Strawberry Almond Quick Bread

We like to have a little something around to have for breakfast and this Strawberry Almond Quick Bread is just the thing!

Full of seasonal strawberries, a little strawberry jam, and topped with crunchy almonds, it has everything you need to pair with your morning coffee.

I had to look twice at the recipe, because I didn't see any butter or oil and I thought it might be dry. I was wrong!

It's marvelously moist due to the sour cream and doesn't need a bit of other fat in it.

Bret buys a big carton of strawberries from Costco when they're in season and I have trouble using them all before they start to go bad, so I usually freeze quite a few of them.

The best way to freeze fresh strawberries is to wash them, cut off the green leaves and core them, then spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze for about 2 hours. Pour the frozen strawberries into a freezer bag, label and lay flat in the freezer if you have the room. If you freeze fresh strawberries without the initial-layer freeze, the juices will stick the strawberries together and you'll have a big juicy red mess when they're thawed!

I used frozen strawberries instead of fresh in this version of Strawberry Almond Quick Bread. They were very easy to chop up and I didn't have to worry about the juices smearing around in the bread while it baked. It came out quite nicely! I just had to sprinkle slivered almonds on top because I think it's pretty and it gives the bread a nice crunchy topping.

The original of this recipe was an oldie from MagnoliaDays.com and I took a few liberties to change it to our tastes.

This lightly sweet Strawberry Almond Quick Bread will definitely go into the make-again file!

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Strawberry Almond Quick Bread

Yield: 8 -10

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Nice, lightly sweet, lightly-almond flavored, strawberry quick bread. 

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Ingredients

• 1 ½ C all-purpose flour
• ½ C plus 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ¼ C brown sugar, firmly packed
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• ⅔ C sour cream
• ¼ C strawberry jam
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 C chopped strawberries (I used fresh strawberries that I've frozen)
• 2 - 3 oz (1 small bag) slivered almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour a 4x8" loaf pan (or line with parchment paper).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and cardamom.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, jam, vanilla, and almond extract until relatively smooth.
4. Pour the wet ingredients and ⅓ cup of the almonds directly into the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. (You'll stir again on the next step, so don't over mix.)
5. Stir in the strawberries just until combined with the batter.
6. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and  sprinkle top evenly with remaining almonds (optional, but recommended).
7. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, turning the pan after 30 minutes for more even baking.
8. Cool the bread in the pan for about 10 minutes.  Run a butter knife around the edges to loosen, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.  Keep loosely covered with aluminum foil or saran wrap for up to three days.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Cardamom is a kind of spicy, earthy, but fruity flavored spice and is great in this bread.  However, it can be quite pricey, so if you don't want to invest go ahead and use cinnamon.

Mix the batter just until the flour is stirred up from the bottom and mixed in.  It may be a little lumpy, but that's OK.  The less you mix, the more tender it will be.

If you use a 5x9" loaf pan, subtract about 10 minutes from the baking time.

The almonds sprinkled on top are optional, but highly recommended!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 169Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 204mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Values are Approximate