Strawberry Bread

I've never made so many strawberry desserts in one season before.  Despite picking 15lbs of berries ourselves earlier this summer, we can't seem to get enough, and they seem to end up in our cart at the farm stand each week.  Now you know my affection for sweet breads with fruits and veggies in them, so when I came across this recipe in one of my grandmother's cookbooks, I knew I had to give it a try.  

These cookbooks are from the Pass-a-Grille Woman's Club of St. Pete Beach, Florida, and they are full of wonderful (and a few odd) recipes - most of them family recipes.  I'd never had strawberry bread and thought that it would be a welcome change to our standard banana or zucchini breads.  Often these recipes are not the most health-conscious (not that I am a health nut by any means).  But, by swapping some of the oil for applesauce, and bring a bit of whole wheat flour to the party, I don't mind that my little daughter eats two slices all by herself!  Here's my modified recipe:

Strawberry Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups whole fresh strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1-3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, cover the strawberries with the 1/3 cup of sugar.  Gently mash the berries to get the juices flowing.  Let this stand at room temperature for 1 hour to macerate, then partially drain the berries (so the batter won't be too wet).

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and grease two loaf pans.

In another bowl (large), whisk the eggs and blend with oil, applesauce, remaining sugars, and cinnamon.  Mix in the strawberries and a little of the juice.  Mix well, then add in the flours, salt and baking soda.

Pour into the greased pans and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  I love this chilled, but it's also delicious warm with a little honey butter.

These freeze great - just cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap, then slide into a freezer bag.  This bread is the perfect way to capture the deliciousness of summer berries.

Today I'm linking up with  for the Twelve Loaves Challenge at Creative Culinary and at Strawberry Saturday (yes, I know it's Monday!) I'm also co-hosting Marvelous Monday and Mom's Test Meals - come join the parties!!