating apple pie.  If you want to make your family, friends or co-workers super happy, make a batch of these bars and share!   They are a party in your mouth that will make everyone happy and they make your house smell heavenly while they are baking.

Give this wonderful autumn dessert a try.  You will be so glad you did.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

As American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet - 1970-s marketing jingle.