Strawberry Galette

I love strawberries. But I love them so much more when it is strawberry season! I had some strawberries on hand that I didn't want to lose, so I was thinking pie. Then it hit me. I have some puff pastry in the freezer, let's see what this can do. I found a recipe that was so very simple with very few ingredients, just what I was looking for to showcase the flavour of our local strawberries. The site where I found the recipe (and another site she is an editor for - Simple Bites) is wonderful. The recipes are straight forward and the main ingredient is always the star. I urge you to check out her sites!!

Strawberry Galette
source: www.underthehighchair.com

Ingredients
1lb strawberries, washed and hulled
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
250g puff pastry *see note

Roll out your puff pastry, on a floured surface, to 1/4 inch thick. You can roll it round but I kept mine even simpler, a rectangle. Once rolled, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for 30 mins.
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Slice the strawberries length-wise, 1/4 inch thick. Toss them with the sugar and cornstarch and arrange them on your puff pastry right away. You can place them in concentric circles or since I did my pastry in a rectangle, I did lines. And slightly overlap your strawberries, which ever way you choose to place your strawberries. Be sure to start placing your strawberries 1 inch away from the edge of the dough. Once they are all placed, fold the edge of the dough over the berries.
Whisk the egg yolk and water together, then brush over the dough. Now you can dot your berries with the butter pieces.
Place in the oven and cook about 40 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown.

*note: my box of puff pastry had 2 sections for a total of 397g. I ended up using both sides, making 2 galettes. I had a little over a 1lb of strawberries and it turn out great!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

I came across this recipe while I was browsing Pinterest and it looked fantastic. I had some over-ripe bananas screaming to be baked, so this was perfect. I wanted something a little different to banana bread but still something soft and cake like (but not as thick as cake).

I had this recipe in the oven within 30 mins and it was baked and sitting on a cooling rack another 20 mins later. And it is incredible. Moist, soft and great banana taste. I think next time I will use mini chips like they suggest. I think my chocolate over powered just a little bit. I really love this recipe. You should definitely give it a try.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

source: verybestbaking.com

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (approx 2)
1 egg
2 cups mini chocolate chips (I used regular chips)

Preheat your oven to 350F and grease a 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan with non-stick spray.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Beat in the bananas and egg.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread into jelly roll pan.
Bake for 20-30 mins. or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a rack before cutting into bars (or squares).
These were so moist and full of banana taste. Just perfect and yummy!
Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I think that this recipe is one of the first (if not the first) recipe that I tried from the www.onceamonthmom.com site. Their site offers so many different menus and recipes, such a great resource. This recipe was fantastic. It is fantastic!  I used it quite often during strawberry season last year. Since strawberry season is creeping up soon, I thought I would pass it along. Scones are so quick to prepare and bake. And of course these are freezer friendly. Can you tell that I'm slightly addicted to scones? I love them. It's a good thing that I put them in the freezer, otherwise, they wouldn't last longer than a day. Be sure to make a batch at the start of strawberry season so that you can take full advantage of the full season! This picture was taken with my phone, so it is not the best quality. As soon as I make a new batch and take a picture, I will update it!

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones
source: www.onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup almonds chopped (optional - I don't use)

Begin by preheating your oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Next, cut in your butter using a pastry blender until it resembles a coarse meal. You could also use to knives to cut the butter in.
Whisk the egg yolk and buttermilk in a smaller bowl. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until the dough begins to come together.
Fold in the chocolate chips and strawberries (gently) and place onto a floured surface.
Shape and pat dough into a large square (I always end up with a rectangle for some reason LOL) and cut into to squares again. Then cut into triangles.
Put them on your lined baking sheet and then into the oven. Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
Let them cool before eating or transferring to a freezer bag.
To reheat, I prefer to pop them in a low heat oven. You can also pop them in the microwave.
Makes 8 servings

Happy baking!