I made it out alive - all of my papers and presentations are in, and I'm home for winter break, woo! Expect many cookie recipes to follow :). In the meantime, I will be sleeping and leaving you with two things:
First, an excellent all-purpose holiday cake recipe that's extremely versatile, lasts for quite awhile (useful for making ahead of time!), and is absolutely delicious.
Second, my boyfriend Chris just started a Beer of the Week blog - go check it out! He'll be reviewing beers, posting about food (we make such a great pair :D), and beer/food combinations. Sweet!
By the way, I got this amazing Bundt pan from Goodwill for $1. How awesome is that??
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All-Purpose Holiday Cake
adapted from Joy the Baker
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 apples, cut into chunks
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chocolate chips (a mix of chocolate and white chocolate chips would also be yummy!)
Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
Whisk together apple sauce, pumpkin, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples, cranberries, and chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.