Strawberry Banana 'Smoothie' Bread

While I have always loved the combination of Strawberries and Bananas, I never thought of baking them together into a bread. One of the lovely bakery stands at my local Farmers Market was selling a loaf of Strawberry Banana Bread this past weekend. I didn't buy it, but my friend did and as her text later in the day told me, it was soooooo good. It just so happened that I had a few bananas on my counter just begging to be mashed into something sweet and yummy. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to give this new idea a try.

 I didn't have a proper recipe, so I just adapted one I've used many times for "Healthier Banana Bread". I started with the dry ingredients.

 Then I put thawed frozen strawberries and broken up bananas into my mini prep food processor. I used frozen berries because they are guaranteed to be sweet and super soft and ripe. Also because I had already used all of my fresh strawberries to make my Fresh Strawberry Sauce last week.

 This really looks and tastes just like a smoothie. I almost drank it straight out of the bowl.

 Add the 'smoothie' to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

 The batter has a really pretty light pink hue to it.

This bread is so soft, sweet and delicious, and as my friend (who got the very first sample of course) said, it is much tastier and more wholesome than the market version - go figure! I may just forget to eat my bananas on purpose this week.

Strawberry Banana 'Smoothie' Bread


1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
dash of cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
3/4 C natural, unsweetened applesauce
2 over ripe bananas
12-15 medium strawberries (thawed from frozen preferred)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a food processor or blender, puree the strawberries and bananas until smooth, like a smoothie. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the fruit puree in the center. Add the beaten eggs, applesauce and vanilla and carefully whisk together. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!