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Holiday Breads
cheese and apple Italian sweet holiday bread
Pane di Mele e Formaggio (Italian Sweet Apple Bread made without yeast, flavored with Parmesan and nuts)
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Special times
Contributed by: Adapted from an Italian cookbook published in the 1960s

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Ingredients

2 1/8 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
2 extra large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted then cooled
1 cup red apples, unpeeled, grated
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1/3 cup Parmesan Reggiano, finely grated

Equipment needed
a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf baking pan



Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch pan.

Mix flour with baking powder, nutmeg, salt and baking soda.

Add Parmesan Reggiano to the flour mixture. Blend well. Put aside.

In a separate bowl, using an electric beater, cream butter and sugar (about 3 minutes).

Add eggs and continue to cream (at high speed) the mixture (about 4 minutes).

Add the flour-sugar mixture to the sugar-egg-nut mixture, mix well (slow speed) but don't over-mix.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon blend in the chopped nuts.

Pour the batter in a well-greased loaf pan (The batter should not reach to the very top of the pan as it will increase in volume while it is baking.).

Bake at 350 degrees F until done -- about 45 to 55 minutes.








Notes

This recipe is one of the strangest Italian holiday breads that I have ever come across in my lifetime (And as I am not so young, that is a pretty long time!). I tried out the recipe expecting to hate it. The idea of combining Parmesan and sugar was repulsive. There are many Italian desserts that are served at the end of the meal that are not sweet (e.g. Molise's unsweetened, sharp cheese fiadone) but these desserts don't mix sweet and sharp ingredients. The sharp stays sharp. Unexpectedly, this recipe turned out to be O.K.. Actually, it was more than O.K. It was quite good. I used a combination of nuts (walnut pieces, slivered pistachios, almond flakes and pine nuts). The nuts were expensive, as was the cheese, so it was a good thing the end result was edible. It certainly was interesting (And that counts for something in this world of ours where anything edible can be had be it from across town or across the world!). I might even offer this holiday bread (Or is it a cake?) to guests and ask them to identify the ingredients. I expect quite a few people will figure out there are apples in it, but I imagine the majority will not guess there is Parmesan cheese in it. Just a thought. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

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