Into the Strata-sphere: Tripleberry Strata

Judy Mahoney,
Party Strategy

Recently I was surveying our team for their favorite tailgating recipe ideas, and my dear colleague and “Tailgater Extraordinaire” Judy Mahoney shared her recipe for Blueberry Strata. Now, I’m not much into sports (football is the game with the brown ball, right?), but I certainly wasn’t expecting a strata recipe for a tailgating party. Well, it turns out that many football games start at 11:00 am, thus requiring tailgating fans to arrive early in the morning – long before they are ready for a beer and a brat!

So let’s talk about “Strata” – it’s a baked casserole-type dish that includes layers of bread, usually dipped in an egg batter. It’s often a savory dish with cheese, onions, seasonings and meat, but Judy’s delightful strata is sweet – kind of like a baked French toast. I “Tastefully Simplized” her recipe by turning it into “Tripleberry Strata.” It has just six ingredients and it’s very simple to put together. It does require a night in the fridge, so you’ll need to plan ahead, but it’s well worth the wait and your house will smell fantastic from the moment you crack open your jar of Tripleberry Fruit Spread!

So take your next tailgating party (or brunch!) into the strata-sphere with Tripleberry Strata!

Tripleberry Strata

Adapted from Judy Mahoney’s recipe

Ingredients:

• 15 slices white bread, cubed
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 jar Tripleberry Fruit Spread
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Place 2/3 of the bread cubes in a greased 13 x 9 baking pan. Cut cream cheese in small cubes and dot over bread. Dollop Tripleberry Fruit Spread over the top, and then top with remaining bread. Beat remaining ingredients in a large bowl and pour over bread; cover and refrigerate overnight. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or more, until golden brown and center is set. Remove from oven and let set 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with additional warmed Tripleberry Fruit Spread or maple syrup. Makes 12-15 servings.

Tripleberry Strata

Testing Notes:

• Note that if you want to serve the strata with extra “sauce” you will need a second jar of Tripleberry Fruit Spread. If you have but one jar, sad! You should get more! But maple syrup is a nice substitute for the serving sauce – it kind of gives it a blueberry pancake feel.
• I used Vienna bread for my strata, but you could use virtually any bread or buns you have on hand. Generally, I would use day-old or stale bread that’s a little dry for a strata, but I did use a fresh loaf this time and it turned out fine. I took my 15 pieces of bread out of the bag and laid them out on a cookie sheet while I was puttering in the kitchen assembling my other ingredients, so it did get ever-so-slightly dry.
• I used light cream cheese, which worked well, but it is softer than regular cream cheese so cube it straight from the fridge – it will cut better when it’s cold.
• I unintentionally baked mine for an extra 15 minutes (long story …) and it would have been better had I not done that. It was a little firm and dry and it stuck to the pan quite a bit, but with the sauce on top my testers still loved it.
• The stand time after you remove it from the oven is important – the whole dish kind of firms up during that time. If you skip this step, the texture will be slightly softer and it won’t come out of the pan as well.
• The berry flavor in this strata is wonderful – we will definitely make this recipe again!

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