PREP TIME 15 minutes
COOK TIME 50 minutes
TOTAL TIME 1 hour 5 minutes
SERVINGS 16 Thin Slices
- To help the cherries remain suspended throughout the batter, rather than sinking to the bottom, toss the cherries in flour before adding them to the mixture. This will help make sure you have a nice distribution of cherries throughout your loaf of bread.
BREAD
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup milk
¼ cup maraschino cherry juice
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
- GLAZE
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsps heavy whipping cream or milk
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1-2 drops cherry extract or 1 tablespoon maraschino juice
FIRST STEP: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
SECOND STEP: In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, almond extract, vanilla, vegetable oil, milk, cherry juice, eggs, and sour cream. Whisk to combine well.
THIRD STEP: In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
FOURTH STEP: Drain maraschino cherries from the rest of the juice (you’ve already used ¼ cup of the juice in the bread batter) and coarsely chop the cherries into halves and/or quarters.
FIFTH STEP: Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of the flour mixture over the cherries and toss to combine.
SIXTH STEP: Stir the remaining flour mixture into the milk/eggs mixture. Stir just until wet and dry ingredients are combined – lumps and streaks of flour in the batter are fine.
SEVENTH STEP: Gently fold the cherries into the batter to distribute evenly, but do not overmix.
EIGHTH STEP: Pour batter into a greased or parchment-lined 9×5 loaf pan.
NINTH STEP: Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cover bread with aluminum foil after 45 minutes to prevent it from over-browning on top.
TENTH STEP: Remove from the oven and cool. (You can turn the bread out onto a wire cooling rack after it has cooled for an initial 10 minutes in the pan
ELEVENTH STEP: Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the bread. The glaze will set, dry to the touch after about 30 minutes.
