Did you pick up fresh strawberries and want to turn them into a sweet treat for breakfast or an afternoon snack? Then you will definitely want to make Nancie McDermott's Fresh Strawberry Bread.
I received a copy of Nancie's latest cookbook called Fruit for a review and although it doesn't have any photos, it's full of easy to follow and inventive recipes featuring blackberries, cantaloupe, damson plums, figs, mayhaws, grapes, pawpaws, peaches, persimmons (featured on the cover), quince, strawberries and watermelon that are typically grown in the South. Personally, I think an addition of tomatoes would have been clever ;)
Each fruit chapter begins with an overview of the fruit, a few gardening tips and cooking suggestions. The recipes that follow don't have an overwhelming number of ingredients and can be made in a few simple steps.
I chose the strawberry bread, which let's be honest is more like a cake, because I don't like bananas, and that's the type of fruit that's most often featured in such breads.
I made two minor changes to the recipe: toasted sliced almonds instead of pecans or walnuts and oil instead of butter to butter my baking pans.
Strawberry & Almond Bread
Slightly Adapted from Fruit By Nancie McDermott
Copied with a permission from the publisher
Ingredients
2 cups whole strawberries
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs, beaten well
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Oil two 9x5-inch loaf pans.
3. Coarsely chop strawberries, place them in a small bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, remaining sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
5. Incorporate nuts and strawberries into the flour mixture.
6. In a separate bowl combine oil with the eggs and incorporate them into the flour/strawberries/nut mixture until you can't see the flour bits.
{NOTE: at this point the batter looked more like cookie dough, which made me very nervous, but magically the bread puffed up in the oven and turned out delicious!}
7. Divide the batter between two loaf pans and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.
8. Cool the loaves inside the pan on a cooling wrack before turning them over.
This bread had such a lovely aroma! I really liked the combination of strawberries and almonds with a slight hint of cinnamon. Use this recipe as a template and experiment with other fruit such as peaches and blueberries or figs! Let your imagination run wild.
This would be a great dessert to slice and freeze, but I decided to bring it to work and share with a few coworkers, to their great delight.
Disclaimer: I was sent this book for review purposes free of charge, but not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.
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