Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake has always been one of my favorite desserts! I have made this recipe several times, and it is especially good in the summer when strawberries are in season. The shortcakes are moist and crumbly, resembling lightly sweetened biscuits. The lemon cream filling is my own creation, and you could eat it plain by the spoonful! I prefer this filling over plain whipped cream because it is smooth and creamy and has a tangy lemon cream cheese flavor. The filling pairs perfectly with fresh sliced strawberries. 

SHORTCAKES
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp. butter
1 egg
4 tbsp. milk, plus extra for brushing on tops of shortcakes

LEMON CREAM FILLING
1 oz. sugar free instant lemon pudding mix
1 cup milk
8 ounces low fat cream cheese
2 cups light whipped topping

Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Sliced strawberries

Yields 16 shortcakes, 8 servings (2 shortcakes needed to assemble each dessert as pictured)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Cut in cold butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.

Beat in egg and 4 tbsp. of milk. Add extra milk if needed, but dough should not become sticky.

Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface 1/2 inch thick.

If you use 2 1/2 in. circle cookie cutters, the recipe will yield 16 shortcake discs.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

To make lemon cream filling, combine pudding mix and milk and allow to sit for 2 minutes.

Beat cream cheese. Add pudding to cream cheese and beat until smooth.

Fold in whipped topping.

Spoon lemon cream filling and slicked strawberries between two shortcakes and garnish with confectioners' sugar and a sliced strawberry.

Enjoy!

Berry Cutie Pies

I hope that everyone had a happy and festive Fourth of July! The Fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday because of the fun traditions my family has. Red, White, & BOOM! is the large firework display in downtown Columbus on July 3rd. My family has a favorite viewing spot where we watch the fireworks with family friends each year. This year, everyone was looking forward to the finale which was a tribute to the Columbus Bicentennial. After a 25 minute display, the finale filled the sky and many fireworks were let off in one huge blast. One of the most important parts of the night is the escape route for after the show. Luckily, my dad is an expert at navigating the traffic, and this year we beat the mass exodus and made it home in 18 minutes - practically unheard of since there are over half a million people that travel downtown to watch the fireworks!

On the morning of the fourth, all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents get together to watch the Upper Arlington parade. Both of my parents grew up in UA and have been attending the parade since they were children. Our favorite part of the parade is the giant golden bear float and the OSU alumnae band. This year, the temperature reached 100 degrees, and everyone tried their best to stay in the shade! Before the parade, we get together for brunch, and I brought these adorable berry cutie pies!

Berry cutie pies are easy to make, and all of my family loved them! The colors of the fresh berries are perfect for Fourth of July. The crust is a traditional butter recipe, and it is easy to make. The berry filing is made by tossing fresh berries in a mixture of corn starch, sugar, and cinnamon. I found this recipe in my Cutie Pie recipe book which is full of bite-sized delicious desserts!

In addition to the fireworks downtown, we go to the Hilliard fireworks on the night of the fourth. My family always enjoys getting together with neighborhood friends to watch the local fireworks. I have to say, the finale is always breathtaking! Before the fireworks, we went to our friend Kelley's house to sample a festive Fourth of July cake that she made. Not only was it beautiful, but it was also moist and extremely delicious! The only ingredients required are 3 box cake mixes, food coloring, diet sprite, egg whites, and 4 tubs of whipped vanilla frosting. The cake takes time to bake because it is 9 individual layers, but the end result is worth the time in the kitchen. The recipe, which has become viral on Pinterest, can be found on this blog. Thanks for sharing Kelley!

Berry Cutie Pies
printable recipe
BUTTER CRUST:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp. sugar

1 cup cold butter

3/4 cup ice water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, salt, and sugar.

Cut in butter to dry ingredients using two knives, forks, a pastry blender, or food processor.

Stir in water until dough forms.

Roll out dough onto floured surface 1/8" thick.

Cut into 3" circles. Place each circle in greased mini muffin tin.

BERRY FILLING:

1 cup blueberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup strawberries

1 cup blackberries

4 tbsp. corn starch

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together all of the berries (cut strawberries into smaller pieces)

Combine corn starch, sugar, and cinnamon.

Add berries to dry ingredients and coat completely.

Spoon the berry filling into unbaked crust.

CRUMB TOPPING:

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup butter (melted)

Combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Melt butter and stir into dry ingredients.

Mix in oats.

Sprinkle on top of pies.

Bake pies for 20 to 25 minutes.

Yields 36 cutie pies.

Recipe from Cutie Pies

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pie

The past few weeks, I have been in cookie heaven. And by that, I mean I am interning at Cheryl's cookies. I have spent most of my time in the merchandising department attending meetings and doing competitive research. However, last week I had the opportunity to spend several days at the company's photo shoot. After attending the shoot, I have picked up a few helpful photography tricks that I have been excited to try. Commercial food photography has a mixed reputation. Many novice foodies are appalled when they read about photographers who use mashed potatoes in place of ice cream. However, Cheryl's photography remains true to the products. No mashed potatoes, no weird chemicals...just a little Pam cooking spray to make icing look fresh. My job at the photo shoot includes gathering cookie assortments from the shelves to be prepped by the food stylist and dusting cookies with a paint brush so they are crumb free!

With my crazy schedule, I have been surrounded by cookies, cakes, and frosting, but I haven't had much time to bake in my own kitchen. Well, this weekend was the perfect occasion because I went strawberry picking for the first time. I found a farm that is only twenty-five minutes away from my house and you can pick your own strawberries for only $1.40 a pound. Strawberries are in season right now, and they will be available for picking for the next two to three weeks. If you have a local strawberry farm near your house, I urge you to pick your own berries - they are delicious! So, after hand picking ten pounds of strawberries, I decided to make a strawberry pie. 

Pies are wonderful to make in the summertime, and they are unassumingly easy to make. Unlike a cake which requires precise baking times, fruit pies are much more forgiving. In fact, the only baking required for this pie is the crust. This pie crust recipe is very simple to make, and it does not require chilling the dough. So, if you are short on time and have some good strawberries on hand, you should try this pie. Don't forget the cool whip!

PIE CRUST

printable recipe

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

8 tbsp. cold butter

3 tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt.

Use to knives to cut in the stick of butter. Continue until the crumbs are pea size and smaller.

Add water, additional if necessary, until the dough comes together but is not too sticky.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface.

Place in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Crimp the edges of the dough.

Poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork. 

Chill the crust for 15 minutes.

Place aluminum foil and pie weights on top of the crust and bake for 15 minutes. The pie weights will keep the crust from rising during baking. If you do not have pie weights, you can put an empty cake pan on top of the crust while it bakes. 

Remove the foil and pie weights, rotate the pan, and bake for 5-10 more minutes until the crust is golden brown.

Allow to cool to room temperature.

STRAWBERRY PIE FILLING

3 pounds strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp. corn starch

1 1/2 tsp. Sure-Jell (Premium Fruit Pectin - No sugar needed, pink box)

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Put 6 ounces of strawberries (about 1.5 cups) in food processor or blender and process until the berries become a smooth puree. 

Combine sugar, corn starch, and Sure-Jell, and berry puree in a saucepan over medium high heat. Allow to come to a boil for two minutes. Continue to constantly stir with a rubber spatula to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan. 

Transfer the mixture into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and allow to cool.

Halve the reaming two pounds of strawberries.

Pour the puree sugar mixture over the strawberries. Put the strawberries in the cooked pie shell.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serve with cool whip.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.

Enjoy!

Sweet Strawberry Banana Bread

After my family raved over the Strawberry Banana Muffins that I made a few weeks ago, I wanted to try making strawberry banana bread in my new mini loaf pans. I decided to have a Valentine's Day Party for friends (more about this in my next post), and as a take-home dessert, I gave each guest their own mini loaf of bread. I decided "Sweet Strawberry Banana Bread" is a suitable name for this recipe because it has more sugar and a different texture than regular bread. Essentially, it is very similar to a pound cake, and made very moist by the banana.



I ordered a set of 3 mini loaf pans from Wilton, but since I had to make 16 mini loafs, I picked up a few disposable mini loaf pans to expedite the baking time.  After I bought the disposable pans, I questioned whether it had been worth it to buy the Wilton pans. However, after baking in both types of pan, I realized the metal pans yield bread that is MUCH more evenly baked. The disposable pans require a longer baking time, and since I was afraid I would over bake the bread, I ended up taking the loafs in the disposable pans out of the oven too early. The Wilton metal pans created bread that looked much prettier when popped out of the pans, and it was easier to ensure the breads were thoroughly cooked.

SWEET STRAWBERRY BANANA BREAD
printable recipe
1/2 cup butter
1 banana
2 1/2 cups light brown sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup diced strawberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray five 5 3/4 by 3 1/4 inch mini loaf pans with baking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and banana until smooth.

Add brown sugar and eggs.

Alternate add flour mixture with the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Fold in diced strawberries.

Pour the batter in prepared mini load pans.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Yields: 5 mini loaves. This recipe can also be used to make two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch regular sized loaves (with a baking time of about 1 hour).

Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Muffins

With our school's blood drive right around the corner, I needed a muffins for blood donors to eat after donating. I didn't want muffins that were too sweet, and was hoping to make muffins that were hearty, healthy, and dense. These Strawberry Banana muffins did just the trick! I love adding bananas to muffin and bread recipes because they help make the muffins extra moist and dense without adding extra butter or oil. I will definitely keep this recipe in my repertoire of go-to favorites! I have also included the nutritional information per muffin below! With 200 calories, I like to say these muffins give you bang for your buck because they are definitely hearty.

STRAWBERRY BANANA MUFFINS

1 cup butter

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 large ripe bananas

2 cups chopped strawberries

4 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

CREAM CHEESE DRIZZLE:
2 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and bananas in mixer. 

Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth and combined.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Fold the chopped strawberries into the flour mixture. This will ensure the strawberries do not sink to the bottom of the muffins when baking.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. The mixture will still be slightly crumbly.

Divide the batter among 24 greased muffin cups. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick just comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Beat 2 ounces cream cheese, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Adapted from Joy of Baking.

Yield 24 Muffins.

Nutritional Information (one muffin with cream cheese drizzle) Calories: 209,
Carbohydrates: 27, Fat: 9, Protein: 4, Fiber: 1.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pop Tarts

Growing up, pop tarts were always a fun treat to eat. Store bought pop tarts tend to have bad reputations as unhealthy sugary treats that should not be fed to children for breakfast - I agree! However, when I came across this recipe for homemade pop tarts, I couldn't resist baking them for a school bake sale. Making the pop tarts was simple, and they resemble the store bought version perfectly, but taste way better! I made strawberry pop tarts with jam filling and apple cinnamon pop tarts with apple butter filling. The apple cinnamon pop tarts were my favorites!

HOMEMADE POP TARTS
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
2 sticks butter (cold)
6-8 tbsp. ice water
Strawberry Jam or Apple Butter for the filling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Milk
Strawberry Extract or Cinnamon to flavor icing
Sprinkles!

Using a food processor, pastry blender, or forks, combine flour, salt, sugar, and butter. Once combined, the  mixture will turn more buttery in color and there will be no large pieces of butter remaining. Add water 1 tbsp. at a time until the dough holds together when pressed with hands, but is not sticky.

Chill the completed dough in the refrigerator. I never chill my pastry dough very long because I find it breaks easily when rolled out. However, I have little experience making pastry dough, and so this is a personal preference. The recipe I followed said to chill the dough overnight or for at least two hours - whatever works!

Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will rise a little when baking in the oven. Use a pastry wheel, or a cookie cutter to cut the dough into the desired shaped and sizes. Place dough cut outs onto a cookie sheet. Refrigerate each cookie sheet once it is filled up while the rest of the dough is being cut.

Spoon 1-2 tsp. of jam or apple butter on each cut out and spread. Be creative to come up with other possible fillings! Place a top piece of dough on each pastry, press the edges together, and use a fork to achieve a decorative crimped edge.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

Combine powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency for icing is achieved. Add strawberry extract or cinnamon to flavor the icing. Icing coloring can be used to tint.

Spread icing on top of cooled pop tarts. Decorate with sprinkles.

Recipe inspirations from Bake at 350.

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Strawberry Mini Cupcakes

This is the third cupcake in my mini cupcake series from the 500 Cupcakes book.

CUPCAKES
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1.2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
1 tsp. strawberry extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

FROSTING
1 cup cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. butter
3-5 chopped fresh strawberries
White Chocolate Chip garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the butter, sugar, eggs, and strawberry extract. Add the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Bake for 13 minutes in mini muffin pan.

Combine all of the frosting ingredients. The strawberries should be finely chopped. When you add them to the frosting, mix on high to help make the strawberry pieces even smaller.

Frost when completely cooled and top with a white chocolate chip.

Makes 36 mini cupcakes