Happy Thanksgiving

Here is one of my mother's and my contributions to the family meal today:

I have been dying to try the apple braid since it hit Pinterest a bit ago, and this was my chance! I found the recipe here but I will walk through it with you below, since I changed it a tiny bit. 

Ingredients:

Apple Filling

4 small Granny Smith apples

3 tbps granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Bread

2 1/2 c flour

1/4 c granulated sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

3/4 tsp salt

1 c warm water

2 1/4 tsp vegetable oil

Glaze

1/3 cup powdered sugar

5 tsp whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

First, we preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and peeled and sliced three apples (we added the fourth later).

We added the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.

We baked the apples in an 8-inch square pan for about 15 minutes. While this was happening, we made the bread dough by mixing together all the ingredients and kneading it by hand. We rolled it out into a roughly rectangular shape.

We cut small slits roughly a third of the way into the dough, about an inch apart.

Once the apples were ready (they smelled AMAZING), we added them to the center of the dough.

Braiding was easier than I expected. It was basically just pulling strips from the side across the center in a downward motion, alternating sides, and tucking in the ends.

Although we didn't braid it on the pan, we definitely recommend it! It was hard to transport it from the board to the pan when it was full. Once we managed to place it on the pan roughly intact, we put it in the oven for about half an hour, or until it looked like the photo below.

While it was in the oven, we mixed the glaze by combining all the ingredients and whisking them together. 

We spread the glaze over the braid once it came out of the oven, and transferred it to a new pan on a rack to suspend it above the liquid that pools below. 

Seeing it just sitting there waiting to be eaten was the hardest part. I couldn't wait to cut into it! 

When I did it was very worth it, especially with a little vanilla ice cream on the side.

Happy Thanksgiving!