Hello, dear readers! I’m happy to announce that I am back from a brief blogging hiatus! I’m just bursting with new recipes to share with you all, starting with this delicious treat for a chilly fall morning. My freezer is full of ripe bananas that I’ve stashed away for a rainy baking day. I was perusing this banana bread recipe and decided to tweak it into some delicious Cinnamon-Pecan Banana Muffins. Fall is in the air, and I just love a deliciously spiced muffin to pair with my morning coffee at this time of year. So welcome back to VV, and I hope you will stick around for some more of my vintage-inspired recipes.

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You should know by now, dear readers, that I am of Irish blood and that I love to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! While a hearty loaf of brown Irish Soda Bread usually graces our table on this festive day, this year, I decided to branch out and make a spotted dog. After comparing many sources, I decided to base my version on a recipe whose source was right in the heart of Ireland.

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Warning – this bread is totally addictive. It is just mildly sweet, perfectly spiced, dense, moist, and nutty. We could not stop eating it this morning! My husband and I easily took care of half the loaf for breakfast. I hope you will try it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…

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In my family, Easter weekend brings with it many culinary traditions:  Easter brunch, sliced, ham, deviled eggs, desserts infused with the flavors of spring . . . But one of those traditions was in danger of coming to an end this year.

Since before I was born, my family has frequented a small, independent bakery in Atlanta for fresh bread, colorful thumbprint cookies, and – an Easter tradition – hot cross buns.  Sadly, our precious little bakery closed a few months ago, as the owner decided it was time to retire.

And so the challenge was laid before me:  homemade hot cross buns!  So I hit the books and started paging through some my my vintage cookbooks.  When I reached my mom’s 1973 edition of Better Homes and Gardens’ Homemade Bread Cook Book, I found one of those wonderful little newspaper clippings that get forgotten, lodged inside of forgotten cookbooks.  The clipping came from the March 27, 1983 issue of Atlanta Weekly.  Glancing over the recipe, I knew this one was The One.

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I’ve made this nice cozy breakfast bread several times this season.  A slice of this bread is absolutely perfect with a cup of coffee or tea on a chilly morning.  It is packed full of tart apples, juicy cranberries, and toasty walnuts – with barely enough spiced batter to hold it all together!

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