Roasted Strawberry Banana Bread

Roasted Strawberry Banana Bread

I don’t know about you, but one of the things I love most about summer is the abundance of fresh berries! I love to bake with them and try new and interesting recipes.

And I also have a passion for quick breads, in my house they’re called quick not because they are easy to make but because of how quickly they are gone!

I picked up several boxes of strawberries this week because they were on sale, and I love them! So I started searching for ideas on what to do with them besides just stuff my face with fresh strawberries for a couple of days before they spoil.

This is one of the things I came up with, from one of my favorite recipe blogs, Skinnytaste.com. I modified their recipe slightly by using gluten-free flour for half of the flour, I may try this again with all gluten-free flour as well to see how it turns out. The recipe as shown here turned out delicious!

I really liked the idea of roasting the strawberries first, so most of the juice bakes out of them and doesn’t make the bread too moist.

Roasted Strawberry Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cup strawberries, quartered
3 ripe medium bananas, mashed
2 TBSP unsweetened apple sauce
3/4 cup gluten-free baking flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or use 1-1/4 cup flour, any variety you prefer)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 TBSP butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
2 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray loaf pan with baking spray.
You can use one standard sized loaf pans, or two min-loaf pans.

Place the cut up strawberries on a baking sheet (lined with foil, or paper), roast them for 20 minutes, remove and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg whites, mashed bananas, apple sauce and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and blend at low speed until combined, do not over mix. Fold in the strawberries and pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan(s). Bake on the center rack in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the pan cool at least 30 minutes before removing the loaves. Bread should be at room temperature before slicing.

Storage:

Wrap in plastic or foil and store in refrigerator for 5-7 days (it will probably be eaten up before then anyway!) Or wrap well and place in a freezer safe bag and store in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.

Makes 16 servings