Julie Des Jardin
I love it when it’s my turn to contribute to the snack table for our home league matches. I really enjoy making homemade goodies for the ladies as much as playing tennis! Well… almost 😉
Say hello to the prettiest, most delicious lemon bread ever. It’s baked with a ribbon of raspberry preserves and cream cheese, and I’m telling you… everyone will LOVE it! It is so perfectly flavored and moist, and there’s a bonus — it’s made with healthy swaps that you might not know about unless you read about them here. I mean, why make them with the unhealthy stuff when you can’t taste the difference?
Why make this lemon bread?
The real question is, why not? This lemon bread is:
- super moist
- lightened-up
- easy to serve and eat at home matches
- amazing with a hot cup of coffee 😀
How this Lemon Bread is Healthier
No doubt, some of y’all take recipes and make your own healthy swaps, but I did this one for you. It’s about as healthy as you can get and just as tasty! I tweaked this lemon bread recipe to make it healthier than most others. FYI — I did not use a ‘lite’ cream cheese because there’s such a small amount in this recipe that it really doesn’t matter.
- Flour: To not compromise the fluffy texture, I used a 50/50 combination of all-purpose flour and white whole wheat flour. But you can use just white whole wheat flour if you’d like.
- Oil: If you’re a regular ‘swapper,’ you know that applesauce is a fantastic replacement for oil. Because I use a full cup of applesauce, I only needed two tablespoons of oil (I prefer coconut oil when baking.) If you’re adventurous, you can use another fruit puree, such as pear.
- Sugar: When it comes to muffins and loaves, there truly isn’t anything better than brown sugar, which I used. But I’m pretty sure coconut sugar would work just fine.
The Ribbon of Awesomeness
The main goal was to add something colorful that also complimented the lemon-y flavor, and let me tell you… this mouthwatering ribbon is da bomb!
Cream cheese sweetened with raspberry jam is all you need! Don’t have raspberry jam? Any flavor you have in the fridge will do — blueberry, apricot, boysenberry, or strawberry!
Storage
Let your lemon bread cool completely. Then, wrap it with either aluminum foil or plastic wrap and store it in a cool, dark place for up to 3-5 days.
And if you make this recipe, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked it! This helps us bring you recipes that you want and love!
Lemon Bread with Raspberry Cream Cheese Ribbon
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
Dry Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
- 2 Tbsp. lemon zest
Ribbon Topping
- 3 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
- 3 oz. cream cheese, partially melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and spray a standard-size loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Crack eggs into a large bowl and whisk. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to the wet and mix again until combined.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Give the pan a little shake to make sure the batter is spread evenly.
Ribbon Topping
- Carefully spoon the partially melted cream cheese and raspberry preserves evenly over the batter, from top to bottom. Use a knife to gently swirl the ribbon ingredients. **DO NOT swirl too much or it will mix together with the batter; if you swirl too little, you risk the topping being too heavy and sinking to the bottom.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the loaf pan.