Strawberries

Strawberries are yummy, no matter when you eat them. I figured that strawberry recipes would be a wonderful way to start off the week. Therefore, here are six yummy strawberry recipes to start off the week, including Strawberry Margarita Cheesecake Minis and Strawberry Pie. Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY COBBLER

This was posted at Vegetarian Times on July 11, 2019, and begins, “Serve this delicately sweet dessert warm or at room temperature, or cover, and refrigerate up to two days.”

Makes 6 servings.

View this online here.

Ingredients

6 cups fresh strawberries, halved

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. flour, divided

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

3 1/2 Tbs. nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 11- x 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Toss together strawberries, 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar, 2 Tbs. flour, and lemon juice in bowl. Transfer to prepared baking dish.

Whisk together remaining 1/2 cup flour, remaining 2 Tbs. sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl. Add shortening, and mix well with fork until mixture is crumbly. Stir in 1/2 cup water. Spread over strawberry mixture. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until browned and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

STRAWBERRY PIE



Last summer, my daughter and I checked out a local fruit stand and came away with a quart of strawberries. They were on sale for $3 for a quart, so how could we pass them up?

Of course, then we had to decide what to do with all these yummy strawberries. And what better use for them than in a pie? So, here goes what I made.



Ingredients

1 quart strawberries

1 C sugar

3 Tablespoons corn start

3/4 cup hot water

1 pie crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place pie crust in an ungreased pie pan. Using a fork, pierce crust a couple of times (though don't go overboard), and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until lightly brown.

Note: If you're using a store-bought pie crust, bake until brown according to the package directions.

Wash strawberries. Cut up half of the berries (about 1 pint) and arrange in pie crust. You don't need to cut the strawberries too small; maybe in half or, for larger strawberries, in fourths.

Mash the remaining berries and place in a medium saucepan. Pour sugar over the strawberries in the pan and combine. Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, whisk hot water and cornstarch together, then stir into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat, then simmer until mixture has thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour thickened mixture over berries in pie crust. Chill for several hours before serving. Oh, and be sure to share!

TUMBLE-JUMBLE STRAWBERRY TART

This is from Dorie Greenspan at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Dorie wrote, “I first had a strawberry tart like this one more than 10 years ago at the Paris cafe La Palette, and I’ve been making my own version of it ever since. It’s simply a crust slicked with some jam and then topped with an abundance of berries; whipped cream or crème fraîche is optional. The recipe is straightforward, but the construction is genius. You bake the crust, which is both crisp and tender, to a beautiful golden color and then set it aside. (Use the scraps of dough to make cookies; sprinkle with sugar before baking.) When you’re ready for dessert, you cut and finish only as many servings as you need, ensuring that the crust will always have great texture and the berries will always be fresh and bright. You could use a store-bought crust, but there are so few components in this dessert, it’s good to make each one count.”

Yield: 6 servings; Time: 45 minutes, plus chilling and cooling.

This was beautifully featured on “My Summer Jam: An Update of the French Fruit Tart”, and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020343-tumble-jumble-strawberry-tart.

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup/40 grams confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

9 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Topping:

1/2 cup strawberry jam

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled

Granulated sugar, as needed (optional)

Whipped cream or crème fraîche, for serving (optional)

Preparation

Put the flour, both sugars, salt and lemon zest, if you’re using it, in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to blend. Scatter the butter on top; pulse the butter into the dry ingredients until you’ve got a bowlful of curds. At first the dough will look like cornmeal, but it will change as you go, so work in long pulses — you might need as many as 20 — and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl often.

Whisk the yolk and vanilla together, and add in three additions, pulsing after each. Pulse just until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl; it should form moist clumps and hold together when pinched. Turn it out onto a counter, knead it into a compact ball and flatten it into a disk between two sheets of parchment or wax paper.

Roll the dough into an 11-inch circle. If it’s cold enough, fit it into a 9- to 9½-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, prick the bottom with a fork and trim the top even with the pan’s rim; if it’s not cold, chill it until it’s workable. Refrigerate the crust in the pan for at least 1 hour (or cover and freeze up to 2 months; bake straight from the freezer).

Heat oven to 400. Place the dough in its pan on a baking sheet, cover with a piece of buttered foil or parchment and fill with rice.

Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil or paper and rice. Bake, uncovered, until the crust is golden, another 8-10 minutes. Let cool, at least 30 minutes.

If you’re serving 6, cover the bottom of the crust with a layer of jam, and then cut the tart into wedges. (Otherwise, cut the number of wedges you need, and spread each portion with jam.) Halve or quarter as many berries as you’d like — be generous — and if you want, toss with a little granulated sugar. Place each wedge of crust on a plate, and spoon over berries, letting them tumble where they might. If you’d like, top each serving with whipped cream, or pass the cream at the table.

FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE

This is from Samantha Seneviratne in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Samantha wrote, “This pie is a celebration of perfectly ripe, summertime strawberries. Only two cups of the berries are cooked down into a quick jam, which holds the rest of the fruit together for a delightfully fresh pie. With a crunchy shortbread crust and a cloud of freshly whipped cream, it’s reminiscent of strawberry shortcake — but maybe even better.”

Yield: 8 to 10 servings; Time: 45 minutes, plus chilling

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019379-fresh-strawberry-pie

Ingredients

For the Crust

10 2/3 ounces shortbread cookies (2 5.3-ounce packages)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling

2 1/2 pounds strawberries (about 8 to 10 cups), hulled

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons strawberry preserves

1/4 cup cornstarch

Pinch of kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For the Topping

1 cup cold heavy cream

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

Preparation

Prepare crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine shortbread cookies, sugar, flour and salt and blend until you have fine crumbs. Transfer crumbs to a medium mixing bowl. Add butter and mix with a fork until crumbs are evenly moistened. Tip crumbs into a standard 9-inch pie plate and press them in an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the plate. Bake until golden brown and set, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Prepare filling: Cut each of the strawberries in quarters or eighths, if they are large. Transfer 2 cups berries to a small saucepan and crush completely with a potato masher. Set aside the remaining berries in a large bowl. Add the sugar, preserves, cornstarch, 1 tablespoon water and salt to the saucepan.

Bring strawberry mixture to a boil over medium heat and then cook it an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add strawberry mixture and lemon juice to the strawberries in the bowl and stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared crust and gently tap it down into an even layer. Transfer to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.

Just before serving, whip cream, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, if using, to soft peaks. Top pie with whipped cream.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

This is from Erin Jeanne McDowell in The New York Times cooking newsletter. Erin wrote, “Great for picnics or potlucks, these portable cheesecake bars incorporate cooked berries directly into the custard, which means they take on a rosy hue. You can even add a few drops of red food coloring if you want to make up for out-of-season berries, which are less vibrantly colored, or if you just want a livelier result. Feel free to use frozen berries in place of fresh, though you’ll need to thaw them fully before beginning the process.”

Yield: One 9-by-13-inch pan (about 15 bars); Time: 1 hour 45 minutes, plus chilling

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020178-strawberry-cheesecake-bars.

Ingredients

For the Crust:

Nonstick cooking spray

10 1/2 ounces shortbread cookies

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted

For the Filling:

1 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved (about 4 cups)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Red food coloring, as needed

For the Topping:

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

3/4 pound strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

Preparation

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse the cookies until they form fine crumbs (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Add the salt and pulse briefly to combine, then add the melted butter and pulse until uniformly incorporated. Press the crust into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan and wipe out the bowl of the food processor. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the crust has browned slightly and appears set, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Make the filling: In a medium pot, toss the strawberries with 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries begin to soften and the mixture becomes juicy, 4 to 8 minutes, depending on the firmness of the berries. Cool for 15 minutes.

Transfer the strawberries and their juices to the food processor and purée until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the berry purée to a large bowl and set aside. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar and the cream cheese to the food processor bowl and blend until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and pulse until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the food processor bowl as needed.

Add the vanilla and pulse to combine. Scrape the custard into the berry purée and stir to combine. The batter should be a pale pink. If it’s not, add 3 to 5 drops red food coloring and mix to combine. Pour the cheesecake custard into the cooled crust.

Bake the cheesecake until the edges appear set and the center still appears slightly jiggly, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool at room temperature for 45 minutes, then refrigerate until firm (at least 4 hours, and up to overnight).

Make the topping: In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream and confectioners’ sugar to medium peaks, 3 to 4 minutes. Spread the whipped cream on the chilled cheesecake in an even layer. Arrange the sliced strawberries on top. (Arranging them in stripes makes it a bit easier to cut rows out of the bars later.) Use a sharp knife to release the edges of the cheesecake from the pan. Slice into 15 even pieces, wiping the knife clean between cuts for the clean, sharp edges.

STRAWBERRY MARGARITA CHEESECAKE MINIS

This is from Better Homes & Gardens, and begins, “With plenty of strawberry, lime, and even a pretzel crust (for a nod to the salty rim!) there's only thing missing from this mini cheesecake recipe to make it just like a strawberry margarita: a shot of tequila!”

Prep: 1 hr; Bake: 15 mins at 325°; Cool: 10 mins; Chill: 4 hrs to 1 day; Yield: 36 mini cheesecakes

View this online here.

Ingredients

1 recipe Salted Pretzel Crust (below)

1 1/2 8 ounces tubs cream cheese spread, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons finely shredded lime peel

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 cup sliced small strawberries

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

Finely shredded lime peel (optional)

Salted Pretzel Crust Ingredients

1 3/4 cups pretzel sticks

1/4 cup melted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Place pretzel sticks in a resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Crush pretzels with a rolling pin until fine crumbs form (you should have 1 cup). In a medium bowl stir together crushed pretzels, butter, and sugar.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line thirty-six 1 3/4-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set aside. Prepare Salted Pretzel Crust. Press about 1 1/2 teaspoons pretzel mixture into the bottom and up the side of each muffin cup. Bake for 5 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack.

Meanwhile, for filling, in a medium bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, flour, the 1 1/2 teaspoons lime peel, and vanilla; beat until combined. Add egg; beat on low speed just until combined.

Spoon filling into muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until filling is set. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cheesecakes from cups. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

Before serving, in a small bowl stir together strawberries, the 1 tablespoon sugar, and lime juice. Spoon on top of cheesecakes. If desired, sprinkle with additional lime peel.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving: 68 calories, (3 g saturated fat, 0 g polyunsaturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat), 18 mg cholesterol, 119 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrates, 0 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 1 g protein.