Strawberry Brown Butter Bettys

Yes… I have a couple more strawberry recipes to share. This is what happens when your family picks over 12 pounds of fresh berries! 😉

Every year, I make strawberry-vanilla bean jam, strawberry shortcake cookies, fresh strawberry gelato, and pancakes with strawberries (both sourdough & simple but perfect)- at the very least. After adding a new strawberry cocktail and spoon cake to the list this year, we still had plenty of berries to enjoy.

This recipe was adapted from Gourmet, via Smitten Kitchen.com. I doubled the recipe to make 12 desserts, used lemon juice instead of zest, and used potato bread instead of white sandwich bread. I measured the berries prior to slicing them.

I loved the combination of browned butter with berries in these simple tarts. We ate them with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. They would also be wonderful served with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Yield: 6 muffin-sized desserts

• 3/4 stick salted or unsalted butter
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 6 slices potato sandwich bread or white sandwich bread, crusts removed
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest, finely grated OR 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp coarse salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 1/2 cup panko
• 2 (generous) cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
• vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, preferably on convection, with rack in middle.
2. Make the Brown Butter: In a small pot, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, reduce heat to medium-low. The butter will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is less than a minute. Remove from heat.
3. Lightly butter muffin cups with some of brown butter, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.
4. Roll bread slices with a rolling pin to flatten.
5. Brush both sides with additional brown butter, then gently fit into muffin cups.
6. Stir together brown sugar, zest or juice, salt, and panko.
7. Add strawberries to the sugar mixture and toss to coat.
8. Stir in remaining brown butter.
9. Heap strawberry mixture into the prepared bread cups, pressing gently.
10. Cover pan with foil, place on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake 15 minutes.
11. Uncover and bake until strawberries are very tender, about 10 to 15 minutes more. (I baked mine for 12 minutes more.)
12. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

About Josette@thebrookcook

I live in Stony Brook, New York on Long Island. I love garlic and baking. My hobby (and love) is to try new recipes. My favorite recipe resources include The New York Times, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and Martha Stewart Living. Enjoy!

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