I know it sounds lame and cliché, but I have the best mom to ever exist. Scratch that, second best mom after Cory's mom. My momma is one of the most important people in the world to me. She has always been there for me no matter what. My mom would do anything for me. She would swim across the sea to rescue me from pirates or fly me to the moon so I could see the stars closer. Though, admittedly, I'm not sure even she would want to be stuck in a spaceship with me for that long!
My mom is the craziest and funniest mom around. Her dancing skills were unfortunately passed down to me and her singing skills are outrageously... special. She loves to read and can’t get enough of crime shows. (I’m actually sitting in the living room with her as I am writing this and she is on the other side of the couch zoned out on Bones. She’s obsessed.) She cries and laughs too loudly in the movie theatre and does a great impression of a drunk grandma (practice will make perfect). She loves to shop and frequently enjoys a late night ice cream binge.
I could go on and on about my mom and how much I love her, but what does that have to do with this recipe? She picked it! Cory and I were lingering around the kitchen trying to think of what we should make for our Mother’s Day post (yes we do realize this post is not coming until after Mother’s Day, but we can’t bake something on Mother’s Day and post it right then and there!). She happened to walk through the room as I was looking through the catalog we had just gotten in the mail from William Sonoma. The first recipe I saw was Cherry-Almond Quick Bread and I read the name out loud. “Make that. That’s what I want on Mother’s Day”, she said. Well, OK, then. I had not even read the recipe or the ingredients list yet, but knowing how much my mom loves almonds and cherries, I knew she would love it.
While the ingredients are simple and the recipe was extremely easy to make, my mom loved it! The cherries and the slivered almonds gave the bread a tart and warm flavor with a bit of a crunch. A dollop of my homemade lemon curd (recipe coming next week!) pushed the bread over the edge of deliciousness! I urge you all to whip this bread up for yourself or for you mom. You don’t need a special occasion to let her know you love her. I guess I should take my own advice and go make her some more of this bread since we ate it all already...
Ingredients
Cherry-Almond Bread
Adapted from William-Sonoma
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Dried Cherries, Chopped
1 Cup Slivered Almonds, Lightly Toasted
¾ Cup Milk
2 Eggs
8 Tablespoons (1 Stick) Butter, Melted and Cooled
1 Teaspoon Almond Extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 8” x 4” loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). Mix in the cherries and the almonds.
Next, in a separate bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, butter, and almond extract. Add the dry ingredients into the milk mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula only until everything is combined. Be sure not to over mix.
Pour the bread batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes (mine took closer to 60-65 minutes). Use the toothpick test to check the center of the bread to make sure it comes out clean before removing it from the oven.
Put the bread onto a wire rack to cool. After 10 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool by itself on the wire rack.
Enjoy the delicious bread on its own, with a dollop of butter, a delicious jam, or some sweet and tart lemon curd (lemon curd pictured above, recipe for it to come soon!).
