Glazed Lemon Tea Bread
- 1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup firmly packed vegetable shortening or 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup sugar blended with the juice of 1 large lemon
Instructions:
This tea bread freezes well. Wrap snugly in plastic food wrap, over-wrap with aluminum foil, date, label, and store in a 0° F. freezer. Serve within 3 months.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spritz a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together onto a piece of wax paper and set aside also.
- Cream the shortening, sugar, and lemon zest in a large electric mixer bowl first at low speed, then at high speed for about a minute or until well blended. With the machine at medium speed, beat the eggs in one at a time.
- At low mixer speed, add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry and beating after each addition only enough to combine. Fold in the pecans. Scoop the batter into the pan, smoothing the top and spreading to the corners.
- Bake the bread in the lower third of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides of the pan and feels springy when touched.
- Transfer the bread to a wire rack but do not remove from the pan. Pour the glaze evenly over the loaf, then cool to room temperature.
- To serve, loosen the tea bread around the edge using a thin-blade spatula, turn out on the rack, then cut into slices about 3/8 inch thick.