Being a big fan of Williams-Sonoma, you can imagine that I am an even bigger fan of the Williams-Sonoma outlet about 90 miles from here. I try to keep my visits to a minimum, but I do love perusing the aisles looking at all of that lovely, mostly unnecessary stuff.
Last weekend, Quinn and I decided to make the trek for a little shopping, and I was very excited to find that they were having their annual cookbook sale. I showed a modicum of restraint, leaving with six new books.
I’m sure I’ll be making many things from my newly acquired cookbooks, but first up is this quick bread from a book aptly named Quick Breads.
It being the middle of winter, this bread is made possible by a wonderful thing called frozen raspberries. I am not one of those people who has a freezer packed with enough food to feed themselves for months. Just about the only things you’ll routinely find in my freezer are pecans, butter, more pecans, and a bottle of vodka. Luckily, though, I did have some raspberries in there for this recipe. While fresh might be better, the frozen worked really well for this bread.
I must say that this bread is amazingly delicious. It’s very sweet and dense. It’s almost more like a pound cake than bread. Although it provides a big, happy pick-me-up in the morning, I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it as a dessert also.
Ingredients
- 18 tablespoons (2 & 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 & 1/4 cups caster (superfine) sugar
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 & 1/4 cups ground almonds
- grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 5 ounces (1 & 1/4 cups) raspberries
- 5 ounces white chocolate, roughly chopped
- confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Line the bottom of a standard 9"x 5" loaf pan 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. If the mixture seems to be curdling, add a little of the flour. Stir in flour, ground almonds, and lemon zest and juice.
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.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Quick Breads.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:35 am
This looks quite delish! I love raspberry with chocolate. I wonder if I could this loaf in a round cake pan. Do you think it would retain its moistness?
January 19th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Just so you know, that picture causes spontaneous drooling.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:04 am
you bought six new books!!! You must be a happy girl that day.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Amanda, I think you could probably make this in a round pan. It would change the baking time, so I would keep a close watch on it.
Thanks, a grace! If you think the picture’s good, you should have smelled this bread while it was baking.
Mandy, I was very excited. It’s not like I actually need new cookbooks, but somehow I can’t seem to resist.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I want to make one of your recipes but, I can’t decide which one! I had my mind made up on marscapone brownies till I saw this. I guess I’ll surprise ya!
January 19th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I like your desription…dense, pound cake like…that is consistency I like best! About what quanitity of almonds make one & a fourth cups of ground?
January 19th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Megan, I’m anxious to see what you make!
JEP, I used about 5 ounces of almonds.
January 19th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
This bread looks great and sounds amazing! White chocolate and raspberries, what a great combo! And some almonds are a nice bonus.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
It looks super moist.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I so have to make this. I think it would make a nice dessert for a casual dinner with friends. Maybe with some sort of white chocolate sauce drizzled over it. Or would that be gilding the lilly?
January 20th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
White chocolate and raspberries together – mmm! This looks gorgeous!
January 20th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Like you, the only constants in my fridge are nuts, butter, and vodka, funny that.
This bread looks positively delicious.
January 20th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the compliments!
Kirk, I think a little drizzle of white chocolate would really punch this up a bit for dessert. Not gilding the lily at all.
January 20th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I wish we had a W-S outlet! Jealous!
January 20th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Rachel, it’s a happy, happy place.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Wow! This looks amazing – white chocolate and raspberries are probably two of my favorite things. I’m definitely bookmarking this one…now off to look for a W-S outlet near me…
January 21st, 2008 at 6:49 am
Wow, that loaf looks awesome and ever so tempting!
Cheers,
Rosa
January 21st, 2008 at 9:01 am
Mmmm…this sounds delicious! I just recently heard of the WS outlet. Now my mom and I have to figure out exactly where it is so we can go next time I go for a visit. I heard there’s a Pottery Barn outlet next to it…is that right?!
January 21st, 2008 at 10:30 am
Kitchenette, I’m not usually a white chocolate fan, but it goes so well with raspberries. Hope you find an outlet!
Thanks, Rosa!
Claire, thanks! There is indeed a Pottery Barn outlet next door. I’ve never had much luck with it, though. When you and your mom get ready to do, feel free to email me if you want directions. I think I can get there in my sleep!
January 21st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Ooo this looks good. And it’s nice to know that it worked out with frozen raspberries so I could make it in the winter. Can’t wait to see what you post from your 6 new cookbooks!
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
It looks delicious and I love the ingredients, Jen!
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
Ashley, the frozen raspberries were great for this. As for the new cookbooks, I’ve got lost of recipes tagged, so stay tuned!
Thanks, Patricia!
January 25th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Jennifer, I made two of these loaves last night, and I have to say I was unsuccesful, but I don’t understand why. Perhaps you could shed some light on to what happened to me. The loaves burned around the sides and bottom, but the centre didn’t cook, I had to keep adding on more time until the toothpick came out relatively clean.
I started cooking it at 350, as the recipe calls for, then seeing it start to burn I turned it down to 300. What can I do to prevent the burned sides and bottom. One of the loaves actually had the centre fall right out when I tried to get it out of the pan. Do you think I used too much white chocolate or raspberries? I used a white chocolate bar chopped up, if it was too big, would that cause the centre to remain uncooked while the rest of it burned?
Also, I noticed there is no salt, or baking powder or baking soda in this recipe, but all the other quick breads I’ve made (which is many) have one or all of those ingredients. Sorry for the long message, I don’t want to give up on this recipe because I think if I got it right it would be amazing. Please help! Thank you!
January 25th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Deanna, I’m sorry you had trouble! I’ll try to help if I can. This recipe is a little different than most quick breads in that there is no leavening agent. However, that shouldn’t influence baking time. What kind of pan did you use? Do you have an oven thermometer? If you’d like, send me an email and we’ll try to figure it out. (bakeorbreak at gmail dot com)
February 6th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I just found your blog today, but I can already tell I am going to pack on a few pounds just by looking at all these recipes! This bread looks to die for!!!
February 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
That is torture in a spoon! Love it!
On the list it goes!
March 1st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Hello, I find your blog by accident and I’m glad of it, I made the loaf tonight because I find kind intriguing, came out very good and I did not have any problem at all, actually the cooking time on my oven was one hour. Thank you
August 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Oh my gosh! We tried this this week……….it was the best quick bread I’v ever eaten!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
So nice to hear that others are enjoying this bread!
June 4th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I had double check myself when I saw the amount of butter ( not for diet reasons ) I just love butter and it was surprising to see that amount for a small loaf. It’s in the oven and so far it looks amazing! Thank you for the recipe and for your delicious blog.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Very usefull post , i will bookmark your blog right now