The recent flush of flower blossoms and green leaves reminds me how much I appreciate the seasons as they unfold in the South, especially our early spring.
It still amazes me that I tasted the first of this year’s Florida strawberry crop in February. When I lived in the Midwest, we’d have to wait until May for regionally grown ones to arrive.
When it comes to enjoying these ruby red gems in their prime, I generally prefer that they come straight from the field to my mouth — no cooking or fussy preparation in-between. However, I make an exception with strawberry dessert bars — any berry bar, really — and preferably one that holds fresh fruit instead of a thick layer of preserves that break the sugar bank. Authors Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore offer a rendition using fresh strawberries in their recently published “Toaster Oven Takeover,” a cookbook that makes efficient use of this underrated kitchen appliance (and that I plan to consult again when summer arrives to avoid heating up the kitchen with my full-size oven).
Theirs is a simple, straightforward recipe that results in a very rich, buttery treat. In the quest for a slightly healthier bar, I experimented with the flour type, and the quantities of sugar and strawberries. Swapping half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat worked, although it does make for a slightly denser bar. I decreased the amount of sugar for the crumb crust and topping from 1 cup to 3/4 cup without tasting a discernible difference, especially because the ripe strawberries offered an abundance of natural sweetness. Since the filling seemed like it could handle even more strawberries, I added an additional cup without needing to adjust the quantity of lemon juice, cornstarch or sugar that the berries are tossed in.
Whether you stick with the original recipe by Wyss and Moore or tinker around like I did, the hardest part is waiting for the bubbly berries to cool before you dig into this celebratory springtime dessert.
From “Toaster Oven Takeover: Easy and Delicious Recipes to Make in Your Toaster Oven” by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore. Copyright @ 2021 by Simon & Schuster Inc. Reprinted by permission of Tiller Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
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