Applesauce by itself can be rather “blah”. Add it to this bread and you will have a wonderful bread with your coffee (it’s like coffee cake) or for a simple dessert.

Ingredients:

Topping:

• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Batter:

• 1 1/2 cups applesauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease two loaf pans.
3. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and milk. Add dry ingredients (not the topping though) and mix well.
5. Pour mixture evenly into the 2 loaf pans.
6. Sprinkle topping evenly over each filled pan.
7. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This recipe was found on RecipeZaar.

This is the last candy cane recipe I have for this post-Christmas season. I used up all my candy canes finally! These cookies are exactly like Russian Tea Cakes (typically with chopped walnuts or pecans), except they use crushed peppermint candies (candy canes) instead of nuts.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup finely crushed peppermint (16 peppermint candies or 4 candy canes)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup finely crushed peppermint (16 peppermint candies or 4 candy canes)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix 1/4 cup peppermint and 1/4 powdered sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Mix butter, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup crushed peppermint and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir in the salt and flour.
3. Make rounded balls the size of a tablespoon and put apprx. 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set (not browned). Immediately roll cookies in the candy cane/powdered sugar mixture and cool on a wire rack or on paper towels. Let cool completely and roll in peppermint/sugar mixture again.
5. Tip: To make the peppermint finer, put peppermint into a food processer until at desired consistency.

You can thank Betty Crocker for this one!