This lemon and pistachio love is lovely zesty and refreshing, it’s also very light, which makes it perfect for any time of the year.

If you have been around here for long enough, you will have by now realised that I absolutely love lemon and pistachios, I am on one hand trying to explore all the ways I can put them together and at the same trying to do other things that involve neither, it’s all about the balance, isn’t it?

This recipe is one of the very early ones I shared on here, but I recently did it again and I thought I would re-share it remastered and with more pictures of the process.

This is how I made it…

All you need is: pistachios, butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice, greek yoghurt, vanilla extract, eggs, flour, baking powder, mascarpone cheese, double cream, icing sugar

The process of making this loaf is extremely easy, it starts with mixing the sugar and the butter. It is very important to have the butter softened, otherwise it will go everywhere when you mix it, believe me, it has happened to me before!

Once well mixed, we add the yoghurt and the vanilla and mix well again.

The next step is adding the eggs, one at a time until well combined.

Then add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon and mix it well again.

Once it’s well combined, add the flour and baking powder and mix vigorously until combined.

The last step is to add the pistachios and fold them in nicely with a spatula and cook in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once the loaf is out of the oven, let it cool down completely before doing the icing.

For the icing, all you have to do is beat the mascarpone first, then add the double cream, the icing sugar and the lemon zest, if you like it very lemony, you can add a bit of lemon juice, make sure you do it slowly and try it as you do, so you have it just the way you like it.

Spread the icing over the loaf and top with cut pistachios.

… and enjoy!

Lemon & pistachio loaf

Ingredients:

• 100 gr of pistachios (and some extra ones to top the loaf)
• 113 gr of butter at room temperature
• 100 gr of granulated sugar
• 120 ml of greek yoghurt
• 2 tsp of vanilla essence
• 3 eggs
• 192 gr of flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• The zest of two lemons
• The juice of have a lemon
• 180 gr of mascarpone cheese at room temperature
• 1 tbsp of thick double cream
• 50 gr of icing sugar

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. In a bowl, beat together the butter and the granulated sugar
3. Add the greek yoghurt and the vanilla and mix until combined
4. Add the eggs, one at a time until combined.
5. Add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon and mix well.
6. Add in the flour and the baking powder and mix well.
7. Pour the mix into a tray and cook in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Once it’s ready, let it cool completely before the next steps.
9. In a bowl, beat the mascarpone, the double cream, the sugar and the lemon zest until it’s nice and smooth. I used a whole lemon, if you like it very lemony you can add some lemon juice too, if you don’t like it too lemony, add less lemon zest. I would advise trying it as you add it so you get it to the point you like.
10. Spread over the bread and top with some pistachios.