America Runs On... Eggnog Bread

When I was little there was something dreamy about a box of Dunkin' Donuts.  Someone always brought them to special social gatherings or my family and I would have them on a lazy Sunday morning when my dad would sneak out to surprise us before we all woke up for church.  Not only do I remember the donuts being quality but the munchkin boxes themselves were little works of art.  The boxes had little mini elf bakers, what looked almost hand-painted on the sides, filling powdered puffs with jam or rolling dough in coconut.  It was magical to a kid.

When I was in junior high, both my mom and sister worked at Dunkin' Donuts.  Closers got to bring home what didn't sell so every other morning I would wake up to dozens and dozens of donuts.  It was awesome! My mom would give them away, take them into school or we'd bring them to church 'happy hour.'  Dunkin' Donuts is what got me up in the mornings and suffice it to say I ate a countless number of donuts that year.  Granted,  this was the early 80's.

Here it is 2015 and times have changed.  I understand a majority of America still 'runs on Dunkin,' but my junior high school self wants to protest outside their corporate headquarters and scream "Give me my childhood back!!!"  The donuts are a 'whiff' of the magic and quality that they used to be and everything is branded and corporatized to death, it makes me sad.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the way things go and I probably am nostalgic about something that never really existed in the first place... But one day I will tell my children, and my children's children, about the magic that once lived in little mini donuts and the mini elf bakers that baked them!

Today I made an eggnog bread that is a little crumbly but reminded me of the flavor in those cake donuts I used to love long ago.  I'm not sure if it's the vanilla spice in the egg nog, the mix of nutmeg and cinnamon in the recipe, or the real rum I added because *hiccup*-- because, because... *hiccup*...I don't remember why... But if you're feeling nostalgic, it'd be a nice treat for you during the holidays.

For the record, I used the below eggnog for one major reason that may or may not be blaringly obvious to you.

Also, I bet it would be pretty fantastic if you were to pan fry it with a bit of whipped cream, and dare I say, some drizzle of raspberry.  Next time I will try baking blueberries into it because blueberry Dunkins were the bomb.  If you're a purist that likes his/her eggnog cake as is... just don't forget to dunk!  :)  The recipe is below...

In the meantime, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now enjoying a truly blessed holiday season.  Happy Holidays, y'all!

Mandi


EGGNOG BREAD:

2-1/4 c. flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1/4 c. oil
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 T. rum
1 c. eggnog

• Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a standard bread loaf pan.
• Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, melted butter, vanilla and rum.
• Add the flour alternately with the eggnog until combined.  Ex:  Add a third of the flour to the wet ingredients and mix.  Add half of the eggnog and mix.  Add another third of flour.  Add the rest of the eggnog.  And then mix in the remaining flour.
• Bake about 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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