Angry Orchard Cinnful Cider Bread

For those of you who haven't made my Cinnful Cidercakes yet, you need to! My cidercakes have been a hit and I decided I wanted to take the recipe to the next level and turn it into a bread. I love any and all kinds of bread - especially banana bread, pumpkin bread, and beer bread. After giving it some thought, I decided that I wanted a moist bread like banana bread, with the denseness of pumpkin bread, and that used hard cider instead of beer. I had a pretty solid recipe for my cupcakes and decided to somehow modify it to give it a bread-like texture. 

Now I've done my fair share of food research and I know that substitutions can be made for most things but not without a little modification first. Banana bread is moist because of the banana, pumpkin bread is super moist because of the pumpkin puree and beer bread obviously uses beer to keep the bread from drying out. When it comes to apple cider bread, equal substitutions cannot be made. Apples are a very, very wet fruit and adding applesauce instead of banana or pumpkin puree nearly doubles the moisture which could turn the bread to goo, especially since there is added liquid from the hard cider already. I wanted a strong apple flavor so I cut the amount of cider in half to account for the moisture in the applesauce. The result was a rich, moist, bread that fully embodied the flavor of Angry Orchard's Cinnful Cider.

Angry Orchard Cinnful Cider Bread

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup cinnamon applesauce
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup egg beaters
• 1/2 cup Angry Orchard Cinnful Cider
• 1/4 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fat free half and half (or milk)
• Chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray 9x5in. loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside. 

In a small bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and apple pie spice. In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar then add applesauce and mix. Add 1/4 cup egg beaters and mix. Once mixed add remaining 1/4 cup egg beaters and mix again. Slowly mix in hard cider until fully incorporated. Working in 3 batches, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix. Pour into loaf pan and cook for 55 minutes; rotating after 30. 

Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan and then slowly remove from loaf pan and cool on a cooling rack. 

For the cinnamon drizzle: melt cinnamon chips, fat free half and half, and vanilla over a double boiler. As soon as ingredients are melted, drizzle over cooled cider bread and top with chopped walnuts.

Cinnful Cidercakes

Here's the thing, I love Angry Orchard cider and I love cinnamon. As a seasonal brew, Angry Orchard came out with a new cider called Cinnful Apple and it is so, so good—you can't really go wrong with cinnamon and hard cider. I got a friend of mine hooked on the stuff this past weekend and her mom shared one of Angry Orchard's photos on Facebook for us to check out. It was a picture of a cupcake made with Cinnful Apple. I clicked on the link and there was no recipe to be found. I was determined to make some sort of cupcake using the cider so I came up with a cupcake batter and was beyond pleased with the outcome. These babies turned out amazing! They're also way healthier than a traditional cupcake. 

Cinnful Cidercakes

Yield: 15 cupcakes

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
• 1/2 cup egg beaters
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup Cinnful Apple cider
• Whipped cream cheese frosting (ready made or homemade)
• Cinnamon and chopped walnuts for garnish

Preheat oven to 325°F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Lightly spray the liners with cooking spray. 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl cream together sugar, butter, and applesauce until smooth. Add 1/4 cup egg beaters and mix. Once incorporated, add the remaining 1/4 cup egg beaters and vanilla; mix. 

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just absorbed. Mix in 1/2 of the cider, then 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients, the last of the cider, and finally the remaining flour (mixing in between each addition).

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before frosting. Frost with cream cheese frosting and garnish with chopped walnuts and cinnamon.

Chicken & Potato Florentine Soup

I had made plans with a friend a while ago to come over and help me cook dinner. We debated for days as to what to make then finally decided on soup. It was going to be a gloomy day, as usual, so we decided on a heartier soup: chicken and potato Florentine; something neither of us had ever made let alone tried. The soup turned out amazing and we ended up with enough leftovers to feed us for a few more days. 

Chicken & Potato Florentine Soup

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 tbsp. onion powder
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Ground pepper to taste
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans petite diced tomatoes
• 4 medium carrots, finely diced
• 6 red potatoes, diced (skins on)
• 2 cups water
• 3 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 (8 oz.) package 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

In a large pot or Dutch oven, add all ingredients except spinach, cream cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Simmer over medium heat until chicken breasts are cooked through (about 20 minutes). Remove chicken from pot and shred using two forks. Once shredded, add the chicken back into the pot. Continue to simmer for another 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Once potatoes are cooked through, add chopped spinach and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream cheese until completely melted then add the mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. 

Recipe adapted from: Eat Cake for Dinner