Makes one large or three small loaves

On sunny summer afternoons, I'll serve slices of this bread with Apricot Cream Cheese Spread (see below) and fresh iced herb tea. To make a fresh herb tea, I cut a good-size bunch of lemon balm or spearmint from the garden and pack it into a large mixing bowl along with a few bags of raspberry and orange herbal tea; then I pour boiling water over it all and let it steep a half hour or so. When it is cool, I pour it over ice cubes and sweeten with a bit of honey.

5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Greaseand flour a 9 1/2 x 5 1/2-inch loaf pan or three 5 3/4 x 3 1/2-inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until light. In another bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together until blended. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture; blend well. Stir in the poppy seeds, nuts, and raisins.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan or pans. Bake 40 to 45 minutes for small loaves or 1 hour and 15 minutes for a large loaf, or until they test done. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Makes 3/4 cup

This is heavenly on warm slices of fruit-nut bread. Refrigerated in a covered jar, it will keep for up to a week.

Pastry

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small, deep mixer bowl, with an electric hand mixer, whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in the apricot jam, lemon zest, and lemon juice.