We bought our first Christmas tree on Saturday. A full and fragrant Douglas fir. Ryan and I been married for nearly five years, but we haven’t felt the urge to decorate until now. Having a child has changed many things…and we’ve officially added boxes of gold and silver ornaments to our inventory.
As I type, I hear Lucy fussing in her bedroom (she isn’t one for early bedtimes anymore). Ryan goes to tend her, and so I stop what I’m doing for a few seconds to listen to his soft voice soothe our daughter. I look over at our just-lit Christmas tree. We’ve hung ornaments from both our mothers’ homes. A few garlands made from paper are draped over the fir’s branches. As of today, we don’t have any presents under the tree, but I know they’ll start accumulating in the days ahead.
In a few moments, I’ll make a cup of tea and enjoy a slice of this Apple Almond Quickbread. This simple loaf tastes like Christmas to me. Warm and spicy, this dense and sweet bread goes well with a hot drink and freshly decorated tree. And the crisp apples along with the crunchy almonds make for a perfect and beautiful topping.
In the days ahead, I’ll share the traditions we’re beginning this holiday season. I would love to hear what you and your family does to celebrate!
Apple Almond Quickbread
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons clove
1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 apple, empire or gala work well, cut into thin slices
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9 x 5 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease paper and pan with butter to prevent sticking.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat oil, applesauce, eggs, and sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes. Gently fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, stirring until just moist. Spread batter into prepared pan. Arrange apple slices down the middle of the pan (the apple only needs to be inserted into the batter about 1/4 inch) and sprinkle sliced almonds on either side.
Bake Apple Almond Quickbread in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.
Monet, looking delicious – is the Apple ALmond Quickbread so nicely colored because of all the lovely, warm spices that you added to the batter – it does look very comforting and like a wonderful way to start off the Christmas baking season – nice of you to share some of your family´s traditions. We actually never put up a Christmas tree before December 24th around here but we have already hit two Chzristams markets with the kids.
Have a great Monday and hugs and kisses to lovely Lucille!
Putting up our tree is one of my very favorite things this time of the year. And then sitting in our family room and just staring at it : ) We put everything up the day after Thanksgiving and then watched Christmas movies and drank tea and hot chocolate. It was so nice! I can’t wait to hear your other new traditions Monet!
Wow! What an awesome and creative idea! I love apples and almonds. This bread looks amazing.
I am a very happy woman, but I have to confess that ONE thing changes when you emigrate: the holidays will never be the same.
The traditions you go through as a child are too ingrained to change, and having left Brazil for good at age 33, I lost all “feeling” for the holidays. In Brazil, Christmas happens at the height of the Summer, we plan trips to the beach for New Year’s Eve etc etc. Families do things in different ways, when they open the presents, how the tree is decorated…
So Christmas time is bittersweet to me. I would not change my life for any other life, and feel it’s a small price to pay for the choices I made…
sorry, got carried away in this comment. Loved your apple concoction, not sure how you find time and energy to bake, you never cease to amaze me 😉
You paint such beautiful images with your words, Monet 🙂 (Seriously, I can’t wait to see your books on the shelves someday.) Something about this time of year begs for tradition – and delicious food like your almond quickbread. It’s so gorgeously decorated, too!
My family doesn’t really have any traditions, but Peter’s family is chock full of them. I always look forward to music and decorations at their house 🙂
This bread is so gorgeous! I love the placement of the apples and almonds. Wish I had a piece and a cup of coffee right now!
What a great looking loaf!
I can’t decide which was better, the nonverbal fussing or the screaming of “DADA” from the crib.
Your cakes are always the prettiest! 🙂 We tend to do a pretty minimally decorated holiday. For instance, for the past several years we’ve had a christmas stick instead of a tree! It lives on our mantel and gets decorated with a few precious things, including ribbon garland from one of our best friends’ weddings. The traditional afternoon of ornament-hanging is definitely a lot shorter that way though. And then there’s the christmas eve tradition of a long (& preferably snowy) nighttime walk with a thermos full of black russians…
This looks amazing!
Mmmm how lovely your day sounds, so pretty and so happy!
This bread is perfect simplicity, so beautiful and delicious!
Yummy quick bread Monet and such a wonderful read-thanks for sharing and brightening up my afternoon, xxooxx ~Patty
That’s a lovely cake Monet, I love how you decorate the apple slices and the almonds sure gives a good crunch to it. Yum!
This looks so good, it’s just hard to resist something baked with apple and warm spices. Have fun decorating!
So glad you are excited about your tree. I love putting ours up. The quickbread looks amazing.
This is so pretty with the apples lining the centre!
We still have to get our tree, I can’t wait for that glorious smell! This bread looks beautiful, love the middle!
Your tree sounds lovely Monet and I’m sure Lucy will adore staring at the pretty meantingful ornaments for years to come:) Our 2 year old loves standing and staring at the tree and it melts our hearts 🙂 This quickbread looks incredible, I love the pretty apples lined up in the middle. This would go perfect with a cup of tea or hot cocoa, hope you have a wonderful week!
Funny you ask because I just wrote a post about how we celebrate; I refuse to put links in comments, but let’s just say that we are an American, Italian and German household that leads to a ton of traditions… in other words, craziness. But we love Christmas and just can’t help it.
I think that now you are a ‘family’ it’s great that you are starting your own family traditions and having a tree. When I was first married my husband and I set up a tree that was covered in decorations handed down from my family. Twenty-five years later, we still have them. Your apple bread looks very special xx
Decorating the Christmas tree is definitely one of my favorite family traditions. We put on a little music and it really ends up being the most fun thing we do all year! This year, we should add a slice of this bread into the mix. It looks beautiful and I’m sure it tastes even better!
This looks so pretty and cute… and delicious!! I love the combo of nuts and fruit!! Such a great recipe… thanks for sharing girl!!
This bread is so pretty! I love how you arranged the apples and with all those almonds – just gorgeous!
Pinning this!
Your apple almond bread looks beautiful, Monet! Happy Holidays to you and yours. What a special year this is for you with all the new traditions you’re starting. I just love this time of year. We’ve put up our tree and that just sets the mood. Other than that, we always decorate a gingerbread house and bake/eat plenty of Christmas cookies and treats. We like to have ‘hot chocolate breaks’ on December weekends…just sit down as a family, have cocoa, munch on some treats, and have a good chat! : )
This is gorgeous! It just screams fall too! So beautiful I can almost smell it through my screen!
Congrats on your first Christmas tree! I love that you can see the apple slices in this bread. It makes it so festive and pretty.
Your day sounds so cozy. You description makes me want to be right where you are 😉
This loaf looks so yummy. I like the fact that you put whole apple slices on top/ in it.
I hope you enjoy your first Christmas with Lucille! I’m sure it will be so much fun! And aw, this bread looks so comforting and delicious 🙂
GORGEOUS! I can’t believe how perfect this bread looks with the almond topping and apple center. Just stunning! And I love decorating for the holidays, it is really the only time of year that I actually decorate.
I just decorated my tree yesterday — I always love how it marks the start of the holiday season! This bread must add to the festive feel of your home too!
I love how you added the sliced apples down the center of your bread…it is beautiful.
This is almost too beautiful to eat! Almost…*wink*
Can’t wait to try this!
That loaf is almost too pretty to eat…almost! I’m not decorating this year, which makes me a little sad but maybe next year when things are more settled and I’ve been living in the same place for more than a few months.
Lucy’s first Christmas that it such and exciting time – treasure all the memories and traditions you’re about to make together
Martina
This bread is absolutely beautiful, and I can smell those spices just by looking at it. I’m pinning this — I feel like making it right now!
Your bread came out so gorgeous, wow!
I still need to set up my tree, the time is going by too fast for me!
The bread is gorgeous! Such a great holiday gift! Love the care you took layering the apple in there.
It’s so fun to decorate for the holidays. We have most, but not all of our decorations up. We put up fake trees though.
I’ve always loved Christmas so much. I usually started decorating in mid-November just so that I can prolong that special holiday feeling. I’m moving this weekend so I haven’t put up any of my decorations. Now that I’ll have more space, I want to get a real tree for next year. The smell is just incredible! As for this quickbread – wow! It looks stunning and I can just imagine how wonderful and festive it tastes.
This bread is SO pretty! And you took great photos of it 🙂 I totally understand the tree thing. My husband and I USED to put up a tree every year, but we’ve started slacking in recent years. It is SO much work! But I imagine when we have a kid, we’ll start doing it again.
A Christmas tradition we started when we had our son (14 years ago) is to turn our Christmas tree into a birthday tree for Jesus on Christmas Eve, after our son has gone to bed. We just blow a few balloons up and tie them to the tree. He still loves it and refocuses him as soon as he comes down the stairs Christmas morning. Another tradition I copied from a friend that I also started with my son is to give him a Christmas card that my husband and I both write a special note in for him. We do the same for his birthday. These go into his memory box. I think they will mean a lot to him when he is older. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a beautiful loaf. I love the wholesome quality and rustic feeling to it… something I would pin to my “country beautiful” board ;-). Your writing is lovely Monet. Don’t stop. xo
This is gorgeous, Monet!!! I love how those apple slices on top look 🙂 I hope you’ll post a pic of your decorated tree! I also can’t wait to hear about your new (and old) traditions. I can’t wait to start traditions in our new house next year…and especially when we have kids 🙂 Knowing you’re creating memories for Lucy is so awesome.
This is so beautiful, I love how the apples are arranged on top! The scene you described sounds so perfect too 🙂
This is gorgeous Monet. I just have to make it. Apples and almonds are some of my favourite things to eat, especially all baked up in a beautiful bread. We have almond trees and the nuts will be ready for harvesting soon. Can’t wait to make this.