Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Cream Cheese Nut Bread


It seems that lately I have had no time for baking or cooking.  Fortunately, I live with a man who is adept at both, and who has kept me well fed while I keep busy with one of my seemingly endless number of projects.  Today I had a hankering (I tend to hanker a lot) for a comforting quick bread for tomorrow’s breakfast.  I pulled out a recipe for an old favorite, warming and deliciously scenting the kitchen in the going.  This is an easy recipe to make, and you probably have all of the ingredients on hand.  It does take up a number of bowls, but the end result is well worth it.

This moist, dense, nutty loaf, is made all the better with an almond-flavored ribbon of cream cheese running right through the center.  This cream cheese filling can be used with almost any of your favorite quick bread recipes, so give this one a try and then experiment by adding it to other favorites.  It makes an already delicious quick loaf all the better.  As an added note, this bread gets better every day.

Cream Cheese Nut Bread

To make filling:

8 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg, room temperature

Beat the above ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl on high speed until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

To make bread:

2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup canola oil
½ cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon rind
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan with vegetable spray and dust thoroughly with granulated sugar (or, a cinnamon-sugar mixture, if you prefer).  Set aside.

Beat eggs until frothy and lemon colored.  Slowly add oil, milk, and lemon rind, mixing until well blended.

In separate bowl, stir together flour, sugars, soda, salt, and nuts.  Add this dry mixture, all at once, to the wet mixture and mix until just moistened.  Do not over mix.  Spoon half of bread batter into loaf pan, smoothing as you go.  Top with all of the cream cheese mixture, then spoon the remaining half of the dough on top, spreading to cover as well as you can.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.



6 comments:

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

DELICIOUS! Love the look of this rustic bread and can just imagine the extra taste!

Thanks for sharing, eRecipeCards.com
Dave

Kathleen said...

Patti, that looks delicious! No need to spread anything on that beauty!

annies home said...

looks so good come see what I shared at http://shopannies.blogspot.com/

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

Oh my gosh...I love this! Looks delish, Pattie.

Did you have snow today?:-)

Chatty Chics said...

Wow. I'm getting hungry just reading about it and love the pictures! It looks so tasty!

Cathy @ My 1929 Charmer said...

This is so making me want a piece. It looks so yummy, and thanks for sharing with us. Thanks for sharing your creative inspiration at Sunday's Best Par.tay!