Strawberries are the quintessential dessert fruit. With multiple growing seasons, strawberries are an easy mainstay to rely on. Sure the fruit is great simply as is, but these bright red gems are even tastier in a dessert. Chopped, pureed, or even using extract gives that bright distinguishable strawberry flavor without a lot of hassle. We’ve found great ways to bake in strawberry flavor without fussy prep work! Try any of these four recipes and they’ll be such a hit, you’ll find yourself baking them up every weekend.
Strawberry Shortcake Puppy Chow
Puppy chow goes by many names: muddy buddies, monkey munch, and muddy munch among others. But, whatever you call this sweet treat the fact is that people of all ages love this candy. There have been a lot of variations on this classic over the years, from the traditional chocolate peanut butter to snickerdoodle flavor, but this strawberry shortcake puppy chow mix is absolutely one of my favorites.
Strawberry Crunch Poke Cake
You know those ice cream bars with the amazing strawberry shortcake flavor and the pink and cream crumbly-crunch coating? Yeah… those. I remember them so fondly – just the mention of them brings me back to childhood summers spent at the community pool and carefully counting out quarters to buy one at the snack shack. But that delicious treat isn’t relegated to childhood memories anymore, because we’ve made it into a cake! And it’s a poke cake, so you can be sure that strawberry shortcake flavor runs all the way through.
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
You already know I love all kinds of desserts, but if I had to chose a favorite, I’d pick cheesecake. I love the rich, creamy texture, the graham cracker crust, and how it pretty much goes with everything! Cheesecake is so versatile, and I’ve yet to meet a flavor I haven’t liked. With these cookies, you’ll have the best cheesecake combination.
Real Strawberry Sheet Cake
While we’ve been know to use a package of our favorite jello mix here and there – they add great flavor, color and usually a nice, thick texture – there’s something really refreshing about going back to basics and making a cake from scratch. Specifically, a lovely, summer strawberry cake. This one bakes in a 9×13 pan, with lots of fresh strawberries tucked into both the cake batter and the frosting. Nothing fake to be found here, just real flavor (and color) from real fruit! We love this and you will too, promise.