I love the combination of raspberries and almonds. If you don’t have pistachios, you could substitute sliced almonds instead, they would work beautifully. I just had pistachios on hand. I prefer using fresh raspberries as the frozen ones tend to lose their integrity in the baking process. The glaze is an extra burst of goodness before slicing.

Yield : one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan

Ingredients:

for bread:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I love bobs red mill pastry flour)
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 -3 tbsps milk (moist enough to stir in the raspberries)
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

for topping:

  • 2 tablespoons cold butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/2 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

for glaze:

  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for topping in a bowl. Using your fingers, work the butter to soften and knee all ingredients until clumps form (about the size of peas). Set aside. Spray the pan generously with nonstick spray. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sour cream, milk and almond extract. In a large bowl whisk flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until incorporated. Dust raspberries with a bit of flour (this helps ensure that they don’t sink while baking). Gently fold in raspberries. Transfer mixture into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle topping (method below) over the mixture before baking. Bake muffin loaf for about 50-60 minutes, inserting a toothpick to test doneness. Allow the muffin loaf to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, combine all ingredients for glaze in a measuring cup and stir to combine. Pour glaze atop bread and allow to drizzle down the sides. Sprinkle with additional coconut and Bits of pistachio if desired. Slice and enjoy.