The Autumn Equinox, or Mabon, heralds the impending darkness as as the sun begins his retreat. The beauty of the days shortening is the call to focus inwards and discover our own internal light.

This is the second harvest of the year and a time to celebrate the earth's bounty and gifts. Traditionally, our ancestors would be preparing the harvested foods to keep them sustained over the coming winter months.

This year I decided to make a variation on Apple Fritter Bread, a traditional and delicious fall favorite in Pennsylvania where I lived for several years. My tulsi is still kicking in the garden, so I decided to use this sacred herb to complement the apples. 

Now, my plans for the recipe did not play out exactly as I had hoped. This is yet another message from my guides that I need to learn a thing or two about patience. If you follow me on Instagram, you may remember that my Chamomile Pound Cake for Beltane I hit a bit of a SNAFU. When I went to invert the bundt cake, boom! Batter everywhere because the cake was not cooked all the way through. My apple bread suffered a similar fate when I went to pop it out of the pan to cool. 

Don't worry. I scraped the batter up, put it back into the loaf pan, did a little chop and stir with the spatula, and popped it right back into the oven. 

Enter baking mishap number two. Finish the Frankenstein-style loaf in the oven. It's thoroughly cooked, and I am pumped that I managed to salvage my masterpiece. Not so fast. I slide a knife around all sides in the hopes of a beautiful but rustic loaf. Turn the loaf out onto the wire rack, and it came out in a messy pile of pieces. Luckily, I wasn't trying to impress anyone (except for photos for this post), and we devoured the delicious heap of apple bread. 

I've made some adjustments to the original recipe, so you can rest assured that you won't suffer similar baking mishaps (fingers crossed).

Rustic Apple Tulsi Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 C flour

2/3 C sugar, granulated

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C buttermilk

1/3 C brown sugar

2 baking apples (I used wine crisps)

2 eggs

1 T lemon juice

1 T tulsi, finely chopped

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp ginger, ground

1/4 tsp cardamom, ground

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

The Ritual 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.

2. Grease a 9X5 loaf pan with butter or oil. 

3. Dice your apples to about 1/2 inch. Toss in a bowl with lemon juice, and then add ginger and cardamom. Toss to coat. Set aside. 

4. Mix your finely chopped tulsi with the brown sugar and set aside. 

5. Cream the butter and granulated sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix really well between each addition. The batter should get even lighter and fluffier.

6. Add the vanilla and buttermilk to the batter until combined. Now add the flour until just combined and remove the bowl from stand mixer if using.  

7. Gently fold in the apples. Then fold the tulsi brown sugar mixture in, so it's still distinct from the batter but swirled throughout. 

8. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and pop it in the oven for about an hour. The top and edges will be golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. You can give the pan a little jiggle to make sure it's set before removing. 

9. Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan and allowing to cool completely.

Magickal Properties

Apples serve up abundance, fertility, longevity, wisdom, and love. They are associated with the spirit world and even contain the sign of the witch - the pentagram - when you slice them in half. There are so many folk tales and legends surrounding this mystical fruit, including one very well known tale of a boy and a girl in a little place called the Garden of Eden. 

Tulsi, or Holy Basil, is native to the Indian subcontinent and is a sacred plant in many cultures. In Hindu tradition, this herb is associated with the goddess Lakshmi. This herbal friend is known for bringing harmony and balance to mind/body/spirit - a lovely correspondence for the equinox. 

Ginger offers energy, passion, and lust with its fiery energy to help keep us fueled and warm through the coming winter. 

Cardamom brings offerings of love, creativity, and divination for a little extra magickal energy.