Pumpkin Apple Bread!
So last Saturday I was at Chad and Danny's with a mission - to make Boeuf Bourguignon. Danny is supposed to be training to create wonderful "Ancient Bread", and our beef stew is supposed to complement his creation. Unfortunately, Chad was called into work to fix a bug, so I was very disappointed.
But due to the fact that we all woke up late (it was 4pm when we were thinking of starting) it would take 4 hours to make...eh, not in time for dinner. So, thanks to The Amateur Gourmet, we got the idea to make Pumpkin Apple Bread. Adam is a very funny fellow. We decided to follow his suit and do an amateur photo/cooking blog thing.
Here's Danny with his BIG FAKE TEEF!!
Again, model-like, damn him.
And here I am, as modelly as I am motherly.
For topping:
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
5 Tbs sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
For bread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 (15-oz) can solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups)
MAKE THE TOPPING: Blend together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.
MAKE THE BREAD: Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl.
At this point, Danny & I started arguing whether or not sifting was required.
I then pondered over why sifters were even invented if they didn't serve a purpose.
In the end Danny won because we were too lazy to look for it.
Whisk together pumpkin...
Danny's dumping the pumpkin from the can! Note that he is too lazy
to use a spoon and prefers to brute force it and use gravity to do most of the
work for him. How lazy is that!
...oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl.
Tada! Before we mixed it all together. What you're seeing is not a mistake - we used
a medicine cup to measure in teaspoons! We are so resourceful...
MMMmm!! Doesn't this look appetizing? Well it's quite artistic I think, with all the colors.
We make room for the incoming apples.
Add flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Fold in apples
And suddenly, Danny was feeling competitive.
"Hey Alice," Danny said with a big FAKE TEETH grin.
"Yeeeeeees?"
"I bet you I can peel with a knife faster than you can peel with a peeler."
"Oh yeah?? BRING IT ON!!"
So Danny hands me a blunt peeler that can't peel the skin off of ANYTHING, and proceeds to peel crazily like Tazmanian Devil. So of course when the dust settled, the results were -
Yes, I am unashamed to admit I cried tears of frustration.
Reminds me of caramel apple! Yes, those are my hairy knuckles. Damn they're hairy...
Divide batter between buttered loaf pans. Sprinkle half of topping evenly over each loaf.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.
Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
While we were waiting for it to bake, Danny and I had some delicious green tea & roses that he brought back from China. Man that tea was sooo good. And towards the end, this photo of the bread reminds me of turkey:
By midnight, Chad was back from work and helped himself to a slice. We all liked it. It's interesting - it's dry, but the apples make it moist. Danny wants more apples in it next time. Teta said it was too sweet. Mona...I think she liked it, I forgot to interview her. All in all, good bread!
And then on Sunday I went with the security group to brew some beer. It was awesome fun experience! There're photos, but I have to wait for them (too lazy to buy a camera). Then BBQ at Ian's place, where I saw his cool setup (similar to Dave&Justin's) but he uses a mouse that you move in air. Inside is a gyroscope that's sensitive to the way you tilt it...it was neat! And then on to Knott's Scary Farm (first time experience) where we walked through haunted mazes. It reminds me of the Queen Mary, but better done - lots more twists and turns. I was tense and sweaty for the all of it. The part I hate the most? When I get tickled. Arrgh!!