You Certainly Could

Now I’m not saying you *have* to take my spiced apple cake and serve it for dessert with extra spiced apples sautéed in butter and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, but you certainly *could*…

Chai-Spiced Apple Bread

(30 minutes + 1 hr baking time)

1/2 c. jaggery or dark brown sugar
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cardamom
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 c. milk
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 cup peeled, cored, and diced tart apples (Granny Smith recommended)

1. Preheat oven to 350F; spray loaf pan with baking spray (mix of oil and flour).

2. In a small bowl, mix the jaggery / brown sugar and spices until combined.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs and granulated sugar on medium until pale and creamy, about two minutes.

4. With mixer on low, gradually add melted butter, milk, and vanilla, blending until combined.

5. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix until combined. Fold in apples by hand.

6. Spoon about 1/2 the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle about 2/3 of the spiced sugar mixture on top. Spoon remaining batter over the top, followed by the remaining spiced sugar mixture. Use a butter knife to swirl the layers.

7. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto rack, and let cool before slicing. It should keep for about four days on the countertop under a cover, but ours never lasts that long…

Good Thing We Like Apple Bread

I asked Kevin to cut an apple for the apple bread, and he cut enough for four batches (!) of apple bread. Good thing we like apple bread. 🙂

(It’s not all for us, some of it for the Patreon treat boxes, it was fine, it all got eaten / shipped out. No food wasted in this house! Just funny.)

Getting Ready for the Pop-up Holiday Shop

Getting ready for the little pop-up holiday shop we’re hosting at Serendib House this Sunday, along with SLOWFIRE and Alix Mikesell Design.

Kevin and I had a discussion about our comfort with having people eating / drinking — it’s such a huge part of my holidays, feeding people, it makes me super sad not to do so.

We ended up on a compromise between his safety concerns and mine — I would have been okay with vaccinated people eating indoors, but he just wasn’t comfortable, esp. given case numbers spiking this past week.

So I’m going to set up outdoor heaters on the front porch and the back deck (I invested in them a few months ago), and since it’s supposed to be about 45 degrees on Sunday afternoon, I think people will be reasonably comfortable out there. I’ll put out some nibbles (like these cookies) and hot beverages, and hoping friends will be able to stop by — whether they shop or not, it’d be great to see people and get a chance to chat. No need to buy, folks — just come and say hi!

Cookies decorated by Serendib House staff Ethan Yeung and Darius Vinesar — they’ve never decorated iced cookies before, and I have to admit, it was weirdly pleasing to me introducing them to it.

They’re both grown young men, of course, not little kids, but hey, they’re in their early 20s, I’m 50, I’m certainly old enough to be their mom, and what can I say? I think kids decorating cookies is one of the joys of the holiday season. (I am lucky that my staff tolerates me treating them like my kids once in a while.)

It was a lovely break from talking about publishing schedules and social media postings, pausing to show them how to dilute a royal icing with hot water to dipping consistency, and then giving them a bunch of assorted white and silver decorating bits to play with. 🙂