Cranberry Peach Pancake Bread with Almonds

Watch out people- this is the first recipe I’ve created in months… 9 months to be exact.  I even took pictures!  (Although, please don’t judge me on them…remember my balance is still off.)  I suppose I can thank the fact that I’ve been awake for far too many hours this morning and desperately needed something to do before I stormed into our bedroom and banged pots and pans over my sleeping husband’s head.  The sad part is that he would sleep right through my concert.  Whatever the reason for my sudden burst of creativity, this is a very good recipe that we all enjoyed for breakfast this morning.

I started off wanting to make a breakfast clafouti with peaches, cranberries and a sort-of crumble topping, but the end result was breadier than a clafouti, more like a pancake…only thicker and the fruit crumble mixture wanted to be on the bottom.  Soooo…. I just decided to call it pancake bread.  You can call it whatever you’d like, I’m open to suggestions, but I do hope you give it a try.  It’s delicious, hearty, sweet but not too sweet, and full of fiber.  Yum!

To make your batter:
–Mix the following ingredients in a large, mixing bowl-
–1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (all purpose white flour is, of course, a fine substitute)
-1 TB + 1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp sugar
-1/4 tsp kosher salt
–In a separate bowl, combine the following-
-1 cup milk
-3 eggs, beaten
-5 TB melted, then slightly cooled butter
-1 TB vegetable oil
–Once the eggs are fully beaten into the rest of the wet ingredients, add the wet to the dry and whisk well until smooth.  Set aside.

To make your ‘crumble’:
–In a small bowl combine the following-
-1 15 oz can sliced peaches in light syrup or juice, drained well. *Reserve the juice*
-2 big handfuls of dried cranberries
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-1/3 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
-3-4 TB light brown sugar, depending on your sweet tooth
-pinch of kosher salt

To assemble:
-In a greased 9 x 9in glass baking dish, spread your crumble mixture evenly over the bottom.

-Pour your batter over and bang the dish on the counter a couple of times to release any trapped air bubbles in the center.

-Sprinkle come ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg over the top of the batter and bake at 375 for 30 minutes, or until the center is set.

For the syrup:
-While your pancake bread is baking, simmer your reserved peach liquid in a small saucepan with 1 cinnamon stick.  Reduce this by half, until thick and add about 1/3 cup real maple syrup.  Keep warm until ready to serve.

To serve:
-While warm, scoop out each portion and invert on the plate, so that the ‘crumble’ is on the top.
-Drizzle with your cinnamon peach syrup and enjoy!