Apple Cranberry Loaf with Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sugar

So, you've gone apple picking with the kids -- or friends kids... or the boyfriend or the family dog and you've once again come home with more apples than you know what to do with... Apple pies are good and lovely but you can only make so many... and you can only eat so much without spending every waking hour on the treadmill. And your children's teachers don't have any more room left on their desks for the sweet, crisp apples you have kindly given them...

Yes, you have bowls of apples strategically placed around the house to give a fall-like ambiance to your decor. But if not used they will start to break down... and they must be used within... a certain amount of time. And you have some cranberries because you like to decorate with them too and they are on sale... and you realize that apples and cranberries make the perfect combination. It is fall, after all, and the oven is beckoning you... and there is nothing as soothing or as comforting as the aromas of fresh baking from the oven... especially when the aroma comes from apples and cinnamon and sugar...

Ingredients:

2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups of fresh cranberries
1 cup plus 1 tbs sugar
1/8 cup water
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In a saucepan place cranberries, water and 1 tbs sugar
Bring to boil and then turn heat off. Let simmer a few minutes. You will hear cranberries start to pop
Meanwhile prep apples
In a large mixing bowl add sugar and oil and beat high until smooth and pale yellow. Add eggs, vanilla and baking powder. Mix well.
Add flour, mix well.
Add apples and cranberries with all the juices.
Mix well. Batter should be moist but not too wet. If too wet add small amounts of flour. If by chance it is too dry add a couple of tablespoons of milk or water.

Place well mixed dough into a well-greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour, checking for done-ness with toothpick. (Depending on calibration of your oven you may need a few more minutes.)




My youngest thought the cranberries to be a bit tart. I sprinkled some Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sugar over the warm bread and let it all melt in. It was divine! Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sugar is a wonderful substitute to ordinary Cinnamon Sugar.

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sugar

1/4 Cup granulated sugar
4 - 5 tbs  Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix well. Store in airtight jar. If the flavor is too strong or too sweet, adjust either the spices or the sugar.