Lots of visitors to our website have inquired about the jovial raisin bread shown on our “Why WOM?” page. Although this particular image is a collage of two different photos, the raisin bread portion is not the result of Photoshop or other digital manipulation. It is a real-life loaf I baked a few years back.

One of my favorite holiday treats is a festive Italian-style raisin bread studded with sultanas, pistachios, and citron. I add a unique “Amesbury” touch by slathering the dough with a helping of Cider Hill Farm Apple Butter before rolling it up and placing it on the baking sheet.

This recipe produces an extremely large, round loaf, and I have found that the best way to serve this size and shape is to cut the loaf in half, and to cut each of the halves in half (resulting in four quarters). And this is how “Smiley” was born. I did my usual maneuvers with the knife, and when I turned one of the quarters right-side up, that sweet face looked up at me with an expression that said, “Please don’t eat me!”

We held off as long as we could, but eventually Smiley met his/her maker with a kiss of Kerrygold butter and a cup of tea. A yummy reminder that you should always try to look at things from more than one perspective. They might just look back at you!