Got apples?

... cause I do!

Every Sunday after work, Dave heads to his grandma's for dinner. Since his family all live within five minutes of each other, it's not unusual for one of them to pop in.

The other week it was his aunt, and she sent Dave home with a buttload of apples... and I mean it, I think it was about four dozen!

Now, I like apples (prefer my Pink Ladies from New Zealand when it comes to an nice eating apple), but there's no way we could eat all these apples before they go bad. I ended up giving half of them to Mom. But that still left me with two dozen apples to use up.

Then my facebook feed threw up this recipe: Awesome Country Apple Fritter Bread.

It looked delicious and I had apples to use up, so this weekend, I thought I'd give it a try. Sadly, it only calls for two apples (so it didn't put much of a dent in my stash), but I threw in an extra one because mine are a little on the small side.

I have no idea what kind of apples they are (they are small, and not very crisp) but boy do they smell good. If only I could keep them around just for the smell.

Now, I don't bake a tonne (only when I've got a craving for something sweet), but I've got all the tools to do it, thanks to Mom.

When I moved out on my own, Mom furnished me with a bunch of baking tools... and not just any baking tools... the ones I grew up with. The measuring spoons above are the same ones I used as a child. I'd stand on a chair beside Mom at the counter, and she'd let me measure out the baking powder, cinnamon and salt as we made peanut butter cookies together.

Flour and sugar were measured out in these Tupperware measuring cups that are at least as old as I am. I love that I'm still able to use them. (And since I gave up the gravy boat to my brother, these are even more treasured.)

The bread was very easy to to put together... and all those apples, sugar and cinnamon...

I just wanted to eat it out of the pan as it was.... completely unbaked! But I was good...

I let is cool and drizzled it in gooey icing. And I even waited until Dave got home to slice it up.

 And it was good, though it's definitely more of a cake than a bread. (I've got some ideas to tweak it... I'm thinking it would be killer with some raisins and pecans and a touch of nutmeg...).

I sent most of it to work with Dave on Sunday. And the rest went up to Mom. Since Dad can't have sweets any more, she doesn't bake like she used to (our was always the house our friends wanted to hang out in, because there was never a store bought cookie in sight!). I figure since she's the reason I can bake at all, that I really should share the results.