FRESH STRAWBERRY BREAD

 This is the second recipe I have made from the Holiday Cookbook, 2019 that I picked up in Tennessee when we visited one of Wayne's relatives. It was a collection paperback cookbook published by the Assisted Living place where she was living. The first recipe was Hershey's Great American Chocolate Chip Cookies that I made for my MO gkids' godfather.

The chocolate chip cookies were awesome so I decided to try one of the other recipes I had tagged in the book, Strawberry Bread.

The recipe made one large loaf but since I was making it for the Cafe Treats and like to have smaller than normal serving sizes, I thought I would make it in my metal mini loaf pans. 

I usually can get three mini loaves from a recipe that calls for a large loaf pan, but there wasn't enough batter left for a third loaf. I weigh my pans when I am making more than one loaf so that I can make them the same size. 

My two loaves were about 16 ounces each after filling them. I checked on them as they were baking and saw they were rising above the top of the pan but also sinking in the center and I was not sure what they were going to look like.

BUT they were beautiful and perfect. The recipe said to line the pan with wax paper but I skipped this step. It did mean I had to work a little harder to get them cleanly out of the pan. I ran a knife around the inside edge, but still had to beat fairly hard on the bottom of the pan with my hand to loosen the bread. I might try the wax paper next time, but they did come out nicely and didn't stick to the pan.

The recipe didn't say to slice and chop the strawberries, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough berries in the cake, so after I sliced them, I cut the slices in half. End result was they looked great and were distributed throughout the bread.

I baked the bread on Wednesday and after it cooled I wrapped it with plastic wrap and then put the two mini loaves in a ziplock bag and froze them until Saturday evening when I just took the bag out of the freezer and stored it in the microwave (so the cats wouldn't find it on the counter and decide to give it a try - ha) until the next morning when I took them to church to slice and serve at the Cafe. The last two pictures were taken at church so you can see how nicely the bread sliced and held together. And the bread was so moist and it  tasted  like  you were eating fresh strawberries.

After having such success with my first two selections, I can't wait to try another one of the recipes I tagged.

PRINT RECIPE.

FRESH STRAWBERRY BREAD

1/2     cup (1 stick) butter

1        cup sugar

1/2     teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

2        eggs, separated

2        cup flour

1        teaspoon baking powder

1        teaspoon baking soda

1        cup fresh strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or spray a 9 x 5 - inch glass loaf pan. Line with greased or sprayed wax paper. (I used two mini-loaf metal pans. I prepared for three, but didn't have enough batter.)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and almond extract.

Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time,

mixing until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the creamed mixture.

Mix well.

Stir in the strawberries. (I sliced the berries and then cut the slices in half.)

In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg whites

until stiff.

Fold in the strawberry mixture.

Pour into prepared pan. (Divide batter evenly between the two mini-pans.)

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for the large loaf and about 45 minutes for the mini-loaves. Test doneness with a toothpick.

Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing, then cool on a wire rack to let the bread completely cool before

slicing...