Things are turning out just peachy....

It has occurred to me that my entire blog has been focused on cooking.  Tonight, we're going to switch it up a bit.  Tonight, we focus on.....BAKING!!  That's right, kids! One thing that you should know about me is that I have an ENORMOUS sweet tooth.  I can have a bag of potato chips sitting in my cupboard for months and I won't even give it a second glance  Well, at least I could before I met my husband.  Now he eats them all....But, you put a cake, cookies, ice cream, donuts, or any other sweet thing in my house (except baklava.  I have a hatred of baklava) I WILL EAT THE CRAP OUT OF IT UNTIL IT IS GONE!!!  Whenever there is sugar involved, I suddenly lose all self control and willpower.  Correction - I have all the self control in the world with candy, but all bets are off when baked goods and ice cream are involved.  OK, OK....it's not quite THAT bad.  But I would be lying if I said I didn't have a little something sweet every day.  And since baking is such a precise art form, the science nerd in me loves it!  Plus, it makes me nostalgic for the days when I was little, standing in the kitchen with my Grandma, learning how to make cakes, cookies, pizelles, pies (and homemade pie crust!), and all kinds of sweet goodies.  And I think about how every time we baked something, she'd always tell me how you mixed the wet ingredients then added the dry, and not to turn on the mixer too high when adding the flour or it will go everywhere.  Then she'd proceed to turn it on too high and flour went everywhere, we'd giggle, and she'd say "Like that.  Don't do that".  Found out she did the same thing with my sister, because she remembers having this exact conversation with her.

So, tonight I got adventurous.  All it took was about 5 minutes without adult supervision (my husband jumped in the shower), and when he came out into the kitchen he asked me what I was doing.  I replied "inventing peach bread" and went about my business.  See, I had peaches in the fridge that I got from the farmer's market (surprise!) for super cheap because they were really ripe (double surprise!!) that I needed to use before they became moldy mush.  And because I was so intent on perfecting this recipe, I neglected to take any pictures (forgive me!) until the end when the most beautiful loaves of peachy, sweet quick bread came out of my oven.  And now, I must share my recipe, because boy is it good!  Be warned - it makes a lot (4 loaves!), but you can half it, or make them and give them away or freeze them.  I have been doing both....because, remember, no willpower!  And, again, sorry for the lack of pictures, but i promise this is easy!!!  If you can measure and stir, you can make this.

Peaches and Cream Bread with Cinnamon Swirl
For the bread:
3 c Diced peaches
1 1/2 c Canola oil
6 Eggs
3 c Sugar
1 1/2 c Sour cream
3 tsp Vanilla extract
6 c All purpose flour
Pinch of salt
3 tsp Baking powder
Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top
For the cinnamon swirl:
1/3 c Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 4 8" loaf pans.  Prepare the cinnamon swirl mixture and set aside.

In a large bowl combine oil, eggs, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine flour, salt,  and baking powder.  Add combined dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  Stir until just moistened. Add peaches and stir one more time.

Distribute about half of batter into the four loaf pans.  Stir cinnamon and sugar mixture (in case it settled) and drizzle over top of the batter in the pans.  Distribute the other half of the batter into the pans on top of the cinnamon swirl and spread out to cover the cinnamon layer

 Top each loaf with cinnamon and sugar. (I literally just take a tablespoon or so of sugar, sprinkle some cinnamon in it, and stir it around and sprinkle it on top).  This gives it a sweet, crunchy upper crust.

Just out of the oven!

Place loaf pans on large baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

When done baking, remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.  Run knife around outer edge of loaf and remove from pan.  Let cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.

Of course, once the loaves were cool enough that I could turn one out of the pan without burning my fingers, I HAD to try it.  This was a new recipe, after all.  Plus, if I was going to pass on it here, I had to test for quality, right?  I even had my hubby try, just for good measure.  I think he secretly encourages this blog just so he gets to be my food guinea pig.  So we eagerly cut into the loaf, and this is what we saw:

PERFECTION!  I'm not gonna lie....
I was a little nervous....

And the verdict was.....delicious!  It was moist and creamy with a chunks of sweet peaches.  And the cinnamon swirl was perfect!  This would be really amazing with a cup of coffee at breakfast time or an afternoon snack or a late night snack.....who am I kidding?  It's just perfect.