Double Cherry Quick Bread Recipes

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.

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.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pan). Lightly grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan.
• In large bowl, beat Bisquick mix and 1/2 cup baking cocoa with whisk. Add granulated sugar, oil, milk and eggs; stir to combine. Stir in cream cheese; fold in roasted cherries. Spread batter evenly in pan.
• To make Streusel: In small bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar and 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa. Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle streusel over top of batter in pan.
• Bake 45 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Carefully loosen bread from edges of the pan with knife, then remove from pan to cooling rack to cool completely.
• Sprinkle top of cooled bread with powdered sugar.
• *To roast cherries: Toss fresh or frozen (thawed) dark sweet cherries in ungreased shallow baking dish with 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake at 450°F about 10 minutes or just until cherries burst. Transfer cherries to bowl, and freeze 10 minutes to cool before folding in to batter.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x5-inch loaf pan with shortening; lightly flour. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
• In large bowl, beat sugar and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs until well mixed. Beat in almond extract and vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture with sour cream, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips. Spread batter in pan.
• Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate.

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.