Little Amaretto Loaf Cakes

Drove a Sioux Falls run Tuesday-Wednesday. Pretty run — the land is green, the corn is tall, the highway quiet. Wrote in the hotel.

The annual Grand Island August agricultural fair is in two weeks. Josie has decided to enter a pie in the baking contest. I will help her. She wants her own recipe. She is developing one — a cherry almond pie with a lattice top. She is twelve. She is methodical. I am going to let her cook on my kitchen with minimum interference. She will make mistakes. She will learn. She will maybe win something. Maybe not.

Gayle has been with us seven months. She has her routine. The kids cycle around her. Dave talks to her about the weather every morning. I bring her coffee. I bring her dinner. I sit with her sometimes. We watch the same shows and we have the same conversations and she is safer with us than she was alone in her house and I am grateful for every day.

Book two at 59,500. Interview with Lynette Carroll from Tennessee this week — second interview. An hour and a half on the phone. She is going to be one of the book's central figures.

Sunday I made a pasta salad for the week. Josie and Tyler have been making their own lunches for work and camp. Amber makes hers at 6 a.m. before the shelter. Justin eats whatever I put in front of him. The kitchen runs like a diner already.

While Josie works through her cherry almond pie — testing crimps, adjusting filling ratios, laying lattice strips with the focus of someone twice her age — I needed something of my own to bake beside her. These little amaretto loaf cakes are exactly that: the same almond warmth she’s reaching for in her pie, but in a quiet, unfussy form that doesn’t compete. The kitchen has been full and loud and good lately, and these fit right into it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 6 mini loaves

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup amaretto liqueur
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup sliced almonds, for topping
2 tablespoons coarse sugar, for topping

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 6-cavity mini loaf pan (or six 5x3-inch individual loaf pans) and set aside.
Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and extracts. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the almond extract and vanilla extract until fully combined.
Combine wet and dry. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the amaretto and milk. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the amaretto-milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined — do not overmix.
Fill and top. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared loaf cavities, filling each about 2/3 full. Scatter sliced almonds over the tops and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake. Bake for 28–32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean and the tops are golden. If almonds begin to darken too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 20 minutes.
Cool. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Little Amaretto Loaf Cakes — Baking Alongside Josie This August