Cherry Oat Bread

 

Smells like almonds.

I made a cherry bread with last year's cherries, and it was delicious, but had no nutritional value. This year, I wanted to find some middle ground. I worked from this recipe. I substituted the eggs for flax eggs (1 tb flax meal and 3 tb water, mixed together a few minutes before using) only because I was out of eggs, but I might keep this change. I used almond milk with a splash of lemon juice instead of the buttermilk. And I added chocolate, which of course made it a little less healthy, but much more satisfying. I used butter instead of oil because it tastes better. And I adjusted the baking time and temperature to make bread instead of muffins, because who has time to clean a muffin tin these days?

It's a good sweetness for us, since we eat it as a treat. But if one wanted to make it even healthier, the sugar could be reduced a little bit and it would still be good.

This recipe is a keeper. Especially when this is just a fraction of the cherries on one of our two trees.

The Recipe:

1 c quick-cooking oats

1 c flour

3/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c almond milk

1 tb lemon juice

1 egg, or 1 tb flax meal mixed with 3 tb water

1/4 c butter, melted

1 tsp almond extract

1 c fresh cherries, pitted (the original recipe says that frozen unthawed cherries work too)

1/4 c chocolate chips

• Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then combine.
• Fold in cherries and chocolate.
• Pour into bread pan, and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A

Overall reason: A delicious treat plus a bit of nutritional value, and it uses up cherries!

Time to prepare: 10 minutes of work, 40 minutes of baking

Husband quote: "Yum."