Such a Beautiful day, not too hot not too cool. A great day to do a little baking. I was inspired to make a Lemon loaf and decided to add a little strawberry/raspberry to it. I made jam or coulis, well actually it is kind of an in between the two, lol. The preserves can’t be too thick and it can’t be too thin. It’s a pretty simple recipe and I am including how I prepared the fruit puree.
Strawberry/Raspberry Puree
1 Cup Fresh Strawberries, cleaned, hulled and cut up
1 Cup Fresh Raspberries, cleaned
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Cold Water
You can prepare this ahead of time and just refrigerate it. In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil for approx. 20 minutes to half an hour. Remove from heat and let cool. The mixture should thicken as it cools down. When the fruit has cooled, put it into a blender and blend or puree. Then, put into a sieve to remove all seeds. Set aside. (This puree recipe is enough for two loaves).
Lemon Loaf
Preheat oven to 350. Baking time is approximately 1 hour.
6 Tblpsn Shortening (Crisco or Tenderflake)
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
Grated rind of 1 Lemon (Squeeze the lemon and reserve the juice)
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Sugar (to be dissolved with reserved lemon juice)
*Reserved Fruit Puree
Cream shortening and sugar in a large bowl of a mixer. Add eggs and the grated lemon rind. In a seperate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt, mix well. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk until all combined. Pour half the mixture into the prepared loaf pan, then add 1/2 the fruit puree mixture, top with more lemon mixture. Take a knife and run it in a zigzag fashion in circles and up and down until it is slightly mixed. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for approx. 1 hour.
Dissolve the reserved lemon juice in the 1/3 cup sugar and mix well. Prepare an area to spoon on your lemon/sugar mix. I use a piece of foil paper that is larger than my cooling rack. Just helps keep things neat rather than sticky!! Remove the loaf when it is cooked and put on cooling rack. Spoon over the entire loaf the lemon/sugar juice mixture until completely used up. Allow the loaf to cool completely. Slice and serve. A wonderful recipe for any time of the year.
*NOTE: I always double this recipe so I can cut one right away and I freeze the other loaf for another time. The fruit puree recipe is good for 2 loaves, or you can use it as an ice cream topping, mix it with plain or vanilla yogurt to dip fruit. I am sure the ideas are endless. Enjoy!
audirose 