Chocolate Fruit Bread

I believe I have mentioned that every recipe I've tried in Chocolate (Practical Cooking) has been pretty tasty.  Sadly, the majority of the book has remained untried.  I tend to stick with the recipes I know and love rather than trying lots of new stuff.  I am attempting to remedy that.  I wrote up a wish-list of recipes to try from this book (and another chocolate cookbook) with a goal of trying several new recipes this year.

I had breakfast club last week, so I treated my coworkers like guinea pigs and experimented on them:  Chocolate Fruit Bread.  The consensus?  It's a keeper.  The recipe listed a number of substitutions for the fruit and the chocolate.  I made mine with chocolate chips, raisins and craisins.  It wasn't overly sweet, like some quick-breads.  It also wasn't quite as dense as I expected, which was nice.  The recipe suggested possibly using white, milk and dark chocolate.  I may have to do a combo next time.  But certainly no complaints with the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

It took a lot longer to bake than the recipe called for.  I could see the center was still quite liquidy after an hour in the oven. I may have to do a little less eggs or maybe up the temperature.  So although this recipe needs a little work, it will be added to my regular breakfast club (and possibly tea-time) repertoire.

The recipe, for those who've asked:



Chocolate Fruit Bread

3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
8oz dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
grated zest of 1 orange
2 cups self-rising flour (can be substituted with 2 cups regular flour 1Tbls baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in eggs; beat well after each addition.  Stir in chocolate, raisins, walnuts and zest.  Carefully fold flour into the mixture.

Spoon mixture into 2lb greased loaf pan.  Make a dip in the center with the back of a spoon.  Bake in a 325 oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let loaf cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.