Dried Cherry Almond Bread

Sydney Mike's Note:

This recipe was found in the 2009 Betty Crocker cookbooklet, Fall Baking, & makes for a festive holiday loaf. Preparation time does not include time needed for loaf to cool completely.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 24

Yield: 1.0 9-inch ...

FOR THE BREAD

• 1 ½ cups boiling water
• 2 (5 ½ ounce) bags dried cherries
• 1 cup brown sugar , packed
• ½ cup unsalted butter , softened
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups slivered almonds

FOR THE GLAZE

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon milk (or more)

Directions:

1. FOR THE BREAD ~ In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over dried cherries & let stand 20 minutes, then pat dry with paper towels.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, then spray a 9"x5" loaf pan with with a baking-spray-with-flour.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat brown sugar & softened butter with electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed.
4. Beat in eggs & the 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, then carefully stir in the flour, baking powder & salt just until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Stir in almonds & cherries, then pour into prepared loaf pan.
6. Bake 70 to 80 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean & top is dark golden brown.
7. Cool 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then loosen the sides of the loaf from the pan & remove the bread, placing it top side up on a wire rack. Let it cool completely, about 1 hour.
8. FOR THE GLAZE ~ In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth, then drizzle over cooled bread.
9. Wrap tightly & store at room temperature.
10. When ready to serve, cut loaf into 12 slices & then cut each of those slices in half.

Reviews

[NorthwestGal]

This is one of the tastiest bread recipes I've made in a long time. All I could find was tart cherries and I worried about that. But it actually turned out well. The loaf was the perfect combination of cherry and almond, and it was enjoyed by everyone in my family. My only problem is that I couldn't get it to slice thinly. I had to cut the slices pretty thick or it just crumbled into pieces. I don't know if I baked the loaf too long or at the wrong temperature, or what. But I'll make this again and figure out where I went wrong because this produced such a wonderful snack bread. And with a little extra glaze drizzled over the slices, it was almost like a cherry dessert. We Loved It! Thanks Sydney Mike.