Strawberries come into season for summer
One of my favorite things about the warming weather is that
spring and summer fruits start to come into season. Despite the
rain, I’ve found some pretty good strawberries at the Uesugi farm
stand on Hwy. 25. The strawberries are picked ripe so they need to
be eaten quickly as they don’t go bad.
Strawberries come into season for summer
One of my favorite things about the warming weather is that spring and summer fruits start to come into season. Despite the rain, I’ve found some pretty good strawberries at the Uesugi farm stand on Hwy. 25. The strawberries are picked ripe so they need to be eaten quickly as they don’t go bad.
I like eating strawberries whole, but they can be used in a variety of desserts. One of the most common is strawberry shortcake. Often, I’ll just pick up an angel food cake to make strawberry shortcake, but there are plenty of options to make it from scratch at home. The recipe below is easy to put together and the cake is not overly sweet. I made it, and skipped the step of mixing the strawberries with sugar since the ones I had were sweet enough on their own.
The second recipe is one that someone suggested to me, and though it might seem strange to mix strawberries with vinegar, it really does work. Last year I grilled strawberries with a balsamic vinegar sauce. This is pretty much the same concept, except the ingredients are cooked up on the stovetop to make a sauce for ice cream. It worked really well – the only downside was the warm sauce quickly melted the vanilla ice cream.
The last recipe is sort of twist on shortcake in that it combines the strawberries and shortcake into one dish that is baked in the oven.
Strawberries are still in season for a while so enjoy these recipes or just eat them straight out of the basket.
Simply sensational strawberry shortcake
Recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods
1 ¼ c. milk, divided
¼ c. sour cream
3 tbsp. sugar
2 ¼ tbsp. all purpose baking mix
1 package 3.4 oz. vanilla flavored instant pudding
1 tub 8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed, divided
4 c. sliced fresh strawberries
1/3 c. sugar
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Beat ½ c. milk, sour cream and three tbsp. sugar in a large bowl with a whisk until well blended. Stir in baking mix just until moistened. Spread onto bottom of greased 9-inch round pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan for five minutes. Remove cake from pan to wire rack; cool completely.
Beat pudding mix and remaining milk in medium bowl with a whisk for two minutes. Stir in half the Cool Whip. Toss strawberries with 1/3 c. sugar.
Cut cake horizontally in half; stack layers on plate, filling with half the strawberry mixture and all the pudding mixture. Top with remaining Cool Whip and strawberry mixture. Serve immediately.
The dessert is best assembled just before serving, but all the ingredients can be prepped ahead of time. Bake the cake up to 24 hours ahead of time, then split the cake into layers after it is cooled and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Toss the sliced berries with the sugar and refrigerate until ready to use.
Makes eight servings.
Nutritional value: 360 calories, 12 grams of fat, 60 carbohydrate and 5 grams of protein.
Balsamic strawberries
Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com
1 tbsp. butter
2 c. fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
¼ c. sugar (or granulated sucrolose sweetener)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 scoops low-fat vanilla ice cream
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the strawberry halves, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Cook until the strawberries are heated through and darkened to a ruby red.
Place scoops of ice cream into dessert bowls or stemmed glasses. Spoon strawberries over the ice cream and serve.
Strawberry dumplings
Recipe courtesy of www.strawberry.com
1/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. sifted flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. milk
2 c. strawberries (hulled, rinsed, and cut in half)
1 tbsp. sugar
Cinnamon (optional)
In a saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar and the water. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, 2 tbsp sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.
Add milk and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Place the strawberries in a 1-1/2-quart casserole dish.
Pour hot sugar mixture over strawberries.
Drop the dough in 8 to 10 spoonfuls over the strawberries.
Sprinkle the dough with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar (and sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired).
Bake at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until dumplings are light brown on top.
Serve hot.
