Surprise your taste buds with yummy Cinnamon Swirl Loaf

Several years ago, after a session in the late James Beard’s cooking classes, I went home intending to follow one of his suggestions. He had flavored a bowl of fruit with brandy from a bottle containing a vanilla bean.

I happened to have a bottle with about an ounce in it and a new bottle of brandy. I half-filled the opened bottle, put in a large vanilla bean and returned it to the cabinet.

A few weeks later I was sauteeing shrimp and, trying to go fancy, took out a bottle and poured some into the pan. In a few minutes, this lovely aroma reached me. I assumed one of my neighbors was baking. You know what? It was coming from my skillet. I’d used the brandy with the vanilla. The shrimp was delicious — sweet, but delicious. Sometimes mistakes lead to creative cooking.

It occurred to me that vanilla might be good in other non-dessert dishes. And here we have a Cinnamon Swirl loaf.

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup (1 four-ounce stick) butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine sour cream and baking soda in small bowl; set aside while preparing batter.

Cream together butter and sugar; beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the flour mixture and half the reserved sour cream mixture, blending well after each addition. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and sour cream mixture, mixing until well-blended.

In separate bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

In greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan, alternate one-third batter and one-third cinnamon mixture, repeating twice, starting with batter and ending with cinnamon mixture. With a knife, swirl contents of loaf pan. Bake at 350 F oven 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. (Check first after an hour.)