Cranberry Pecan Sweet Potato Bread

The last time I was home I got to visit the local cider mill.  A trip to the cider mill has been a tradition since childhood.  The smells of apples pie baking, fresh doughnuts frying, and spices hang in the air when you walk in the door.  It's absolutely intoxicating as you can imagine. The cider mill brings in local apples and presses them using an 80-year old apple press.  The young and old gather around to watch fresh made cider being made and smush even closer to get a free sample.  Besides being able to snatch up a gallon of the freshest cider around, a dozen of melt in your mouth fried doughnuts, and an apple pie I have yet to be able to duplicate in my own kitchen is being able to purchase other lovely jarred goodies I can never find in my local grocery store.  Case in point- sweet potato butter.  I decided to try out this sweet potato butter in a quick bread recipe for a nice change of pace from the typical apple and pumpkin recipes that around the internet at the moment. 

This is a simple quick bread recipe with traditional spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  It does have quite a bit of spice to it, so if you prefer less spice I would try reducing the amount of spices in the recipe.  The bread also calls for melted butter, instead of oil.  Next time I think I would try using vegetable oil.  I like the moistness that oil gives a to a quick bread recipe.  Although this bread is good, I think it could have been boosted a bit in the moistness department. 

The recipe does call for apple cider, which also gave me a chance to use up some of the fresh cider I watched get pressed. I also decided to throw in some dried cranberries and toasted pecans for some extra crunch and texture. Feel free to omit, or change it up. Hey it's your bread not mine!

If you aren't able to get a hold of a jar of sweet potato butter, and I totally get it using pumpkin butter or apple butter would be just fine I think.  You could also try using a mashed sweet potato.  Keep in mind, the sweet potato butter is sweetened and has vanilla flavoring added to it. So if you do us a sweet potato, I would suggest adding a little extra sweetness and some vanilla extract.  If you do try it with any of these suggestions, please let me know how it turns out!

Cranberry Pecan Sweet Potato Bread

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Ingredients:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

* 1/2 tsp. baking soda

* 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

* 1 tsp. ground nutmeg

* 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

* 1 egg

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 1/2 cup apple cider

* 1/4 cup melted butter

* 1 cup sweet potato butter, divided

*  1/2 cup dried cranberries

* 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

* turbinado sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Directions:

1.                Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.                Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

3.                Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl; set aside.

4.                Beat the egg in a bowl.

5.                Whisk in the brown sugar, apple cider, melted butter, and half of the sweet potato butter.

6.                Stir in the flour mixture until no lumps remain.

7.                Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread the remaining sweet potato butter over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

8.                Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean,  50 – 60 minutes.

9.                Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

best ever banana bread (slightly healthier)

Ok emphasis on the slightly part. I'm not going to count the calories and compare. Just tell myself that by swapping out the oil for applesauce it totally means I can have two pieces. Right? Oh wait...I also added in a couple tablespoons of butter. Hmm..so like I said..slightly healthier. You have been warned.

This original recipe comes from a well-known (like on Food Network kind of known) bakery here in Boston, Flour Bakery. And the original recipe seriously doesn't need any messing with. It's fabulous. Hands down the best banana bread recipe I have ever come across. Perhaps it's the laborious time spend whipping the eggs and sugar together. Or those couple of tablespoonfuls of sour cream added in. Either way, the recipe is flawless.

So why go messing with it? Out of necessity comes genius right? Well I was out of oil. (Ok so not really a genius moment.) That really is the only reason I changed it up. I had to. Otherwise there would have been no need to.  I had 3 frozen bananas in the freezer and a fourth lonely one hanging out on the counter that needed to be used, but no oil to go with it. I did however have butter, and applesauce. I figured what the heck let's add a little of both! I added equal parts of applesauce, and threw in a little butter because well everything is better with butter right? I was right. 

I decided to bake it in a cake pan instead,, which required about 10 minutes less bake time. I would recommend just watching your oven closely on this if you decide to use a cake pan. I originally set my oven timer to 45 minutes and kept a close watch on it from there. I  used up the remaining half of a banana to slice up on top just for fun. The banana bread was still as delicious as ever. But if you want the original recipe, click here.


My (slightly healthier, but probably not) and slightly adapted version you can find it here. Bake it up and feel perhaps a slight less pang of guilt when you enjoy.

best ever banana bread (slightly healthier)

1½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs ½ cup applesauce 2 1/2 Tbs. butter, melted 3 ½ very ripe medium bananas (1 1/3 cups mashed) 2 tablespoons crème fraiche or sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¾ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped Heat the oven to 325ºF degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment, beat the sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Or whip by hand with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes.) With the mixer on low speed, slowly drizzle in the butter. Be sure NOT to pour the butter in all at once; add it slowly so that it has time to incorporate into the eggs and doesn't deflate the air you've just beaten into the batter. This took about 1 minute. Then add your applesauce in the same fashion. Add the mashed bananas, crème fraiche, and vanilla and mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in the dry ingredients and nuts by hand until thoroughly combined, so there are no more flour streaks in the batter. Pour the batter into a buttered 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the top of the banana bread is golden brown and springs back when you poke it in the middle. If your finger sinks when you poke it, it needs to bake a little longer. Let cool for at least 30 minutes and then pop out of the pan and serve. Keeps for 2 to 3 days at room temperature, tightly wrapped. Or store in the freezer, tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 2 weeks and defrost overnight at room temperature.

d.i.y. cornbread mix

Let me ask you a question. How do you save money? I am not talking about the BIG savings- you know 401 K's and 403 B's and all that but the little day to day stuff. Do you make your own coffee, skipping that long coffee shop line and keeping a few bucks in your pocket? Take the bus or train, and skip using your car saving you on returning to that gas pump again this month? I keep trying to find different ways to not spend the green these days. Especially now that is summer, and I am not working full-time. Today I rediscovered the library. I know, the library! I first walked into Barnes and Noble. The scent of new cookbooks, coffee, and (ugh!) over-priced books. I prefer if I can to buy them online for a little cheaper. I am leaving for vacation in a couple of days and definitely do not have time to order any pleasure-reading books for the trip. So after a quick trip around, I had an aha moment. Why spend my  money here on a guilty pleasure book I plan to read once, when the library is only a hop, skip, and a jump away? And free! 


My other way to save money is to make things from scratch. On the upcoming lake vacation I am going on, I promised I would make cornbread for the barbequed ribs we will be having one night. Now, yes cornbread mix is pretty cheap. But so is making it yourself! I already had the ingredients on hand, so I quick threw them dry ingredients together so they will be all set when I want to make fresh cornbread on vacation.

The mix is great because it saves you so much time when you actually do plan to use it. Isn't that what you pay for with those mixes in the story anyway is convenience? And this way, I actually know what the ingredients are in my cornbread! When you are ready to use the mix, all you have to do is add your eggs, milks, and butter. Stir it up and throw in it on the oven! 


I made a double-batch of the mix. The original calls for 9, but with 10 people on vacation and little ones running around a single batch would surely not do! 


This d.i.y. cornbread mix has inspired me to think of what other "diy" mixes can I prepare ahead of time? Any suggestions?


d.i.y. cornbread mix
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated "Golden Northern Cornbread"


1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Combine all ingredients in a sealable container. Whisk or stir to combine. When you are ready to use add:


2 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup whole milk
2 Tbs. butter, melted and cooled


1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
3.  Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, aka "diy cornbread mix". Add in your eggs. Stir gently with a wooden spoon.
4. Add your milks, and quickly stir your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until almost combined. 
5. Add your butter and stir just until combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until top is golden brown and lightly cracked and edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan about 25 minutes.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 5 to 10 minutes. Serve.