MSC – Strawberry Cupcakes

These cupcakes are the perfect summer treat (aside from giant scoops of ice cream piled high with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, but that’s fodder for another post.) They come together quickly, the texture and taste are spot on, and they are SO refreshing. Even without frosting.

Yes, I am a Frosting Nazi. I find most frosting to be cloyingly sweet. A simple, unadorned strawberry coulis (read: fancy word for puree) is the PERFECT compliment to this delightfully pure and lightly sweetened yummy treat. Top it with a fresh berry, and there you have it: a perfect treat after a light summer brunch.

I’ll quit boring you and let the pictures speak for themselves 😉

Thank you to Sherry from Sherry Starts Cooking for this scrumptious pick!

Up next month: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes (which I am rather excited about!)

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TWD – Tender Shortcakes

Did I mention that I’ve never had a strawberry shortcake the REAL way? Its true! The only way I’ve ever had it was with those spongy, rather disgusting ‘angel food cake’ cups piled high with berries and whipped cream.

Boy have I been missing out!!

Shortcakes are really supposed to be made with a tender biscuit in place of that angel food mass which provides a COMPLETELY different texture, flavor, and structure to the shortcake.

Don’t be put off by the fact that I say ‘biscuit.’ It is nothing like the biscuit that you spoon sausage gravy on top of or the kind you eat with bacon and eggs. This is in a class of its own. Tender, soft and pillowy, sweet, crumbly. Sounds good?

Take it a step further: add juicy strawberries. Or raspberries. Or blackberries. Or peaches. Or sautéed cinnamon apples. Or sautéed brown sugar pineapples. Or any insane combination of anything that you deem necessary to satisfy your tummy. (I went with the traditional strawberries and my second variation was sautéed cinnamon apples. Obviously.)

And then, go for the jugular (are you ready for this?)… homemade sweetened whipped cream. Piled dangerously high. That’s right, I said it!!

Sweetened Whipped Cream Recipe:

2 cups cold heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, can be substituted for any extract or even rum or kahluah, if you’re boozy like that 😀 )

Directions:

In a large bowl (trust me, you’ll need it) whip cream starting on low speed using a hand-held mixer until you notice a bit of a textural change. Increase the speed bit by bit as the cream gains more and more substance and texture. On medium-high, whip the cream until ALMOST at desired consistency. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and whip until satisfied with texture and structure. DO NOT over-whip the cream as it will separate and taking it too far… it can turn into butter :O

Thank you to Cathy of The Tortefeasor for choosing this simple, delicious recipe. You can find the recipe for the shortcakes here. And check out the other bakers who baked along this week. I’m certain you’ll find some great inspiration there 🙂

Up next week: Raisin Swirl Bread.

SMS – Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Pie

Sometimes when I decide to tinker with the recipe, I forget that there is a different effect to everything I change. Take for example this pie filling: I read two cups of strawberries and two cups of rhubarb and think to myself “thats it?” So, I roughly double the strawberries and don’t bother to think about what that’ll do to the pie.

Just in case you didn’t know, strawberries have a HIGH water content. So high, that when you double the amount of strawberries called for in a recipe, you should expect nothing less than strawberry soup.

Don’t get me wrong, this pie was SO delicious that I didn’t mind that I had to pour a bit GALLONS of the extra strawberry hued water out or that it made my pie crust soggy, no. I didn’t care because it was sweet and tangy and the biscuits were tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Pie heaven!

Now if only I could have taken more appealing pictures of this pie. I really hate struggling for natural light 😦

I used fresh berries and frozen rhubarb. Houston doesn’t seem to like rhubard. Which would explain the hordes of stores I’ve gone to in order to find fresh rhubarb. With none to be found.

Update: I FINALLY found fresh organic rhubarb…… at $6.99/lb. No thanks. I’ll keep searching 🙂

A huge thank you to my friend Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures for choosing this recipe and finally getting some of that frozen rhubarb out of my freezer. Head on over to her great blog for the recipe and mass amounts of foods that’ll really get your mouth watering 🙂

Up next week: Peanut Butter Truffles

SMS – Strawberry Lemonade

How lovely is it to make something for a baking group without it actually having to be baked? I mean, there’s no baking time in the oven, there’s no waiting for it to come to room temperature… or to come to a temperature that won’t burn your mouth at the very least. It has its pleasant upsides.

This week’s SMS is Strawberry Lemonade.

One thing this recipe made me realize is that I really should invest in a juicer. Even if its just one of those rinky-dink, plastic, bright yellow, handheld ones. I loathe squeezing lemons because I have no strength in my arms. At all. So it was a chore getting an entire cup-o-juice. But I made it. Mostly unscathed.

I followed the recipe only changing one thing: I didn’t de-seed the strawberry sauce. My mesh strainer managed to hold back all the thicker strawberry sauce and let seeds in the strained batch anyway. SO I said to heck with it and tossed it all in. A few seeds won’t hurt.

Well, at least until that jungle begins to grow out of your tummy. Then you might have some trouble. 😉

I wouldn’t say this is the most impressive lemonade I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t bad. I do have the insatiable urge to put the lemonade into popsicle molds, tossing in a few chunks of strawberries and freeze them for quick treats. Yum.

Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for choosing something daring for this weeks challenge 🙂 Head over to her blog for the recipe.