More Strawberry Recipes!

Yes, we have an abundance of strawberries again this year and apart from the usual strawberries & thick creme fraiche, I am trying to use them up in other ways.  Here's a few more ideas.

This one was taken from the Philadelphia website as I had some of the new chocolate Philadelphia and wanted to try it!

CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRY RIPPLE MOUSSE

200 g fresh raspberries

300 g fresh strawberries - sliced

160 g Chocolate Philadelphia
100 g low fat natural yogurt

I changed it slightly and did it with just strawberries and didn't have any natural yogurt, so used creme fraiche instead.

Put the raspberries and strawberries in a bowl with the sugar. Divide the fruit between 6 small dessert glasses or dishes.

Put the Philly in a bowl and loosen it slightly. Add a tablespoon of creme fraiche to the philly and whisk together. Then lightly combine the remaining creme fraiche to the philly mixture, stirring lightly to give a rippled effect. Spoon the rippled mixture over the fruit. Ideally chill for 30 minutes before serving.

I then sprinkled some grated chocolate on the top.

STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE TIRAMISU

This is a quick and easy dessert to use up strawberries and I cheat a bit by buying a ready done topping, but obviously you can use mascarpone and cream whisked up instead.

Start by lining a large dish with the boudoir biscuits, enough to completely cover the bottom.

Then make up some coffee, I always use instant strong expresso and leave to cool a little before adding some coffee liquer, or whatever you have, I used triple sec which is the equivalent to Cointreau.  Leaving a little left over to add to the melted chocolate. Then pour enough of the coffee mixture over the sponge fingers so they are well soaked.

Then put your chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of water and melt the chocolate.  Once melted, add some of the coffee mixture to loosen it a bit. Leave to cool.

Then slice the strawberries and spread over the soaked sponge biscuits.

Then drizzle the chocolate over the strawberries:

Then whisk your topping and pour this over the strawberries and chocolate:

And put in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Just before serving, dust with cocoa or chocolate flakes.

Eh voila!

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo before we 'tucked in'! 

ETON MESS CAKE

175g unsalted butter

5 tbsp double cream , from a 300ml pot

1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

225g plain flour

100g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

200g golden caster sugar

5 large eggs , at room temperature

400g strawberries ,½ roughly chopped, ½ finely sliced

4 meringues nests (50g/2oz), very roughly broken up

a little icing sugar , to serve

Grease a deep, 20 x 30cm traybake or roasting tin, then line with parchment. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Melt the butter, take off the heat and stir in the cream and the vanilla. Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder and ¼ tsp fine salt and set aside for later.

Put the caster sugar and eggs into a large bowl, and whisk with electric beaters until very thick and foamy, about 10 mins. Pour in the butter mix, whisk briefly, then add the flour mix and whisk briefly again until even. Stir in the chopped strawberries, then pour the batter into the tin and level the top.

Scatter the sliced strawberries and meringue over the cake, then bake for 40-45 mins until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the tin.

Transfer the cake to a rack. Just before serving, dust with a little icing sugar.

Cut into squares and serve with the rest of the cream.

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

I wanted to do an experiment to see if these would work.  We have had fresh strawberries covered in chocolate and eaten when the chocolate is hard, but I wanted to try to see if they would be the same when frozen.

I melted some chocolate with a bit of butter in a bowl over some water and then I dipped the strawberries into the chocolate, completely covering them. 

Lay them on some greaseproof paper on a tray and then place in the freezer.  Once frozen, they can then be put into a container. 

I will let you know how they go!