Roasted Strawberries

I supposed this is less of a recipe and more of a how to, or maybe it’s more of a why too with instructions? Either way, roasting strawberries is easy and totally worth doing!

I saw the odd recipe here and there calling for roasted strawberries and I would always think “why the hell would I cook them?”. Then, my favorite grocery store had giant boxes of strawberries on sale and I wanted to prepare some for waffle topping that wouldn’t be spoilt by the weekend…. so I thought about making some strawberry “syrup”, kind of like what you do with blueberries for pancakes. I ran across several recommendations on how to roast them, but in the end I decided that less is more.

While my oven was preheating to 350f, I rinsed and dried the strawberries. Then, rather then hull them I cut off a tiny bit that included the green parts. I placed them in the largest glass baking pan I had, after I buttered the inside bottom of it. I then grabbed a few handfuls of light brown sugar and sprinkled it over the strawberries, taking care to make sure all of them had at least a little of the sugar in-between them.

I put them in the 350f preheated oven, on the middle rack, for 20 minutes. They looked like this, fresh from the oven. I waited just a few minutes, then I divided them into two single pint canning jars. They were nice and soft, but held their shape perfectly. I ate one to try them out, then ate four more… I couldn’t help myself! OMG these are good!

There was a decent amount of juice in the pan, but rather than just pour it in with the strawberries, I added a teaspoon of balsamic and whisked it in. Then I divided the syrupy juice between the two jars and closed up the lids while the strawberries and juice were still warm.

We ended up eating one of the jars over cake with whipped cream, and I used the other jar to make some cocktails. We never actually ate any with waffles, until I made another batch. Here is what I did…

1. I rinsed and dried about 48 medium size strawberries (that’s 2 pints or 1.5lb), then cut off a tiny bit of the top of each, that included all the green bits
2. I used 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature, to thickly grease just the inside bottom of a 9×11″ glass baking pan
3. I  sprinkled 1/2 cup of soft light brown sugar evenly over the strawberries
4. I drizzled over 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
5. I baked them in the middle of a 350f preheated, oven for 20 minutes
6. I let the strawberries cool in the pan for 15 minutes before I divided them into 2 single pint canning jars, by lifting them gently out of the pan with a fork
7. I whisked the syrupy liquid in the bottom of the pan before I divided it between the two jars
8. When the jars were completely cooled to room temperature, I put them in the fridge

We ate one entire jar over waffles, just between two people, in one meal! It was mag-fraking-nifacent! Macerated strawberries eat your heart out!

I kept the other jar in the back of the fridge. I used half of it for cocktails, but purposely kept the other half in there. After a whole month it was still perfectly edible. I have no idea how long it would have lasted beyond that… surely no more than jam? The only reason it was still in there after a month is because I made more, otherwise I would have eaten it… why the hell would I leave this stuff in the fridge when I could eat it?!!! You’ll understand if you make some…

Make some! You’ll love it!