Double Cherry Quick Bread Recipes

CHERRY/ALMOND QUICK BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in extract. Combine dry ingredients; blend into creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in almonds and cherries. Pour into a greased and floured 9x5-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350° for about 70 minutes or until loaf tests done. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

MARASCHINO CHERRY QUICK BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour 4 mini loaf pans (6 x 3 x 2).
• Drain cherry syrup into measuring cup.
• Add enough milk to measure 1 cup.
• Set cherries aside.
• In a large bowl, on low speed, beat flour, brown sugar, cherry milk, butter, eggs, baking powder and salt for 2 minutes or until just blended.
• Stir in nuts and cherries.
• Pour evenly into loaf pans.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until pick in center comes out clean.
• Cool in pans on racks for 10 minutes.
• Remove from pans and cool completely.
• Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight for best flavor and easier slicing.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY QUICK BREAD

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line it with parchment paper.
• Combine the dried cherries with the 1 teaspoon cocoa powder in a small bowl. Toss to evenly coat and set aside.
• Microwave the cherry juice in a microwave-safe measuring cup until steaming, about 1 minute. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the 1/2 cup cocoa and whisk until smooth. Set aside while you prepare the dry ingredients.
• Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in another medium bowl and whisk well to combine.
• Add the oil, egg, egg white and vanilla to the warm cocoa mixture then whisk to combine. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated. Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Stir the cocoa-coated cherries into the remaining batter, then pour that batter into the pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.
• Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet and bake on the center rack until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, 60 to 64 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes then remove the quick bread to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife (this will cut through the cherries easily and yield a clean slice).
• Serve or wrap the cooled loaf in plastic wrap or foil and store on the counter for up to 3 days.

DOUBLE CHERRY QUICK BREAD

Steps:

• NOTE: This makes a very, very dense batter. Do NOT make this with a hand mixer; mix it by hand so your motor does not burnt out!
• Also, the baked top of the loaves or muffins is very dark! It can "read" as being done but don't be fooled! Test doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center of the muffin or loaf before removing from oven, and if it's clean of batter when removed, your bread/muffin is baked.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease giant muffin tins or small loaf pans (6" x 3"). Set aside.
• In a small bowl, blend together the beaten eggs, almond extract and melted (but cooled) butter. Set aside.
• In a large 4 quart capacity bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to make sure it's thoroughly combined. Create a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients to add the egg mixture.
• With a sturdy wooden spoon handy, add egg mixture to well in dry ingredients and fold the dry and wet ingredients together until well incorporated. Batter is very, very stiff at this stage and puts up a fight!
• Add the canned cherry pie mix and fresh sour cherries to the batter. Put your back into it and fold the cherries into the batter until it is uniformly pink in colour. Congratulations! You're almost done!
• I use a plastic one cup measuring cup to scoop the batter out and push it into the greased loaf or muffin tins with my finger. DO NOT EXCEED THE 1/2 FULL MARK OR THEY WILL OVERFLOW in the oven!
• Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For large muffins the time is 30 minutes. For 6" x 3" loaves, it's 40 minutes. For large loaves, it can be from 60 to 80 minutes and you risk burning the top! (I'm just saying).
• Remove from oven when done and cool baked goods in pan on wire cooling racks for 10 minutes. If well greased, cherry bread will flip right out of the pans! These breads/muffins really retain their heat so don't attempt to eat straight away, as tempting as it seems. Allow to cool an additional 30 minutes before enjoying this cherry quick bread. :)
• Yield from this recipe: 6 large muffins and 3 small loaf pans. This strange "yield" is because I didn't have enough loaf or muffin pans to make only one type of cherry bread or muffin. LOL.