Praline-Apple Bread

Every fall for the last few years, I want to make something that a good friend of mine and I made when we were roommates about five years ago.  It's Southern Living's super yummy and easy Praline-Apple Bread. 

What I really like about this is that the bread itself uses sour cream. This gives it a GREAT texture, and also a mild tanginess along the lines of when you cook with buttermilk. 

Sour cream mixture

The batter came together very easily and well, despite the fact that I had a couple of incidents of "floofing" the flour around, and one time where I didn't pay attention and turned the liquid mixture up instead of down.  Did a bit of cleaning the area after all of that *cough* before I carried on...  

 
Adding in the eggs

 

 

Cutting up apples and toasting pecans

Since the recipe said to cover the bread after 50 minutes to prevent extra browning, I set my timer for that length and went to do something random for a while.  I was surprised to come back to an almost-cold oven  o_O   and I still can't figure out what I did, but it must be the fact that we're not even a month into this new house and I clearly don't know how to work the appliances.  *shrug*

 

Into the oven - the cold, cold oven....  =;D

 

Sooooo, after an extra 45 minutes.....   :-|   The bread came out, and they (I doubled the recipe) looked fabulous!  I sent a couple of slices home with the stepkiddos sans the praline topping because of the oven "issue", but we also tried a little before they went back to their other house and everyone loved it!!  The Boy was not a huge fan of pecans, but I suggested that he pick around them for what he liked, LOL.

Later, I made the topping, which was also easy, but you have to make sure it doesn't boil over - and DON'T LEAVE THE POT while it's cooking!  I'm saying that just as a word of warning, but seriously, that stuff gets super-hot and bubbly, and you have to ensure you're stirring it the whole time it tells you to cook so that it doesn't stick. 

I poured some immediately on the breads, then waited for maybe a couple of minutes to let the rest cool a bit and not be quite so runny.  I would suggest doing this, because when it's right off of the fire it is extremely liquid and all it wants to do is run over and down the sides more than it wants to sit up on top and make a pretty drizzle. 

I had dark brown sugar instead of the lighter that it calls for, but it was totally fine in taste and texture.  I also added sea salt to the butter and brown sugar to help bring out that flavor, and it was awesome!  We definitely enjoyed tasting all of the drippy excess.  Mmmmm.... 

This recipe was easy, and I like that it lends itself to a good deal of flexibility.  Adding cinnamon or apple spices would, I think, enhance things; and I'm considering swapping out the apples for pears....  I also think it would be good in mini-loaves or as muffins.    Feedback has been excellent, and the Hubbs, kids, and friends have all raved over the taste and texture.  Definitely a regular standby in our kitchen!