Strawberry Skillet Bread

This is a quick bread that is almost like a big biscuit cooked in an iron skillet.  It has enough butter and sugar and fruit that you won’t need butter and jam to go with it.  It is delicious for breakfast or with tea or as we had it most recently for breakfast-for-dinner.  It really should serve six, but my husband and son are both pretty big eaters, so the three of us ate a little over half of it.  The recipe calls for two to four tablespoons of sugar because it is really up to you how sweet you want it to be.  The first one or two tablespoons is for the strawberries and will depend not only on how sweet you want them to be, but also on how sweet they are to begin with.  The second one to two tablespoons is to sprinkle on top, so if you want it sweet go with two and if you want it a little less sweet go with one.  It really is wonderful.  My fifteen year old son even said, “This was a really good idea.”  Hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Skillet bread

2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups strawberries, chopped
2 – 4 Tbsps. sugar, divided
1 – 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 Tbsps. butter

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place an empty 10-inch iron skillet into the oven.  Stir 1 – 2 tablespoons of sugar into chopped strawberries.  Whisk flour to aerate and remove any lumps.  Stir in strawberries.  Add cream, and stir together with a fork until a soft biscuit type dough forms.  Start with 1 cup, you will probably need about 1 1/4 cups, but you could need more or less depending on the juiciness of the strawberries.  When the dough is complete, remove the iron skillet from the oven.  Be careful because it will be VERY hot.  Put the butter into the skillet and stir around until melted.  Put the dough in the pan, smoothing to evenly distribute.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1 – 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Put the skillet back into the oven and bake until cooked through and golden brown – about 20 to 25 minutes.