Summer in My Mouth: Strawberry Pineapple Quick Bread

Quick Breads: More matter with less art.--Anonymous

Fun fact: Quick breads originated in the 1850's.

Summer in a bread.....sweet, moist, simply wonderful! This recipe is amazing--I found it on allrecipes.com, read all the lengthy reviews, and deemed it capable of handling healthy changes. The reviews proved that to be true. Here is the original recipe--it uses frozen strawberries and canned pineapple (that is not acceptable to me when it's cheaper to buy the fresh during this season). This quick bread is intensely flavorful!

My version is below--I wanted less sugar, less cinnamon taste (so the fruit flavors would be more discernible), some whole grain flour, and half the fat. The only thing I would do differently next time is to use even less sugar! It was a little too sweet to me--but still very good. This recipe makes TWO loaves--so keep in mind that if you don't freeze one, you will probably have to share with your coworkers, friends, and/or neighbors--and then you will probably have to share the recipe too (or so say the reviewers). (Each loaf has about 10 slices-give or take--more like take!)

I found it super easy and was surprised by how fast it came together. I might be making this again at the holidays--can't imagine it would compete with any fruitcake I've had. 

STRAWBERRY PINEAPPLE QUICK BREAD

Adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Makes 2 loaves

• 1 2/3 cups sugar (definitely decreasing this further next time by another 1/3 cup)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup applesauce (heaping)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour (good, but will use whole wheat pastry flour next time)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped pineapple--packed and drained
• 1 cup sliced strawberries--packed
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional--but I liked the crunch)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Lightly grease two 5x9 inch loaf pans.

In a medium-large bowl, mix the eggs, applesauce, oil, vanilla extract, and sugar. Then mix in the strawberries and pineapple.

In a separate (smaller) bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. (In all honestly, I'm not a big 'sifter' and therefore skipped this step. I don't think we suffered too much because of it. Or at all.) 

Mix the flour mixture into the bowl with the fruit until evenly moist. Fold in walnuts. Divide the batter between the prepared loaf pans.

Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

A dreamy treat with coffee or tea...