Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Summer's Here! Strawberry Bread

 
As a kid growing up in Jersey, I remember spending time across from my grandparent's farm picking strawberries, blueberries and raspberries from their neighbor's fields.  It was a lot of fun digging through those bushes to find the best, ripest strawberry and the hard choice about whether to put it in the bin or shove it in your mouth. 

So now that I have two children, I try to make a point every year to go out to a farm and 'pick your own' fruit.  Strawberries are in season right now, and they love strawberries so we out to Hartland Orchard a week ago to pick them.  I love this orchard... it's right off 66 West so it's very convenient, the owners are super nice, and it has beautiful views of the Blue Ridge. 

We picked about 5 pints of strawberries so I had enough to have for snacks, for salads, and some to freeze for later.  I also used some to make some strawberry bread.  A great way to use seasonal fruit for a breakfast treat, or with some strawberry ice cream for dessert! 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups of cut strawberries
2 eggs
5/8 cup of applesauce
1/2 tablespoon vegetable shortening/butter
1 tablespoon of flour

Preparation
1.  Grease and flour a bread loaf dish with the 1/2 tbl of butter and 1 tbl of flour, shaking out any excess.

2.  Chop strawberries into uneven pieces.

3.  Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl -- flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  

4.  Add the applesauce and eggs to the bowl.

5.  Mix together with a mixer on low speed until blended.

6.  Add the strawberries to the bowl and stir until mixed in.

7.  Spoon the batter into the loaf pan.

8.  Cook in the oven for 1 hour and 15-20 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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