Strawberry Baking

Fresh picked strawberries

After our recent strawberry picking trip, we had many, many quarts of berries to do something with.  While some were frozen and some were used for jam making, we still had quite a few more berries remaining.  Picha Farms, the berry farm we picked from, shared a strawberry bread recipe on their facebook page.  I decided to give that a try.  It was easy to make and turned out yummy!  One recipe uses 2 cups of berries.  I made the recipe twice, using up 4 cups of our berries.

Strawberry Bread

Strawberry bread topped with walnuts, ready for the oven 

Strawberry Bread Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour (I used 2 cups white & 1 cup whole wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar (I used 1- 3/4 cup)

4 eggs, beaten

1- 1/4 cup oil

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 1/4 cup nuts (optional), I used chopped walnuts

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.  Add eggs, oil, strawberries & nuts.  Stir just until moistened, spoon into 2 well greased 9x5x3 loaf pans.  Bake at 350* for 60-70 min.  Cool & serve.  This bread also freezes well.

Strawberry bread ~ baked, cooled & ready to be enjoyed 

I changed things up a bit when I made this bread.  First, I only have one loaf pan and really wanted to use my square enamelware pan.  It measures 9x9.  I buttered the bottom of the pan and pressed a piece of parchment paper, cut to size, in the bottom of the pan.  Then buttered the paper as well.  I forgot to mix the nuts in the batter and decided to spread them over the top of the bread batter before baking.  I scattered them evenly and then pressed them gently.  The baking time was about the same as the recipe stated for loaf pans.

I also made the recipe a second time (and remembered to mix the nuts in!), using 2 8x8 pans instead of loaf pans or the 9x9.  I lined the 8x8 pans with an extra length of parchment paper to use as handles for lifting out the bread from the pans after baking.  I wrapped both bread loaves in parchment, then foil and placed them in the freezer to enjoy at a later time. Baking time for the 8x8 pans was about 40 minutes at 350*.

 Delicious crunchy walnut topping

This bread was yummy!  It was moist, not too crumbly and had just the right sweetness.

I'm happy with my decision to decrease the sugar a bit.  

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Muffins are a favorite at my house and it had been a while since I'd baked any.  With so many strawberries to use it seemed like the perfect time to try a recipe that I had made once before.  With family flying in for a visit, I think I should have made several batches and stocked the freezer.

Strawberry Muffins

Strawberry Muffin Recipe 

1- 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/3 cup, plus 1 Tbsp sugar
1- 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400*. Line standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.  In a small bowl, toss together sliced strawberries with 1/3 cup sugar.  Using a potato masher, lightly mash strawberries, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients to combine.  In a 1- 2 quart glass measuring cup, combine wet ingredients.  Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour wet ingredients in center.  Fold in just until combined.

Using a large ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.  Top with remaining 1 Tbsp sugar (I skipped this part).

Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes in pan, then cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe Source: {here}

Delicious muffins!

These muffins are delicious!  They're easy to make and make a perfect snack or a quick breakfast.

More to come this week~ Strawberry Jam making & this week's garden harvest