Praline-Topped Apple Bread

Last week of July. The Connecticut summer is officially at peak — the kind of peak where everyone at the hospital wants cold food for lunch, where the cafeteria runs out of iced tea by 1 PM, where the maintenance guys work with their shirts off behind the loading dock. I have stopped noticing. I have worked through thirty-four Hartford summers and I notice heat the way a fish notices water, which is to say, only when it is extreme.

I made maduros on Sunday. Fried ripe plantains. The most forgiving dish in the Puerto Rican kitchen. You take a plantain that has gone past yellow — spotted with black, soft to the touch, sweet — and you slice it thick, on the bias, and you fry it in hot oil until the outside is caramelized and the inside is butter. Salt optional. Sprinkle of cheese if you are doing them fancy. I was not doing them fancy. I was doing them tired.

Mami loves maduros. She loves them more now than she used to love them. I think it is the sweetness — she is drawn to sweet things in a way she was not in middle age, and I wonder if the taste buds are changing with age, and I wonder if this is what happens to all of us if we get that far. I served her a plate of three maduros and a piece of grilled chicken and she ate the maduros first — in violation of Mami's strict rule that dessert comes after savory — and she did not care. She said, "I am old enough now to eat in any order I want." She is right. She has earned this.

Rosa and Carlos and Camila came for dinner Sunday. Camila is eight months old and starting solids, and Rosa had been asking for advice about what to feed the baby, and I told her the Delgado answer, which is: mashed plantain, mashed sweet potato, mashed anything soft and unseasoned until she is a year, then start putting a tiny bit of salt and sofrito on her food and watch her delight. Camila ate a finger-length of maduro, soft and mashed with a fork, and she made the face — the "this is a new taste, I am considering whether I like it, I have decided I like it" face — and Rosa said, "Ma, you started her on maduros. I am never going to be able to feed her plain food again." I said, "Good." Camila had four more. Wepa.

Tuesday at work I found out Jorge, my second, is probably taking a job at Yale New Haven. He has not said it directly — it is a rumor, via Gladys, who is a reliable source — but I am not surprised. He has been outgrowing our kitchen for a year. I will lose him by September. This is the shape of any career. The people under you rise or leave or both. I will train the next one. I always do. Wepa.

That Sunday already had its sweetness — the maduros, Mami eating them first without apology, Camila’s face when the flavor landed. When I want to carry that same caramelized warmth into a baked thing, something I can wrap and leave on a counter for the week, I come back to this praline-topped apple bread. The praline does what the hot oil does to a ripe plantain: it takes sugar to its darkest, most honest edge. It is not fancy. It is tired-Sunday food, which is the best kind.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups peeled, finely chopped apple (about 2 medium apples)
Praline Topping:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Heat oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly combined.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine wet and dry. Stir the sour cream and vanilla into the butter mixture. Add the flour mixture in two additions, stirring just until no dry streaks remain — do not overmix. Fold in the chopped apple.
Bake the bread. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50–55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Make the praline topping. While the bread cools slightly, combine the brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the butter melts and the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the chopped pecans.
Finish and set. Spoon the warm praline topping evenly over the top of the loaf. Allow it to set for at least 15 minutes before slicing so the caramel firms up and does not run.

Nutrition (per serving)

Praline-Topped Apple Bread — The Caramel at the End of a Long Sunday