Favorite Things Friday

I had a baby shower to go to last weekend and volunteered to bake something. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make. I had grand ideas of trying a new recipe and making some fancy scones. But then I remembered...I have a two year old, a newborn, and I started back to work last week....I don't have time for fancy right now. Luckily, strawberries were on sale last week which reminded me of one of my favorite bread recipes.

We love this bread, a loaf barely lasts two days here. Plus it is relatively easy to make. I found the recipe on a blog several years ago, and have absolutely no idea what that blog was any more :( The original recipe called for almond extract and topping with sliced almonds, but I didn't care for that. So, I switched to vanilla extract and sprinkle to top with sugar during the last 20 minutes of baking. It gives it a great strawberries and cream flavor.


Strawberry Bread
Makes 1 regular sized loaf or 3 mini loaves

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, or margarine, cut into pieces, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½-1 teaspoon vanilla (depending on preference.)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup crushed strawberries or 1 package (10 ounces) frozen strawberries, thawed and drained on a double thickness of paper towels

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray or grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan or a mini loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and almond extract until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the flour mixture alternately with the crushed strawberries.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 55 to 60 minutes (50 to 55 minutes for mini loaves), or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and turn right side up to cool completely.


*If you prefer substitute almond extract for the vanilla and top with 1/3C sliced almonds before baking. 


In an effort to make this a little more fancy (because I am after all a neurotic perfectionist) I also made a batch of this strawberry butter...it was fantastic!