Bourbon Pecan Apple Bread

How we make it.

*makes one loaf*

1½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup raw sugar
2 eggs
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups apple, peeled and small diced
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup bourbon
½ cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place raisins and bourbon in a microwave safe measuring cup or bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside to cool. In a medium bowl blend flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown and raw sugars. In another medium bowl stir together melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add diced apples, raisins, bourbon and chopped pecans, stirring to combine.

Pour batter into a lightly greased loaf pan. Sprinkle an extra teaspoon of raw sugar on tops and decorate with five pecan halves. Cook for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.

Why we make it.

When I had my first baby a friend brought me a loaf of apple bread. I had a hard time post-partum, and that apple bread was the easiest part of every morning for the week it lasted. Two newly freaked out new parents savored its comfort, morning by morning, slice by slice. I've never forgotten it. We've still got bushels of apples around here, even after that apple pie we made. I've been wondering what I should do with them, and then on Sunday morning a best friend lost her dog. He wasn't just any dog. He was a gentleman dog. A faithful companion through times of happiness and trouble, and a loyal friend. He will be terribly missed. I never asked for the recipe of that first apple bread, but I always meant to. This version is my best attempt to remake it from memory, hoping this pecan topped loaf studded with sugared apples and bourbon-soaked raisins will comfort my saddened friend the way it comforted me all those years ago. Sometimes food can help us heal. And that's why we make it.