I have been busy in the kitchen lately with one of my favorite things…bread baking. My mom shared a great recipe with me. It’s a bread containing apricots and Brazil nuts. After I tasted it, I was dreaming about it all day. Just another slice…with butter! It’s so good, I had to make a loaf. The recipe is quite easy and can be found at visitingmonica.com. Her site is lovely to read through and is full of beautiful photos and stories. She has great recipes, more of which I plan on trying.
I used my bread machine on the dough cycle to mix the ingredients and for the first rising. After that I shaped the dough into a loaf and let it rise a second time, then baked it off in the oven. About three hours later I had a gorgeous loaf of this delicious bread.
Apricot Bread
My other bread delight was a batch of Apple Butter Muffins I made for work for Christmas Eve Eve. It’s always nice to have something warm and homemade for breakfast at work on your last day before a well deserved holiday break! These muffins have a sweet surprise in the middle…a gooey apple butter lava explosion. The recipe is a typical spice muffin batter, your favorite will do. When you are ready to fill the paper muffin cups or prepared pan, layer 1 tbs of batter into each cup. Then add a dollop ( or about 1 tsp) of apple butter of your choice, followed by another 1 tbs of batter. You can also top these muffins with cinnamon sugar and nuts or both. I used about 1 tbs sugar, 1tsp cinnamon combined with about 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. It makes a nice crunchy sweet top to bite into. Then as you get deeper into the muffin, a smooth apple butter layer is waiting to temp the taste buds! These were a big hit at work, my sister ate about four of them! They are also pretty quick and easy to make the night before. Happy baking!
The Thankful Mama 
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