Strawberry Buckle

There are all sorts of variations of old-fashioned fresh fruit dessert recipes. What they all have in common is fresh, seasonal fruit. The differences arise with the type of topping.  The most common types of baked fruit desserts are:

            Buckle:           A dessert combining fresh fruit, a rich cake batter, and a streusel topping.

            Cobbler:          A dessert of fresh fruit baked in a deep dish and topped with a biscuit-like crust, usually sprinkled with sugar.

            Crumble:         A dessert of fresh fruit baked with a crumbly pastry mixture.

            Crisp:              A deep-dish fruit dessert made with a crumb or streusel topping.

Everyone has their personal favorites and they are all good. When spring and summer rolls around there is nothing better than a fresh fruit dessert!

As I've mentioned before, my local strawberry patch is open for the season. It's about two miles from my house, if that.  Last week my 3-year old grandson and I took a bike ride out to the patch.  (I have a trailer he rides in).  That little boy loves strawberries! He was enthralled with the strawberry plants and all the red berries. He ate some in the field, he ate some sitting in the trailer as I pedaled our way home, and he had some more for an afternoon snack.  It's a good thing I bought extra for our dessert!

I love my fun little baking pans so this recipe caught my attention because the buckle can be made in mini skillets.  That's such a cute presentation! It was an easy recipe to throw together and the buckles baked while we had dinner. I served them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. They were quite good!

Strawberry Buckle

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped

Streusel:
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 5 4-inch cast iron skillets (or 4 6-inch cast iron skillets, or a 9x9-inch baking pan or 10-inch cast iron skillet).

Using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, cream the softened butter.  Add the shortening and mix thoroughly.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture and beat to combine.  Add the egg and beat to fully combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; mix with a whisk to combine. With the mixer on low, slowly pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Slowly pour in the buttermilk and mix until combined.

To make the streusel, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the cold butter into small pieces.  Add the sugar, flour and spices, mixing until the mixture has the consistency of small pebbles.

Spoon the batter evenly in the prepared pans.  Evenly layer the chopped strawberries over the batter.  Distribute the streusel evenly over the mixture.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (40-45 minutes if using larger pans) until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (if using mini skillets it's best to bake them on a cookie sheet). Allow to sit for five minutes before serving.