He Has My Number

“You’re a pushover”, squealed SuperBoy.

And when it comes to him, three truer words have never been spoken. SuperBoy is my 5-year-old cousin, a little boy full of energy, curiosity and just a touch of stubbornness.  This is how we grow them in the family.

He was born when I was a junior in college, a time in my life when nothing too much existed outside of grades, work, beer and boys.  I was never much of a kid person;  their neediness, constant questions and never ending production of dirty diapers overwhelmed me.  This coupled with my own fears about my ability to parent had me convinced I never wanted to have kids of my own.  Some people are born with a maternal instinct; I was instead born with a great fashion instinct.

My life changed the day he entered it.  I am sure some of it has to do with how much I love both of his parents, but something opened inside of me.  I don’t think his Mom and Dad saw, but the first time I held him my eyes welled up with tears.  I knew I had never felt a kind of love like this before. My adoration was tested when I babysat him at 4-months-old and he screamed for an hour and a half.  Not once did I consider throwing him out the window; this is love. He has enriched my life in ways I could never verbalize, shown me a kind of unconditional love I have never felt, and shown me that while I may not ever love other children, there are some special kids out there that deserve an exception to my “no kids” rule.  Because of him, I hope to have children of my own one day.

So, yes, when it comes to SuperBoy, I can be a bit of a pushover.  Bedtime comes a little later, second cookies are liberally handed out and there may be some impromptu dance parties. I have drawn the line at playing with knives or running in traffic, but please don’t think I haven’t considered it.  I am sure he would bounce right back from being hit by a truck, but that’s a tough thing to explain to my aunt and uncle.

Given my love of him and of cooking, I jumped at the opportunity to combine both this weekend. (I love him more than cooking before anyone says anything, though I did have these short ribs once that could give him a run for this money…)  For a kid that can be so picky-he doesn’t really care for cheeseburgers-I was shocked to learn he is a fan of pumpkin bread, one of my personal favorites.  Maybe deep down in there he is harboring a sophisticated palette.

After reading some reviews of other pumpkin breads, his mom, Aunt Lifesaver, and I decided to do half brown sugar/half granule sugar on this recipe, as well as add a bit of molasses.  This produced a very testy, yet bricklike cake. I would not recommend this substitution. The prep was fun, though. Superboy enjoyed sifting flour and mashing the streusel topping.  And the streusel topping?  Delicious.  I think this is a solid recipe that we probably should have resisted the urge to tinker with.  But if you are in the market for a deliciously spiced rock, look no further! This recipe is copied from the Gourmet Cookbook. Generally, they know that they are doing. I shall never question them again when it comes to baking.

We had a great time making it, and luckily at 5, he doesn’t notice silly things such as density. He ate it and loved every bite.  I did, too; small failures like this don’t make much of a difference when you are with someone so special.

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Source: Gourmet Cookbook

For topping:
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
5 Tbs sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened

For bread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 (15-oz) can solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups)

MAKE THE TOPPING: Blend together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.

MAKE THE BREAD: Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl. Mix together pumpkin, .oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Fold in apples  Divide in to both pans and cover with streusel topping. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.