Strawberry Coffee Cake

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I took the kids to Downtown LA, and while we were there, we went to eat lunch at Langer's Deli, which is a bit of a local landmark. It's an old-fashioned deli/restaurant that is about to celebrate its 65th anniversary. The adults at the table followed the advice "When in Rome, act like a Roman", and we each ordered the restaurant's specialty: Pastrami, cole slaw, and Swiss cheese on Rye.


And now I need to pause and wonder. Does one capitalize Swiss and Cheese? Or just Swiss? Or is it so very far removed from Switzerland that it doesn't need to be capitalized at all? I don't want the entire nation of Switzerland, kind as they are, to go the way of Kleenex Brand Tissues (Reserved).


Anyway. My kids, in their infinite ability to astonish me, each ordered a meatloaf sandwich. What?! Don't they know that meatloaf is gross? I couldn't believe that any child of mine would voluntarily put meatloaf in his or her mouth.


They gobbled up the sandwiches and assured me that they love meatloaf. Ummm. Okay.


I am not really sure how they knew what meatloaf is, or where they had heard of it, or much less tasted it, but there you have it. They knew it, ordered it, and loved it.


They have been asking me to make meatloaf for dinner. And today, I humored them (despite my better judgement). However, since I am going to have to reward myself for eating meatloaf, I also made a yummy dessert. 

This recipe was presented as a "buckle." I have always understood a buckle to be more like a Brown Betty, Cobbler, or Crisp. This came out much more like a coffee cake. The bottom layer is very light and fluffy, with a layer of strawberries and a crunchy topping. So I am going to consider it to be a coffee cake. The good news, that it is so very delicious, means it won't stick around for long. It will be eaten long before anyone can have an issue with its name.

Strawberry Coffee Cake
(adapted from Martha Stewart's Rhubarb Buckle)


Vegetable-oil cooking spray, for cake pans
1 pint strawberries, sliced 
1 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and divided
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center position. Coat two 9-inch square cake pans with cooking spray, and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. Slice strawberries and set aside.


Whisk together 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together 1 1/2 sticks of butter, sugar, and the lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then beat in vanilla. Beat in flour mixture in 2 additions, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.


Make the crumb topping: Stir together remaining flour, brown sugar, and salt. Melt the remaining butter, and stir into the flour mixture to combine.


Divide batter between pans. Top with sliced strawberries, and sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake until golden on top and cooked through, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Let cool completely in pans on wire racks, then lift cakes from pans using parchment. Remove parchment. Before serving, cut into 2-inch squares.

This post is linked to the Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. Check out what everyone else did with strawberries and cream!

strawberry lemonade

In a mad, desperate, last-ditch effort to use up all of our perishables before we head out to the great outdoors for a week, I went and bought a bunch of fruit. What?

I couldn't help it. I was driving past a farm stand on my way home from the beach, and the strawberries begged me to give them a decent place to live out their last days. So I bought a half-flat (see? Such restraint! Only a half-flat!)

I also happened to find a couple of bags of lemons in my hand as I handed over my hard-earned cash.

So what's a gal to do?

To quote the cute poster of a kitty-cat that hung in the nurse's office of my elementary school, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" (What a kitty has to do with lemonade is beyond me as much today as it was back in second grade while I lay there waiting for my mother to come pick up my pukey self).

Regardless of kitties and posters and second grade, I am feeling quite well these days and thusly interested in enjoying myself. Plus, life (by which I mean my own consumerism) gave me lemons. And strawberries.

Ahhhhhh.

Strawberry lemonade

1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 5-6 lemons)
4-5 cups water
1-1 1/2 pints strawberries
1 cup sugar

First, rinse, and hull the strawberries. Place them in a blender with about a half cup of water and blend until pureed.

Mix the lemon juice, strawberry puree, sugar and water in a large pitcher with ice. Taste and add more water as desired.

If you choose, you can add a shot of vodka to each serving (or if this is going to be an adults-only treat, add a cup of vodka to the pitcher). It makes a lovely way to relax after a long day of relaxing at the beach.



This post is linked to Cast Party Wednesday.

Strawberry Jam

There is an art to making food beautiful. Some people know how to arrange a plate just-so. They know how to combine colors and textures, portion sizes and ratios.  I have never been to any sort of culinary school... as a matter of fact, I haven't even taken a single cooking class (although I would LOVE TO). I believe, though, that there are courses just on plating the food. It is definitely an art form.

And then there are those who can bake beautiful creations. They not only bake a level, beautiful cake or cookies, they are then able to frost it smooth, without a wrinkle or drip. On top of that, they know how to make it beautiful, with just the right amount and combination of color, decoration, shape, texture. Those people are simply amazing, and occupy a space in my esteem where I will admire, but probably never aspire to join their class of artistry.

I was in Oxnard the other day. If you aren't from Southern California, let me give you a little background. Oxnard has traditionally been a manufacturing and agricultural center in California. Which means that it is largely populated by laborers from both factories and farms. In other words, its a working town, not a vacation destination. In the mid-2000's, the city decided to get ahold of its growing gang problem and invest in development. Suddenly, people began to notice that Oxnard, despite its name, is actually a beautiful location. It's hard not to be, only about 30 miles or so down the beach from Santa Barbara. Lately it has gained some beautiful neighborhoods and commercial areas, and is becoming a destination for relaxing beach weekends and wonderful retirement homes.

At any rate, there is still plenty of agriculture surrounding Oxnard, and it is considered to be the main supplier of strawberries and lima beans in the state of California. While I won't hold the lima beans against Oxnard, I will luxuriate in the strawberries.

It has been gloriously hot the past few days, and all of this early summertime means that the strawberries are ripe for the picking. I stopped at a farm stand to pick up a half-flat of the freshly ripened berries, and now I wish I had gone for the whole flat. After letting the kids have their fill, I made a batch of strawberry jam, and there are only a couple left! Oxnard is a bit too far for me to drive just to get berries, (I calculate that the 50 miles each way must take about $732 in current gas prices). 

I went ahead and made my jam using pectin. I know the world is divided into two types of people:
Those who add pectin to their jam, those who feel adding pectin isn't authentic, and those who buy their jam already made.  Pectin is a natural ingredient, derived from apples, that helps the jam to set, which decreases cooking time. The way I see it, using pectin isn't that different than using a stove hooked up to a gas line. Both methods have been developed since my great-grandmother made her jam, and both help out a lot in the kitchen. If it tastes good and helps with consistent results, I'm all for it.

We very much enjoyed strawberry jam on our toast this morning. And now you can too:

Strawberry Jam

5 cups of mashed strawberries (about 7 cups whole)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 packet pectin (available in the grocery store right next to the mason jars and lids)
7 cups sugar

1. Rinse and hull the strawberries.

2. Using a potato masher, mash enough strawberries to make 5 cups.

3. Mix together the strawberries, lemon juice and pectin in a large pot. Bring it all to a rolling boil (so that even while stirring, the mixture boils). Add the sugar, and bring it back to a rolling boil.  Continue to boil for one minute, scraping off the foam.

4. Ladle into hot jars (The jars need to be hot so that the glass doesn't crack when the hot jam is poured in.) Fill each jar to 1/4 inch from the top. Wipe the edges of the jar clean. Place a lid on each jar, and screw on the band until it is finger-tip tight. Place the jars into a large pot of water, and boil for 15 minutes. The water level needs to be 1-2 inches above the top of the jars. After 15 minutes, remove from the water using a jar lifter (or tongs). Let them sit, undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You will know if they are properly sealed if you press on the lid and it doesn't give at all.

5 Enjoy your strawberry jam! If properly sealed, it should be good for up to a year.