Cherry/Almond Quick Bread -- Baked with the Same Faith Pearl Baked With

I have been thinking about great-grandmothers all week. My great-grandmother — Mama's grandmother, a woman named Pearl who lived on Sapelo Island and who I never met but heard about in every story Mama ever told — she was a Gullah woman who cooked over an open fire and spoke a language that was half English, half something older and deeper, and she lived to be ninety-three, which in her time and place was practically immortal.

Mama said Pearl could look at the sky and tell you what the weather would do for the next three days. She said Pearl made medicines from plants that the doctors didn't know about. She said Pearl's cooking was so good that white people would drive from the mainland to buy her baskets and eat her food, and Pearl would sell them the baskets and charge them double for the food because, she said, "They can weave their own baskets but they can't cook worth a damn."

I am now going to be a great-grandmother. Me. Dorothy Mae Henderson, born in a shotgun house, raised on the east side, married to a hotel maintenance man, career lunch lady. And somehow, through the grace of God and the stubbornness of love, there will be a child who calls me great-grandmother. I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop cooking about it.

This week I started planning what I'll freeze for Tasha. She's due in November, which gives me four months to fill a freezer. I'm making: chicken soup in quart containers, beef stew, red beans and rice, shrimp and grits base (just add shrimp), collard greens, mac and cheese in individual portions, and enough cornbread to build a wall. Marcus said, "Granny, you don't have to do all that." I said, "I know I don't have to. I want to. That's a different thing entirely."

Earl is amused by my frenzy. He says I'm nesting, which is what pregnant women do, not sixty-two-year-old grandmothers. I told him I've been nesting my whole life — every meal I've ever made has been an act of nesting — and he shook his head and went back to the weather channel, which is his way of conceding a point he doesn't want to concede out loud.

Made peach cobbler tonight. The peaches are coming in from the farmers' market, sweet and heavy and smelling like July. Hattie Pearl's recipe — butter, sugar, flour, milk, peaches, and faith. You pour the batter in the pan, lay the peaches on top, and trust that the batter will rise around them. It always does. Things rise when they're supposed to.

Now go on and feed somebody.

That cobbler tonight reminded me that the simplest recipes carry the most love, because they leave room for the cook to put herself in. I can’t hand you Pearl’s peach cobbler on a recipe card — it lives in muscle memory, not on paper — but this Cherry Almond Quick Bread is cut from the same cloth: fruit, butter, a handful of pantry staples, and trust that the oven will do what it’s supposed to do. I’ve been baking it for years, and it freezes beautifully, which means I’ll be tucking a few loaves right into Tasha’s freezer alongside those quarts of chicken soup. Feed somebody.

Cherry/Almond Quick Bread

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk or buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and halved (thaw and pat dry if frozen)
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with a strip of parchment paper for easy release.
2. Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly blended.
3. Combine wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then whisk in the milk, oil (or melted butter), almond extract, and vanilla extract.
4. Mix the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry streaks remain — a few lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the bread will be tough.
5. Fold in the fruit and nuts. Gently fold in the cherries and 1/4 cup of the slivered almonds, distributing them evenly without breaking up the cherries.
6. Fill the pan. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup slivered almonds evenly over the surface.
7. Bake. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 35 minutes.
8. Cool before slicing. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack and cool completely — at least 45 minutes — before slicing. Cutting too soon will leave the center gummy.
9. To freeze. Wrap the fully cooled loaf tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on the counter still wrapped, or slice first and toast individual pieces straight from the freezer.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 282 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 43g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 218mg