Almond Tea Bread Recipe

We were fortunate to receive a bag of cherries from the grandparents, but needed some assistance to finish them before they get gross.  After a minutes randomly Googling recipes on the internet, I came across this:

Almond Tea Bread by Taste of Home

Doesn't it look beautiful?

What I love about the recipe is the use of fresh cherries and almond paste instead of the usual almond extract.  Give it a bit of an extra oomph, I think.  My own attempt didn't photograph as well but was delicious nonetheless.

According to my 4 year old, it was the "best dessert ever"!  Nuff said!

I adapted the recipe as follows:

Ingredients

• 1 can (7 ounces) almond paste
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups fresh pitted cherries 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine almond paste and butter; beat until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, gently toss cherries and 1 tablespoon flour. Set aside.
2. Combine the baking powder, salt, remaining flour; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition.
3. Spoon a sixth of the batter into each of two greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans; sprinkle layers with half of the fruit. Cover with another layer of batter and sprinkle with remaining fruit. Top with remaining batter; smooth with spatula.
4. Bake at 350° for 1-1/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each).

I only had 2 cups all purpose flour avail (but would have subbed 1 cup of wheat anyway) and with the addition of the wheat flour, more milk was required.

Just a note about pitting the cherries without a tool.  You can use a chopstick or a piping tip to push out the seed.  I found the number 5 piping tip to be perfect as you can just set it on the cutting board and push the cherry down on top.  Be-warned that if your cherries are on the juicier side, you may want to put on an apron and possibly some goggles.  Not that I had cherry juice spray on my face or anything. =)