Strawberry Shortcake Crunch Topping
With a crunchy texture and a bright strawberry flavor from freeze-dried strawberries, this strawberry crunch topping is as versatile and delicious and a cinch to prepare, not to mention entirely scratch-made!
Yield: about 2 cups
Ingredients
- ¾ cup / 95 g all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons / 75 g granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons / 16 g whole milk powder
- 1 tablespoon / 8 g cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 tablespoons / 84 g unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons / 21 g freeze dried strawberry powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, milk powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt until evenly incorporated. Drizzle in melted butter and vanilla and mix until no dry ingredients remain; it should stick together into a crumbly dough.
- Chill dough for 20 to 30 minutes (this makes it easier to crumble), then use your fingers to crumble dough onto prepared baking sheet, spreading crumbs into a single layer and breaking up any extra large pieces (ideally you want mostly pea-sized pieces).
- Bake for 30 minutes or until just starting to turn light golden brown (they will crisp up more as they cool). As soon as you remove the baking sheet from the oven, use a spatula to lightly toss and break up the crumbs into smaller pieces where they've stuck together.
- Separate out about 2/3 of the warm crumb mixture on the pan, and sprinkle this section with 2 tablespoons strawberry powder. Gently toss to coat crumbs evenly with strawberry. Sprinkle with remaining strawberry, and toss once more. Let cool completely, then mix the two colors of crumbs together to blend.
- Crumbs can be made a few days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use.