Berry Loaf

What a welcome relief it is to see that spring may have finally arrived, giving us a much-needed break from the dreadfully cold winter we’ve been through!

Forecasters are predicting seasonal to above average temperatures for much of the coming week, and this summertime lover could not be happier! Especially since I was finally able to get out today for my first outdoor run (Read: Jog!) of the year! For the curious, it was a 5K out & back in my quiet little neighbourhood. I completed it in roughly 0:36:45, which equates to a snail’s pace of around 11:50. I even took a few blurry shots along the way to document the occasion 🙂

The spring melt begins!

1 mile down, 2.11 to go!

The half way mark, time to turn back for home 🙂

So how about we celebrate the warmer temps, by hitting the kitchen and whipping up a sweet loaf that is chock full of summer berry goodness?

If you’re not a fan of banana bread, you must give this recipe a try; there is nary a speck of banana but it packs a whole lot of flavour!

Adapted from Hershey’s Berry Loaf

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp. freshly grated orange zest
2 Tbs. coconut oil
1 egg
1 cup semi sweet (or dark) mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup fresh, or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan, (I prefer lining it with parchment paper.) In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk the orange juice, zest, oil and egg until well blended. Stir the juice mixture into the flour mixture along with the chips, nuts, blueberries and cranberries, do not overmix!

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake approximately 65 to 70 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs. NOTE: Inserting a toothpick to test for doneness doesn’t work too well with this recipe, given the amount of chocolate chips and fruit! Cool 10 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack. Yields 12 – 14 slices

Hershey’s offers an icing sugar glaze for this loaf, but I feel it’s not only unnecessary, but even detracts from the complexity of flavours from the bread itself. If you’d like to use a glaze, simply beat together 1 cup of icing sugar, 1 Tbs. softened butter, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, and approximately 1 Tbs. milk (you may need more, depending on how thin you want the glaze to be.) Stir until smooth and pour over the cooled bread. Enjoy!