Baker on KP

Christmas time brings seemingly limitless baked goods to kitchen counters and office break rooms and church fellowship halls. I imagine pecan farmers working ‘round the clock to keep up with the chocolatiers in their Willy Wonka factory rooms. Bakers and cake decorators rubbing lotion into chapped hands after long days with rolling pins and frosting bags. Young children standing on stepstools to press a snowman-shaped cookie cutter into gooey dough. Lots of egg shells and discarded butter boxes, a thin film of flour coating kitchen surfaces, and nut pieces that escaped the counter only to crack under a shifting foot.

I’m writing this while waiting for a batch of cookies to complete their 15-minute cycle in the oven before I replace them with the next sheet. I’m settled in for a long winter’s night in the kitchen, smells of cinnamon and brown sugar dancing around my nose.

Baking is a Christmas tradition I grew up with and have every intention of cultivating for the rest of my life. Sometimes I hesitate to contribute to the cultural overdosing on carbs and sugar, but then my timer dings, the oven door opens, and I am content to keep my baker’s cap on for a while longer. Feeding people is a love language for me and love is, after all, a Christmas virtue.

There’ve been a lot of conversations in recent years about alternatives to Christmas consumerism, from baking and homemade baubles, to purchasing gifts from companies who are empowering women to rise above poverty, to the Advent Conspiracy’s ideas for simplifying the holiday, to supporting philanthropies and alma maters, to practicing presence in place of giving presents. I’ve engaged with each of these ideas in small ways over the years, while still enjoying the fun of picking out something special and unique for the people I love.

The last of these is the one that’s been most on my mind lately. “Practicing presence” is the essential idea of the Incarnation. Christmas is the celebration of the moment God came to dwell with us as a human being, to be with us. Emmanuel. Christ’s birth and life is a demonstration that God is present with us in the joys and tragedies and everydayness of life.

Presence is a year-round concept, not just a holiday one. And I’ve found it happens very naturally in kitchens. Early this fall, I started a tradition of Monday Baking Nights and I’ve been so blessed by the extraordinary women who have filled my kitchen with their laughter and silliness and musings and wisdom. The baked goods were a bonus!

Last week, two women who I’ve traveled with on missions trips sunk their hands into some muffin batter with me. While chopping apples and measuring spices, we talked about children … the way they grow up, the ways they learn to love and seek attention, why discipline and affirmation are important to their development, and how much our hearts break for those who don’t have adults in their lives who “practice presence,” however imperfect.

And after that important conversation, we had some truly delicious apple muffins to share with friends the next day. This recipe makes 2 dozen muffins or alternately 1 bundt cake.

Muffin/Cake Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into thin wedges/pieces (smaller is better if making muffins)

Streusel Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

Prepare apples and chop pecans.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake both cups of pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 5-7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Set aside.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and fluff with fork. Set aside.

Stir together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until blended.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until blended.

Stir in apples and 1 cup pecans. Crush apples slightly as you mix (note: there will not seem like enough batter to apples – that’s ok).

For streusel, mix together butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add remaining pecans and stir.

If making muffins, line the muffin tin with paper cups and spoon batter into cups, packing down gently. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

If making a bundt cake, grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Pack streusel in the base of the pan. Add cake batter on top, packing down gently. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Insert knife to check doneness. Cook at 5 minute intervals until knife comes out clean. May have some juice residue but shouldn’t be “batter-y”.

Cool in pan 5 minutes and then remove to cooling rack. Let cool completely.