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

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.

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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