A simple quick bread with maraschino cherries in every bite. Don’t forget the almond cherry glaze on top this simple cherry bread!
Can you tell I’ve been in a “pinkish” mood lately? I bet you can’t tell, with the bright pink cherry bread staring at your here. 🙂 Just this month we’ve posted cupcakes and cookies that are very….well….pink! Kinslee’s loving all of these pinkalicious baked goods. I remember about 3 years ago when Kinslee was just starting to read on her own, we got the Pinkalicious books from the library. Have you seen them? They’re super cute. They’re so fabulous for little girls who love to be princesses, which fits my little Kinslee to a T. Those books were just what she needed to encourage her to pick up a book and read it on her own. She read them over and over. Then she read them a few more times. We even made her pink cupcakes with pink frosting to encourage her to read more.
So when this pinkalicious cherry bread popped into my mind, I knew I needed to make it now. Yes, it would have been great at Christmas time, since maraschino cherries pop up all over the place at the holiday season. And it would have been so fitting for a Valentine’s Day treat, being so pink-y! But I decided to stick with our pink theme this past month and share this with you now. No waiting necessary!
This quick bread is your traditional quick bread recipe. Sugar, milk, oil, egg, flour, salt and baking powder. I wanted there to be lots of cherries in each bite, so I used two jars of maraschino cherries. Drain the juice, but reserve about 1/3 cup of the juice for the glaze. Chop the cherries either in a small food processor or with a knife. We used our Ninja Express Chop
As with any quick bread or muffin, it’s important not to overmix the batter. It’s OK if there are still lumps or a tad bit of flour in the batter. It will all bake together so perfectly in the end.
The glaze on top of the bread is a mix of powdered sugar, melted butter, the cherry juice you reserved from the maraschino cherries and some almond extract. The bread is good without the glaze, but the almond cherry glaze makes it over-the-top amazing!
My family each tested a small slice of this bread, then we put the rest in the freezer for a later treat. I’ll have to say that I ate a slice or two while it was frozen and I think I liked the bread frozen more than fresh from the oven for some reason. That makes it a deliciously cool treat for spring and summer!
If you love cherries, try our cherry hot chocolate, cookies, cherry almond cake and Amish cherry rolls!
A simple quick bread with maraschino cherries in every bite. Don't forget the almond cherry glaze on top!
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 jars maraschino cherries* (10 ounces each)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
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Drain the maraschino cherries, reserving the juice for the glaze. Coarsely chop the cherries in a food processor or with a knife. Gently fold the cherries into the batter.
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Pour the bread batter into a greased 9"x5" bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should come out clean. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
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To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, cherry juice and almond extract in a small bowl. Mix until it is smooth.
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Once the bread is cool, spread the glaze on top of the bread. Slice and serve. Freezes well!
*I often add an extra teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract to the bread batter (along with the wet ingredients) for an extra boost of flavor. I do this especially if I'm not putting the glaze on top. The bread has the most flavor when you add the cherry glaze!
*Many maraschino cherry brands come without red dye in the cherries. If you pick up a jar like this, your bread will not be pink. If you want pink bread, be sure that the cherries you use actually have red coloring in it. You can always add additional red coloring if you want the bread to have more of a pink flavor.
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