Serendipitous Tea Loaf Thursday

Yummy

Had an awesome morning – up too early, talked too much too early, stumbled home, and encountered a messy kitchen! To celebrate having a clean kitchen once again, I present to you Serendipitous Orange Lemon Tea Loaf, so named because I had exactly the right ingredients for just this thing in my kitchen when the dust cleared, and for very little else….and might have replaced orange with lemon, because not only do I love lemons, but I did not have the requisite oranges in my kitchen to zest for this loaf.

Orange Lemon Tea Loaf

2/3 cup butter (softened)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 Eggs – Exactly how many we had in our house this morning! Serendipitous!
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt – Picked up on my way home yesterday evening, before finding this recipe!
1/2 cup orange lemon juice – When life gives you lemons…make tea loaf ♥
1 Tbsp orange lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Glaze! (I did not have enough lemon juice for this, so I sprinkled the top of the loaf with lemon zest prior to baking – it was lovely.)
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 to 3 teaspooons orange juice

Preheat oven to 350° & grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (I only figured out last year that this really means medium speed for at least five minutes, to get the texture right!) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition…or two at once if you’re like me and went a little egg-happy at this step. Add yogurt, orange lemon juice and zest. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (as per usual – you can, and I did cover loosely with foil if/when the top browns too quickly. (After about 25 mins in the oven.) Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze! I am enthusiastic about glaze:

Combine confectioners’ sugar and orange lemon juice with a whisk. Drizzle over cooled bread, having poked holes in the top if desired.

Enjoy with Earl Grey tea with sugar and cream – because bergamot goes best with any citrus baked goods, as you well know.

…and lazy kitchen helpers, who snuck off to catch some Z’s. Naughty!

Baking Varmint

♥ Momo