Chocolate-Strawberry Bread Mediterranean Style

Trisha W's Note:

This bread also includes dates and pistachios, which is why I called it Mediterranean style. All the flavors are there and seem to compliment each other making a mild tasting bread.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 loaf

• 1 cup fresh strawberries , chopped coarsely
• 1 ¼ cups sugar , divided
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• ¼ cup pistachio nut , chopped finely
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup dates , chopped
• 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate , melted

Directions:

1. Add 1/8 C of the sugar to the strawberries and let stand while combining other ingredients.
2. Beat the remaining sugar, eggs, oil, and yogurt together.
3. Stir in the pistachio nuts - I ground mine almost to a powder in the food processor.
4. Sift together the flour, soda, salt and cinnamon and stir into the sugar mixture.
5. Stir in the vanilla, dates and the standing strawberries with any juice.
6. Lastly, stir in the melted chocolate.
7. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Reviews

[daisy M]

I used splenda baking blend and baked in a 9 inch round pan. It was done in 35 min. It is a dry sort of bread not moist like usual fruit breads. I am not sure if it is because of the changes I made. But I will not be making this again.

[Irmgard]

A lovely, moist tea bread where none of the ingredients overwhelm each other but rather compliment each other. Since I am on a low cholesterol diet, I had to substitute 1/2 cup cholesterol-free liquid egg for the eggs and instead of using a square of chocolate, I blended together 3 tbsp. of cocoa with an extra tablespoon of vegetable oil but none of this detracted from the taste. My husband loved it! I will definitely make this again.

[tigerduck]

A critical test team consisting of 1 Italian, 7 Swiss and 1 from Holland tasted this chocolate-strawberry bread. The overall opinion was three stars. The opinions differed considerably: from two to five stars.