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
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix undrained strawberries, oil and eggs in blender. Process until smooth.
- 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.
- Stir nuts into reserved flour and add that to the mixture. Stir well.
- Pour mixture into 2 well greased lightly floured bread loaf pans.
- 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.)

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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.

Finish toffee with a sprinkling of sea salt.
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