Posts Tagged ‘bread’

King Cake

February 16, 2012

I don’t observe Lent.  It’s hard for me to remember when Fat Tuesday is.  I’ve never lived in New Orleans.  I’ve never even been to a Mardi Gras celebration (except for once in 5th grade)!  But did I make a king cake this year?  Um, of course I did.  Will I have a Mardi Gras party?  I’m definitely considering it.

This is what I do, people!  I like to make traditional dishes for holidays I don’t even celebrate just because it’s festive!  I’m willing to take my entire evening to make a scary yeast risen cake dough just so we can have a multi colored sprinkled concoction to eat.  You know, on the Thursday before Mardi Gras.  I will myself to get through these recipes just because it’s…fun!

I also like tradition, you see.  And traditionally there is a fava bean or a plastic baby hidden inside the cake.  Whoever gets that in their piece must throw the party the following year.  This is also fun!  I thought I had fava beans, but I didn’t, and finding a small plastic baby is much more difficult than one can imagine.  So we are bean/baby less in this king cake.  I would be upset about this, but likely I will be throwing the party next year anyway.

King Cake (ever-so-slightly adapted from My New Orleans via The Today Show – because the Today Show is awesome)

I kid.  This cake is really not all that difficult to make.  It’s time consuming, sure, and a bit messy.  But, c’mon, it’s Mardi Gras!  You must make it.

  • 1 cup lukewarm milk, about 110 degrees
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons dry yeast
  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • 5 egg yolks, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

For the cake, pour the warm milk into a large bowl. Whisk in the granulated sugar, yeast, and a heaping tablespoon of the flour, mixing until both the sugar and the yeast have dissolved. Once bubbles have developed on the surface of the milk and it begins to foam, whisk in the butter, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the remaining flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg and fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a large rubber spatula. After the dough comes together, pulling away from the sides of the bowl, shape it into a large ball. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a draft-free place to let it proof, or rise, for 1½ hours or until the dough has doubled in volume.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough between your palms into a long strip, making 3 ropes of equal length. Braid the 3 ropes around one another and then form the braided loaf into a circle, pinching ends together to seal. Gently lay the braided dough on a nonstick cookie sheet and let it rise until it doubles in size, about 30 minutes. Once it’s doubled in size, place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake until the braid is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
  • Purple, green, and gold decorative sugars
  • 1 fava bean or plastic baby to hide in the cake after baking

For the icing, while the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar, condensed milk, and lemon juice in a bowl until the icing is smooth and very spreadable. If the icing is too thick, add a bit more condensed milk; if it’s a touch too loose, add a little more powdered sugar. Once the cake has cooled, spread the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle with purple, green, and gold decorative sugars while the icing is still wet. Tuck the fava bean or plastic baby into underside of the cake and, using a spatula, slide the cake onto a platter.

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Corn Muffins (Stuffing – Part 1)

November 17, 2011

I don’t know a single person that doesn’t love Thanksgiving (it’s in a week, you must have heard).  And while I love Thanksgiving with all of my heart and soul, I have come here to admit that I have never had stuffing before!  I know!  Insanity.  For some reason, Thanksgiving at our household has always been a strange conglomerate of Indian dishes, Thanksgiving-y vegetarian side dishes, and whatever other recipes that I wanted to try because I had many guinea pigs around.  There was never a year when stuffing made the cut.

I have to say that I’m not completely surprised though.  There are some pretty stellar Thanksgiving vegetarian side dishes that sound much more appealing than stuffing.  Hello – caramelized brussels sprouts salad?  Goat cheese mashed potatoes?  Brown sugar glazed yams?!  You can’t blame me here.  Especially because if you think about it, stuffing is essentially dried out bread that you make soggy with eggs and broth and then put right back in the oven to try to crisp up again.  Why?  Why would anyone go through all of this just to get back to the same point you were at before?

But here I am, willing to try this age old tradition, asking my family to be guinea pigs once again.  So, in this two part post about stuffing, I will first make the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing.  I decided on cornbread stuffing, because, as you all know, I love all things corn.  But more than that, the sweet/salty combo intrigued me.  So instead of making standard cornbread, I knew that I wanted to use sweeter corn muffins, especially because this meant that I got more crispy edges in my actual stuffing.  Did I mention that I don’t like the idea of soggy bread?

Also, muffins get stale pretty quickly, and apparently, to ensure the best possible stuffing, you need the stalest bread.  See why this has always been such a confusing dish to me?  Come back this weekend when I post about putting this whole dish together!  I’m excited to be proven wrong about my thoughts on stuffing.  Hopefully.

Corn Muffins (from Baking from My Home to Yours)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (I used canned – I rinsed the kernels and then blotted them off on a paper towel)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Brush a standard 12 mold muffin tin with butter (you could also spray the muffin tin, but the butter will ensure really crispy edges).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, if you’re using it. In a another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk together until well blended.  Mix in the corn kernels.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.  After the muffins have cooled completely, cut each one into quarters and spread out onto a baking sheet.  Don’t snack on them!  Place in a switched-off oven for two days to dry out before making stuffing.

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(Nutmeg) Zucchini Bread

October 13, 2011

I know what you’re thinking: “zucchini again?!”  It’s been zucchini overload in the past couple of months, I realize.  And I also am aware that just because I’ve found a new love in zucchini does not mean that I have to impose it on you.  But I have something to say about this.  A couple things, actually:

1. I want you to make this bread, but I have absolutely no idea when zucchini season ends.  It definitely seems like a summer vegetable (but I wouldn’t know, I only started liking it this year).  But it’s still appearing in abundance at the grocery store.  Which could actually all be lies because grocery stores are also selling strawberries (whose season ended back in June, of course).  But my point is I obviously want you to make this when zucchinies are available (though not necessarily “in season”).  And they’re available now!

2. Its not really the zucchini that’s highlighted here.  It’s the spices!  It’s just called zucchini bread, and though it may be an active ingredient, it’s not the star.  I would say the star is the nutmeg…in which case you can call this “nutmeg zucchini bread”.  (You can’t get rid of the zucchini altogether from the name because it’s still a pretty integral component of this bread.  You understand).

3. I don’t have a number 3.  Oh, except to say that I promise I won’t post another zucchini recipe for at least another 6 months!  Even though I’m very sure I’ll make this particular recipe several times in the next six months (only, of course, if I will be able to find zucchinies at the grocery store).  But this has got to be my favorite zucchini recipe thus far.  This bread is also very warm and cozy: that was one last attempt to make you want to make another zucchini recipe.  Now I’ll stop.

Zucchini Bread (adapted from here)

3 eggs
scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease two loaf pans, liberally.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder salt and nuts in a separate bowl.

Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix well, making sure that all of the flour is well mixed. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan, on a wire rack, for about an hour, then turn out on wire rack to cool completely.

Photo 1 Credit: Hannah Mellman

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Easy Whole Wheat Oat Bread

August 11, 2011

You know, there are just some recipes that I want to make as soon as I see them.  This, my friends, is one of them.  Saw the recipe on Tuesday, made it on Wednesday, and I’m just getting ready to make it all over again.  It’s that easy, and it’s that good.

This isn’t one of those intimidating yeast breads.  There’s no kneading, only a 30 minute rise time (directly in the loaf pan!), bake it off for 30 minutes, and ta da!  You’ve got yourself some delicious bread!  Start to finish time takes maybe an hour, and that’s just pretty awesome.

In all fairness, this won’t replace your sandwich bread, and it will be hard to toast.  It has this soft crumbly texture that will be hard to make anything that needs a sturdy slice.  But it is just screaming for some butter and jam, while it’s just coming out of the oven.  A perfect staple for afternoon tea, if you do that sort of thing.  If not, it’s great for breakfast too.

Easy Whole Wheat Oat Bread (recipe from 101 Cookbooks)

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 packet yeast

1 tablespoon honey

In a bowl, mix together the water and yeast until the yeast is dissolved.  Add honey and stir until the honey is thoroughly mixed in.  Set aside for 10 minutes.

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 tsp. flaky sea salt

2 tbsp. butter, melted

In another bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Place the butter in a loaf pan and brush generously to cover the entire surface of the pan.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well incorporated.  Scoop the dough into the prepared pan and spread to make sure that it is evenly distributed.  Cover with a clean, damp cloth and set the pan in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake bread for 35 minutes until baked through.  Broil for 2 minutes until the top has turned a deep brown.  Let cool in the pan, on a wire rack.  Eat warm.

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Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread

April 26, 2011

What do you call something made with carrots, bananas, dates, zero unnatural sugar, and whole wheat flour?  Hopefully, you wouldn’t call it dessert.  And usually, neither would I.

But there is something so intriguing about this recipe for…bread.  It’s a crazy extreme healthy approach to a carrot cake.  It has all of the necessary ingredients of a carrot cake: carrots, of course, cinnamon, cream cheese frosting, even!  But with the added benefit of healthy whole wheat flour and zero unnatural sugars.  It basically sounds impossible for it to be tasty.  So of course, I wanted to be proven wrong.

Results?  It’s not quite your grandmother’s carrot cake.  Think of it more like a banana bread with cream cheese frosting slathered on top.  We should even agree to call this breakfast and not dessert.  But it totally works.  You don’t miss the sugar too much.  And the bites with the frosting are especially divine (don’t judge)!  Regardless, it’s a tasty and healthy lead-in to a summer full of ice cream, pies and cobblers!

Carrot Cake Breakfast Bread (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

I used whole wheat pastry flour, as the recipe indicates, but I would say that perhaps you shouldn’t be as virtuous when you give this a go.  I think that the whole wheat flour is what gives this bread the most “healthy” taste.  Try it half and half with all purpose flour, or even the full amount.  And while we’re on this subject of virtue, I would even say that adding about 2-4 tablespoons of brown sugar to the batter would be just fine.  But we would be bordering on calling it dessert with that.  I would suggest, however, splitting the 1 stick of butter into 4 tablespoons, and replacing the other 1/4 cup with applesauce for maximum healthiness without the healthy taste.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted
4 ounces unsalted butter, heated until just melted
1/2 cup dried dates
2 ripe bananas, mashed well
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Pour the melted butter on top of the dates and set aside for dates to soften.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the bananas and carrots. Whisk in the yogurt and the eggs (and the sugar, if using – see headnote).

Puree the butter/date mixture, and add it to the banana/carrot mixture.  Mix well.

Add flour mixture and stir until everything comes together.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, until tester comes out clean.

While baking, vigorously stir together the cream cheese, agave or maple, and the powdered sugar.  After the bread has come out of the oven, let it cool slightly and then slather the cream cheese frosting on top, while still a bit warm.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels

February 15, 2011

Okay, I know what you’re thinking.  Why post a recipe for a perfectly fitting Superbowl snack, something that you could have easily wowed friends with, two weeks after the Superbowl?  For one, I made these on Superbowl day.  A little scheduling mishap…sorry about that.  (But they were a hit at my Superbowl potluck!  No, really, I’m sorry.).  But secondly, there are a lot of great sports that these pretzels would be appropriate for!  The aforementioned college basketball, for one – I hear that March Madness is coming up.  And isn’t baseball supposed to start soon?  But anyway, sports have no business being in this conversation because these soft pretzels are just so yummy that you won’t even need a sporting event to justify making them!

Oh, wait.  You’re saying that that wasn’t all that you were thinking?  You’re also thinking that who in their right mind would even attempt to make soft pretzels at home?  Who would go to the trouble of rolling little balls of dough into long, snake-like pieces just to twist them again in these weird shapes that never look quite the way they’re supposed to?  Especially when you can buy perfectly acceptable soft pretzels at your local mall.

Well, friends.  I have wonderful news for you.  These are a breeze to make!  You have to believe me!  Remember…I’m afraid of yeast!  There is usually a ban on yeast in my person kitchen!  And yet, the dough worked beautifully again – just like the last time I ventured into yeast-land!  As for the twisting, you can honestly make these any shape you like!  These babies, they’re about the taste (notice the picture where I just cut the long strips of dough into cute little soft pretzel bites!).  Homemade soft pretzels are out of this world.  These are no-need-to-host-a-Superbowl-party-just-make-for-yourself-on-a-Tuesday-night good.  Yep.

Homemade Soft Pretzels (original recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)

Ingredients

1 cup warm water
1 package dry active yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand for 10 minutes, until yeast is foamy. Add the water/yeast along with the oil, sugar, salt and flour to a bowl and mix.  Transfer to a floured surface and knead until the dough is soft and slightly sticky, but very smooth. Place dough in a large oiled bowl, and let rise, covered, for 1 hour, until doubled.

Punch the dough down to release air, and divide the dough into 12 equal shapes and form them into small balls. Cover and let them rest for 15 minutes. Roll them into 18 to 20″ length rope-like pieces and form them into pretzel shapes, or pretzel bites, if desired.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow the pretzels to rise for 1/2 hour.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large pot, bring the baking soda and water to a boil. Add the pretzels one at a time to the boiling water for 1 minute, flipping midway.  Remove and place on a cooling rack. When cooled, transfer each pretzel to a parchment lined sheet pan. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until dark brown.

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Pan de Mallorca

January 24, 2011

As it turns out, I’m afraid of yeast.  Seriously, I’m not kidding – there is just way too much to worry about.  Is the water warm enough for the yeast?  Will the yeast bubble??  Will the dough rise?  Am I kneading the dough for long enough?  Will the dough rise again??  Too much pressure, I tell you.  Too much left to chance.  I simply do not use yeast…I’m too afraid.

But I had these rolls called mallorcas in Puerto Rico.  They were rich pillowy buttery croissant-like rolls, split open and filled with butter and guava or cherry jam (or ham and cheese for the most traditional version, but c’mon, really…let’s go with the jam), grilled and then doused with powdered sugar.  They were literally oozing with buttery goodness.

The thought of never eating a mallorca again deeply, deeply depressed me, and I realized that the only way I could experience this joy again was if I made mallorcas at home.  I considered lifting my ban on yeast.  I searched for the most simple recipe for mallorcas.  All the steps seemed easy enough, but I held my breath the entire time.  (A full two hours of holding my breath.)  But – at the end – they were just like the ones I ate in San Juan!  Soft, buttery, warm, delicious.  Bring it on, yeast.  I’m ready for you.

Pan de Mallorca (original recipe here)

Like I said, the most traditional versions are filled with ham and cheese, grilled and dusted with powdered sugar.  A sweet and savory pastry of sorts.  For my fellow vegetarians, I even saw egg and cheese versions on San Juan menus, which I was tempted to try.  But for those true to my heart, my fellow sweet-teethed people, stick to the jam.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
flour for dusting work surface
butter to grease bowl and pan
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Procedure

1. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the sugar, salt, egg yolks, milk, 4 tablespoons of the cooled butter, and 2-1/2 cups of the flour. Mix well.

2. Lightly flour a work surface. Turn out the dough and knead for 5 minutes. Add enough of the remaining flour so that the dough is not sticky.

3. Grease a bowl with butter. Pour the dough in it and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Set aside. Punch the dough down. Knead it on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 18×9 inches. Brush with the remaining melted butter. Roll up the dough from one short end and cut it into 9 slices; trim the ends to make them neat. Arrange the slices in the baking pan. Cover and let rise for 40 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake the rolls for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the rolls cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a platter and dust with confectioners’ sugar.  Alternatively, you can split the rolls open, spread butter and a jam of your choice on both sides, close and grill.  After grilling, dust with powdered sugar.

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Brazilian Cheese Bread

November 29, 2010

I love that cookies have their own season.  There is Halloween season, and then there is  Thanksgiving, and then all of a sudden, you realize that it’s cookie season!  The best time of the year, hands down.

I do think that it gets to be a bit overwhelming to see all of the cookie recipes on TV shows and magazine covers and dropped in your inbox daily (yes, I have a weakness).  You get recipes for traditional cookies, cookies with a modern twist, rolled out cookies, drop cookies, gingerbread houses, mini pies, everyyything!  It’s overwhelming and hard to choose just several to make during the season.  And that’s exactly why I’m posting a recipe for Brazilian Cheese Bread!

Don’t be disappointed.  Seriously, you’re going to thank me for this one.  By the time you’re attending your third holiday party, while still planning on hosting your own, you are going to be craving something salty and savory.  Something that you can nosh on while wrapping presents, and even add to your holiday party spread.  It’s a recipe perfect for the season.

Plus.  There’s a bonus: they’re delicious AND easy.  They are this cheesy, chewy goodness that are so addictive that you will find yourself eating the whole batch within 2 hours of baking them.  Trust me.  I know.  And it’s all made in a blender!  It looks like a popover, but without the hollow center.  Because that center is taken up by the cheesy, chewy deliciousness.  Do I need to say it again?  Cheesy, chewy, yum.  And a brilliant contrast to the cookies that are about to bombard you.  And I’ll partake in that bombarding – coming soon!

Brazilian Cheese Bread (original recipe from here)

Tapioca flour is a necessary ingredient in this recipe – this is what makes the bread so chewy.  You will easily be able to find it at a specialty grocery store.  You can use any cheese you want for this bread, but I have only tried it with queso fresco, which is, undeniably, amazing.  The last thing: I’ve heard that the authentic version is a bit more salty than the recipe calls for.  I have tried this recipe with 1 teaspoon of salt, as well as 2.  I like it much better with the former, but this will depend on your own taste…and the saltiness level of the cheese you use.

Ingredients

1 egg, room temperature

1/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cups tapioca flour

1/2 cup queso fresco, shredded

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.  Place the muffin tin onto a baking sheet.

2. Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Fill the muffin tins to the top with batter.

3. Place cookie sheet with muffin tin into the oven and bake until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.  Eat while warm or reheat later.

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Blackberry, Almond, White Chocolate, Lemon Loaf

September 17, 2010

Like in most things, there are certain aspects of baking that I could do without.  Converting a recipe from grams to ounces to cups, for one.  Or sifting the dry ingredients, which always leads to taking out and cleaning one more utensil.  But who really wants a dense, hard to swallow cake?  So I learned to do that one.

But the thing that I’m most lazy about is greasing a pan.  I would rather spend my time hoping and praying that my baked good will come cleanly out of the vessel in which that it was baked, than actually taking the time to butter and flour the pan.  It seems so simple, but I can never convince myself to do this part well.

Why all this insight into my baking bad habits, you may wonder.  Well, this was one bad habit I had to break.  It was reactionary, so please do not think that I just happened to see what was best for my products, and those that ate them.  I’m not that noble.  I wanted to make a quick bread as a gift, and thought that the extra step of greasing AND flouring the pan AND lining the pan with parchment paper AND greasing it again, seemed unnecessary.  So I quickly sprayed the loaf pan with my handy no stick spray and was set.

Set.  Ooooh boy, was that loaf ever set.  The loaf was so extremely stuck to its pan that I had to knife it out.  And then cut the burned edges.  And then cut it again so it didn’t look like I purposely cut the burnt edges.

But the result, minus the crispy parts in my trash can, was divine.  Almonds and lemon and blackberries, and white chocolate – you may first think that there is way too much going on, but no.  Think again.  It was just perfect.  All blended together in this amazing merriment.  And though it was delicious in its own right, I wish I had the whole loaf.  Including the crust.

Grease the pan.  That’s all I’m sayin.

Blackberry, Almond, White Chocolate, Lemon Loaf (adapted from Bake or Break)

Ingredients

  • 2 & 1/4 sticks (9 ounces) butter
  • 1 & 1/4 cups caster sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 & 1/4 cups ground almonds
  • grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 ounces blackberries, or any berry (frozen could work too!)
  • 4 ounces white chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 350°.  Butter and flour a loaf pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter pan and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, a little at a time, until blended.   Stir in flour, ground almonds, and lemon zest and juice.  Stir in both extracts.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Scatter raspberries and white chocolate over the batter. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour & 10 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Then, cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.

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