Berries, Part II

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

I'm a tad bit late posting this recipe, I used it to finish up the last of our hand-picked strawberries from last month. But I have good reason! If you couldn't tell from this post, we took a long road trip to spend time with those nearest and dearest to our hearts. There was not one, but two, delicious barbecues and loads more good food that could've filled up this site for weeks to come. But instead of snapping away pictures of everything we ate, I decided to go the old fashioned route and sit back and enjoy it all instead, alhamdulillah!

 

Back to the berries, like the other recipe, this would work equally delicious with any berry as the key to the recipe is the careful browning of the butter - it really makes a world of a difference! I used whatever bread I had on hand which is why the cups are a bit misshapen, but isn't that what a rustic dessert is all about anyways?Make sure you enjoy these warm with a nice dollop of whipped cream on the side!

Strawberry Brown Butter Betty's

Makes 6 muffin-sized desserts

3/4 stick salted or unsalted butter
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
6 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
1/8 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs ( I left these out....personal preference!)
1 1/2 to 2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
Softly whipped cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

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.

Lightly butter muffin cups with some of brown butter, then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Roll bread slices with a rolling pin to flatten. Brush both sides with additional brown butter, then gently fit into muffin cups.
Stir together brown sugar, zest, salt and panko, then add strawberries and toss to coat. Stir in remaining brown butter. Heap strawberry mixture into cups, pressing gently.

Cover pan with foil and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake until strawberries are very tender, about 10 minutes more. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.