What If? Eggnog Bread

Saturday: I had so much going on in my kitchen...eggnog bread, peppermint fudge, snickerdoodle cookies, and home-made pizza. WOW!! What a day....

And to top things off, I had the 5 year old grandson for the day. Thank God my 16 year old daughter was at home.

After spending most of the day playing the WII with his Aunt Randi, this is what happens.

Ashton got his belly full with home-made pizza and snickerdoodles, and then falls asleep while watching Wall-E the movie.

This is Harley.

He gets cold.

He steals my blanket.

He steals my couch.

I purchased that blanket (for myself) before it was even cold outside. I wanted to be prepared for the cozy evenings to come, when the snow flies, and when the temps are below zero.

Good plan. I'm glad I bought that blanket for the dog.

This is Eggnog Bread. It tastes wonderful, but I had a huge problem with presentation. I started out trying to apply pretty frosting stripes on the top. I let it set for a while, continuously looking at it and forming a negative opinion.

So I took a knife and spread the pretty frosting stripes into a smear on the top.

Okay, I still wasn't satisfied.

That looks yucky, doesn't it?

I let it sit for a while longer, continuously looking at it.

What do I do now?

As I am making my snickerdoodle cookies, the timer goes off, and at the same time there comes a little yell from the family room, "Grandma, I'm thirsty."

What do I do? Do I pull the cookies out of the oven, or supply my demanding grandson with a drink?

I chose the drink.

As my timer reminded me two more times that the cookies were done, I finally got my grandson satisfied, and then pulled the cookies from the oven.

Yup, way over-baked.

So I turned to my trusty rolling pin, the whole time thinking about the interruption, and I beat the over-baked snickerdoodles to crumbs (cookie crumbs are a great thing to be placed in the freezer. Making frosted cupcakes? Cookie crumb sprinkles on top look amazing).

A beating can be a good thing approaching the holiday day.... Let out all your holiday frustrations with rolling pin in hand and beat those cookies to crumbs. Oh yeah, worked for me.

This is where my crumbs ended up.

That eggnog bread looks so much better, and the snickerdoodle crumbs added the perfect flavor.

Christmas is only three days away, and I have been doing a lot of "what if?" thinking.

I get very disgusted (hard to remain un-scrooged) during the Christmas Holiday because it is one holiday that has become so over-rated.

The true meaning sometimes escapes us humans.

What if:

You removed all the gifts from under the tree and placed yourself where they once were?

How do you think your children would react if they got up Christmas morning to see their mother sitting under the tree, and no gifts?

How would they react if you told them their gift was your unconditional love, and a years worth of spiritual devotion?

Something to think about, huh?

Don't ask me why, but I think about things like that. "What if?"

The eggnog bread was sliced and plated to be taken to church with me on Sunday morning. We always have a visiting time after church, finger foods and congregation.

Eggnog Bread

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. eggnog

2 tsp. rum flavored extract

1 c. white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom only of 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

Blend together the eggs, eggnog, rum extract, sugar, vanilla, and butter.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Add to eggnog mixture and stir just enough to moisten; pour into prepared pan.

Bake bread in large pan for 40 - 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean (I had to keep adding time to my baking bread. After 60 minutes I kept adding 10 minutes until it was done. I do believe I did this 2 or 3 times).

Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Cool completely, wrap tightly and store in refrigerator.

Good Luck~Happy Eating~Enjoy

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4