Holiday baking

It the time of year where special holiday baking recipes make their annual appearance. Here are two holiday bites from our staff’s family recipe box:

Grandma Jan's Strawberry Bread

Ingredients

  • 2, 10z pkg. frozen strawberries (frozen with sugar and juice)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/4 c. veg oil
  • 3 c. flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix undrained strawberries, oil and eggs in blender. Process until smooth.
  3. In a separate container, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, sale, cinnamon, and sugar). Slowly wisk them to the into strawberry mixture, reserving 1/2 cup of flour.
  4. Stir nuts into reserved flour and add that to the mixture. Stir well.
  5. Pour mixture into 2 well greased lightly floured bread loaf pans.
  6. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes . Test doneness by inserting toothpick into bread. (Note, bread can be a little moist, but if the toothpick comes out gooey, give it more time.)
Strawberry bread.

Top with butter and serve warm.


Classic Toffee

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • Sea Salt

Instructions

  1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine butter, sugar and water. Cook over medium-low heat and stir stir stir until it reaches hard-crack stage (300°). This will take about 15 minutes.
  2. Pour toffee onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Let set for a minute. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the warm toffee. Allow the chips to soften, then use an offset spatula (or the back of a large spoon) to spread the chocolate into an even layer. Sprinkle nuts over the chocolate. Add a dusting of sea salt.
  3. Allow the toffee to cool completely. Break into pieces. Store in a hard-to-open container on a high shelf so you can’t mindlessly eat it all in a single sitting. Or, package and give away immediately. Don’t even bother trying some toffee with your morning coffee; we already tested that and it’s a terrible combination.
classic toffee

Finish toffee with a sprinkling of sea salt.

Comments

comments