Strawberry Yogurt Loaf

A while back, I came across a recipe for Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf at SmittenKitchen.com. and I bookmarked it, thinking it would be delicious. I also came across an event called Bookmarked Recipes at Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments, a blog I’ve since subscribed to on Google Reader (man, I love Google Reader). I changed SmittenKitchen’s recipe a bit since I wanted to use up some fresh strawberries I had sitting in my fridge yelling eat me. I also omitted the lemon zest since I didn’t have any lemons. To make up for the lack of lemon flavor, I added some almond extract. I had an Oops! Some of the dough was lost to the counter when I initially tried to remove from the pan. Nothing a little extra time in the oven couldn’t cure. It is a very moist loaf. The loaf didn’t turn out to be the prettiest loaf, but it was quite tasty. I took it to work and everyone enjoyed it. Although, I don’t think I’ve even taken anything that wasn’t loved by my co-workers.

Strawberry Yogurt Loaf

Strawberry Yogurt Loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted since I’m trying to reduce sodium in my diet)
  
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
  
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
  
• 3 extra-large eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon almond extract, divided
  
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (mine wasn’t freshly squeezed)
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8.5 x 4.25 x 2.5 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and oil. Slowly, whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In medium bowl, mix the strawberries with remaining flour and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the lemon juice, remaining sugar and remaining almond extract in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the loaf is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Place a sheet pan under cooling rack. While the loaf is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the loaf and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Cool.

Yield: 1 loaf