Lemon, Limon, Limone, Citron - How ever you say it....It means tart, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

You know how they say necessity is the mother of invention?  Well that was the absolute case with this recipe.  We purchased a loaf of raspberry lemon bread at a local bakery ($7.00/loaf - yikes) as a treat.  Joaquin of course, fell in love with it.  See since he was an infant he has had an affinity for the wonderful tartness of the lemon.  Once while dining with some friends they thought it would be funny to give him the lemon from their water to watch his face scrunch up from the tartness of it.  They handed it to him with rapt anticipation only to be sadly disappointed. When he tasted it there wasn't any reaction from the tartness only delight for the flavor.  He grabbed it and used it for a teething toy while we enjoyed dinner.  That was the beginning of his love affair.  I tell you if he had it his way he would put lemon on everything :)  He loves it on his rice and in his bean burritos and sometimes surprises me with can I have some on my fries :)

But I digress :)  

So, since of course I didn't want to pay $7.00 every time he got a craving for this lemony treat I knew I needed to come up with my own recipe.  After quite a bit of research and experimentation I came up with a recipe that is just about spot on!  It really is tart, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

The Cast

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup of raspberries (dusted with 1 TBS flour - this helps to keep them from all sinking to the bottom of the pan)
• 1 box instant lemon pudding
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a large loaf pan.  Mix all the wet ingredients (raspberries are added at the very end and are folded in DO NOT use mixer for this step) and then add the dry ingredients mixing just until you have a smooth batter, about 3-5 minutes.  Gently fold in the raspberries. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Allow to cool on rack for 5 minutes then remove from the pan and return to rack to cool completely.  Enjoy with a big cold glass of milk :)

This is the bread without berries...just as yummy!