A Holiday Treat Good for Any Time of Day: Rena’s Apple Bread
This recipe is a holiday bread I give to my neighbors, the mailman, garbage men, and my husband’s work buddies. Christmas cookies are great, but you can eat this for breakfast and not feel guilty. Maybe a little guilty. Depends on your feelings about carbs and sugar, but you get what I mean. This is old school flavor. It’s the holidays. Enjoy yourself and eat your kale in January.
It’s a recipe passed on to me from my mother. I have no idea who Rena is, but the woman can bake. It’s another recipe you can make anytime during the year, but generally—despite my good intentions to do otherwise—I don’t bake unless it’s the holidays.
Why on earth do I do this to myself? During the holidays I have even less time to bake, yet I feel compelled to bake. Maybe that’s why I don’t bake the rest of the year…I digress.
You might not realize that Georgia is a major apple producer. You can find a multitude of orchards in the North Georgia Mountains (one of my favorite places on earth). Apple season begins in August and runs through December. Local apples are in abundance through the holidays. I like a tarter apple for this bread, like a Jonathon, Empire, Winesap or even a Mutsu but if you prefer sweet, do your thing. When I lived in Japan, I used Fuji, of course, and the bread turned out great. Fuji and Braeburn are a late apple, so for the holidays, they’ll do just fine.
And guess who else lives in the North Georgia mountains? Maizie Albright, heroine of my Maizie Albright Star Detective series. When I wrote NC-17, I had thought about an apple-picking plot (murder in the orchard, perhaps), but when I was up in the mountains exploring orchards (and fried pies) for research, I saw a sign for a Bigfoot museum and my brain took a few running leaps. Apples were swapped for Bigfoot. However, maybe Maizie can find a body in an orchard in a future book. One can always hope.
Rena’s Apple Bread
*3 large apples
2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
3 eggs
3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda (Rena calls it soda. The lady didn’t mince words.)
2 tsp vanilla
1 heaping cup nuts (I’m allergic to walnuts, but Rena liked walnuts. I live in Georgia, so I do pecans. Do your thing.)
Mix sugar, oil and eggs. Add dry ingredients, mix well. (See what I mean about Rena’s brevity?)
Add vanilla, apples, and nuts.
The dough will be very stiff, says Rena. She is correct.
Grease two loaf pans and pour the batter inside. Sprinkle the tops with sugar (Rena never explained the amount of sugar. She was old school. Use your best judgement).
Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
*Rena’s apple addendum: “Dough is so stiff that I usually slice apples then add to the mixture and chop the apples with a wooden spoon to create a little juice to make it easier to mix.”
When Rena’s not succinct, she loves a run-on sentence. Don’t judge her by her English. Judge Rena by the flavor of this bread. I follow her slice then chop instructions and it works very well.
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