Spiced Raisin Quick Bread

I made a quick bread recipe I found at About.com, Spiced Raisin Quick Bread. Rather than buying croissants or other baked goods from Baywood Cafe, I like to make something to take instead. So I've been trying recipes that sound good. I have a good half dozen or so on a list of recipes to try.

Anyway, I pretty much followed the instructions, except I did not add the lemon zest/peel. I am not too fond of lemon zest in my baked goods, and I find peeling the zest a bit of a pain. I did accidentally end up putting the lemon extract in the creamed sugar and egg mixture instead of with the milk, so I just added the vanilla to the lemon. If I make this again, I'd probably mix the raisins in at the end instead of after creaming the eggs and sugar together. I don't like using the mixer after adding raisins or other chunky additions, so I ended up having to mix it by hand. I'd also probably experiment with adding some additional spices, such as some cinnamon to give it a little more flavor.

Overall, the bread is a bit bland, and could use a few more raisins (I love raisins!). I ended up baking it in two loaf pans instead of one, but this recipe could have fit in a single loaf pan.