Fresh Blueberry and Peach/Nectarine Quick Bread

We had some leftover blueberries (an almost unheard of thing for us) that even DH admitted were too sour to eat and I overbought nectarines although peaches work in this fragrant and yummy quick bread equally well. So I assured him that – no worries – the blueberries would make a comeback in a baked good. He was fully onboard and I gave him a lovely slice with his tea last night. He was a happy camper.

Now you can make this quick bread in a large 9 x 5 loaf pan but I prefer using the long English cake type pans )10 x 31 cm or 4 x 12 inches, whereby you split the recipe in two and freeze half for another time. (Nothing like having guests and being able to pop out a homemade goodie for them). I especially like to do so since it’s generally just me and DH and it won’t do for us to eat it all up ourselves all the time. Want to bake in a 9 x 5 pan after all? Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean and see below for the rest of the instructions.

So gather your ingredients and I took the dastardly sour blueberries and since they were very large, cut ’em in half and cut up into small chunks a bunch of nectarines (interchangeable with peaches, no need to peel either one). A note. You like blueberries best? Switch out the peaches/nectarines for all blueberries. Other way around, same idea. The recipe will support 1 1/2- 2 cups of cut up fruit or berries.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

That’s about 2 cups of cup up fruit but you can use 1 1/2 cups if you want it a bit less fruity. K. Take the fruit and taste a bite of whatever you’re using to see how tart it is. By the by, not summertime? You can use frozen, no need to fully defrost, just enough to separate and cut into chunks. Take 2 tablespoons of sugar and macerate the fruit with it, tossing to coat and setting aside. (Macerating is just letting it sorta marinate in the sugar).

Later, when ready to fold the fruit into the batter, you will toss in flour so the fruit stays suspended in the quick bread.

Now take your flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder (yes, you need the 4 teaspoons, not a typo) and salt

and whisk well together.

and add the eggs, apple juice, oil and vanilla to the mixture.

Note that behind the larger bowl lurks the macerated fruit with the tablespoon of flour right on it. As soon as you mix the batter together, toss the flour with the fruit.

Now don’t stir vigorously here, gently fold it in. Too much stirring toughens the quick bread. Take the two loaf pans and grease well with spray oil and divide the batter between the two pans. Set pans on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet to prevent nasty oven spillage.

Sprinkle the Demerara sugar evenly over the tops of the cake batter.

Bake the loaves in the preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes or till golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting (or it might fall apart on you, it’s a bit delicate until it cools). Wonderful with tea, coffee or milk. In fact, it was breakfast more than once!

Fresh Blueberry and Peach/Nectarine Quick Bread

1/2 cup (95 grams) blueberries

1 1/2 cups (225 grams) diced nectarines or peaches

2 Tbsp sugar

3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour


1 1/4 cup (250 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) apple juice or cider

1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil


2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

1 tablespoon flour for cut up fruit

2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.

Place the cut up fruit in a bowl and sprinkle two tablespoons sugar over them. Toss and set aside.

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add apple juice, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix just until combined. Do not over mix or it toughens the cake.

In the bowl with the fruit and sugar, add a tablespoon of flour and toss until coated. Add fruit to the rest of the cake mixture. Fold in gently. Spoon batter into two greased English cake long tins (or a 9 x 5 loaf tin and bake for about an hour to an hour and 10 minutes) and sprinkle the tops with the Demerara sugar. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and cake is golden brown. Let cool in pan on wire rack before slicing.