Lemon Tea Bread

Who doesn't like lemons? They're the Katie Couric of fruit - perpetually cheerful, cute, and try as you might, impossible to dislike.

In a 16-year attempt to better my housekeeping skills, my mother-in-law (who is an unbelievable cook) gave me a subscription to the not-so-subtly titled GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine. This recipe came from the June 2011 issue.

I'm loving this recipe because all the ingredients (except for the lemons) can be purchased at the good 'ol Dollar G.

I doubled the recipe and  made 3 mini-loaves and one large loaf. In an attempt to be creative, I sprinkled lemon juice over the warm cooked loaves. I have no idea if that enhanced the lemoneyness (just made that word up), but it made me feel creative, like I had come up with something that the chicks at GOOD HOUSEKEEPING didn't even come up with, and that somehow made me GREAT instead of just 'good'.

Food Review Board has given it 3 thumbs up. One baseball coach vote is still pending.

Lemon Tea Bread

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp/ baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream (use the real full fat kind - why even bother being good at this point?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9" x 5" loaf pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large glass bowl, melt butter in microwave on high 1 minute. Whisk in sugar, then lemon peel, eggs and sour cream. Add flour mixture, stirring until blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 45-55 minutes (I suggest 50-55 or if you are type-A do the toothpick-comes-out-clean test) Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan. (The recipe says 'cool completely'... seriously? Whatever. Not in this house.) Serves 12....Or 4 hungry Walker people. Or one baseball coach.