Apricot Cheese Loaf

Winter is alive and well in Revelstoke.

In the last week it's snowed almost 3 feet!

(Um... yes, I know it's March!)

I really love snow and winter but even I'm starting to miss the grass.

March 04, 2011

All this snow had me longing for a little taste of summer.

This loaf is basically what happened after I was finished tasting summer.

I took out some frozen apricots and blackberries and made some really lovely things (more on that another day) and was leftover with a handful of mushy thawed apricots.

Truthfully, I didn't have high expectations for this loaf (I'm really more of a chocolate kind of gal), but oh goodness me it was good. The cream cheese made it super duper moist and gave it a lovely melt in you mouth quality.
And the nutmeg and the cinnamon!
They just make everything taste like granny's house. (A cute little old granny that bakes not the one that sits in a lazy boy chain smoking all day.)

Although this loaf was superb, I wish I hadn't eaten all of it. 

I should've saved some for the very real possibility of getting snowed in. 

Apricot Cheese Loaf

Makes 1 loaf

For the loaf:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used spelt)

½ cup chopped apricots (dried or fresh)

2 tsp baking powder

¼tsp salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

¾ cup milk 

½ cup oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

4oz cream cheese, softened

1 egg

¼ cup granulated sugar

⅛tsp almond extract

For the topping:

2 tbsp granulated sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9''x 5''x3'' loaf pan. To prepare the loaf combine the flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and nutmeg. Mix well. Add the apricots, eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and stir until just combined. Set aside.

2. Prepare filling. Beat softened cream cheese for about a minute or until smooth. Add sugar and beat another minute. Add egg and almond extract and beat two more minutes, occasionally stopping to scrap the sides of the bowl.

3. Pour half of the loaf batter into the prepared pan. Spoon about half of the cream cheese mixture on top. Pour in the rest of the loaf batter and top with remaining cream cheese mixture. With a butter knife, gently (and minimally) swirl the batter to create a swirl effect (duh).

4. In a small bowl mix make the topping by mixing together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this cinnamon mixture all over the top of the loaf. Bake for about 1 hr - 1hr 15 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely, slice and enjoy.

Linked to: Sweets for a Saturday