Sunday Sweets: Lemon Loaf

When we went away on our holiday, we had our next door neighbor look after our place. On our way back, just before we were about to board our flight in Vancouver, I all of sudden realized we had forgotten our keys at my parents' place. YIKES! So I called up our neighbor - luckily he was home! He would meet us at the airport with our second set of keys. So I knew I had to do something nice for him. I would bake him something! Of course when we brought it over to him with a thank you card, he told us we really shouldn't have - as he always does. But in my books, you should always try to show your appreciation. This time it was with this tangy, moist, delicious lemon loaf!

The great thing about lemons is that you can use them any time of year! These Coconut Lemon Squares are one of my go to recipes when you need something sweet, quick and easy! Lemon is right up there in my favorite baking flavours. LOVE it - especially in this loaf! And, the glaze just tops it off perfectly. I did a whole bunch of freezer baking prior to Little Miss' arrival and two of those were those squares and this lemon loaf. I actually cut them both up and individually wrapped the pieces so that you could just one at a time out of the freezer instead of hauling out the whole thing and having to eat it right away. It's an awesome thing to do! Portion control!!

LEMON LOAF

Makes 1 loaf

2/3 cup margarine or butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp lemon zest, grated

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

GLAZE

1/3 cup lemon juice

3 tbsp sugar

Cream the margarine and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each one. Add in the milk and beat well.

Combine the dry ingredients and lemon zest.

Stir until just moistened.

Pour into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake in a pre-heated 350°F for 60min until an inserted skewer in the centre comes out clean. Poke holes all over the top (careful not to poke through to the bottom) of the hot loaf with the skewer.

For the glaze, stir the lemon juice into the sugar until dissolved. Drizzle over the warm loaf and then let stand in pan for about 10 minutes. Use a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf and then remove from the pan
and let it cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!