The obvious thing to do with strawberries fresh out of the garden is eat them by the handful. Duh.
I planted six small strawberry plants a couple of years ago and didn’t realize the bounty I would have each summer (with little to no maintenance.) This year I have strawberries by the tub-full and I snack on them fresh off the vine often.
I had a serious thought about trying to make jam on my one-burner hot plate, but realized I need something less “cooking intense.” That’s when one of the guys at work alerted me to this recipe for no-bake strawberry icebox cake.
It calls for making your own whipped cream, so obviously this recipe mistook me for someone who has a working kitchen sink, but I graciously chose to overlook that and modify the ingredients for those of us whose mixers are in a box in a basement somewhere.
That’s right, the peasants and royalty of freshness mix in this recipe with just-picked strawberries, graham crackers, reddi-whip, and chocolate fudge sauce.
(By the way, this is what I do when I’ve made an epic mistake staining the concrete bathroom counter and don’t know what to do about it. Diversionary tactics 101 involves chocolate.)
All you have to do is put a little whipped cream on the bottom of the pan…
Spread it around…
Layer graham crackers…
More whipped dairy product…
Strawberries (sliced thin)…
Then layer and repeat…
One can of whipped cream only did about one and a half layers. I had to spread it pretty thin on the top and a third layer would have been even better (looks wise, but not for my waist-line).
Then I popped it in the fridge for a few hours. When I finally just had to try it I pulled it out, drizzled some slightly heated hot fudge sauce on, and dug in before I even took a picture.
The verdict is this: for things mostly out of a box and can, not half bad. The reddi-whip basically just deflated and probably wasn’t thick enough to much the crackers enough (they were still a little crunchy), but it wasn’t dry like I expected and tasted a lot like strawberry shortcake.
If I do this again I’m definitely going to try to make my own whipped cream!
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Comments
Joseph
Another way to enjoy strawberries, if you have any kind of refrigeration is to wash them, pit them, cut them in halves into a bowl and sprinkle a fair amount of sugar on them, cutting the sugar into the strawberries a bit. You want the strawberry juice to mix with the sugar. Cover in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, then spoon over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. You’ll feel a whole lot better!
K.D.
Awesome no-bake strawberry dessert for you to try:
Last week I offered to bring a dessert to a pool party and my husband firmly advised me not to bake anything. He can be a bit controlling when he’s trying to make my life easier.
Anyway, I bought a baked angel food cake at a grocery store. I also bought strawberries and whipping cream (reddi-whip would work too).
I cooked 1/4 cup of strawberry jam until it got runny. Then I stirred it into sliced strawberries. (I think just putting sugar on them and letting them sit would give you the same effect and avoid a hot, sticky pot).
I sliced the cake into two layers.
I made a groove in the bottom layer and shoved some of the strawberries in. I added some cream to that layer.
I put the top layer on and covered it with the rest of the cream.
Then I put strawberries on top and since I had extra strawberries I filled up the whole with them.
Stuck three skewers in to hold it together and left it in the fridge for a couple of hours while we had supper.
So so good — to tell the truth, it vanished before I got to try it, but I know it was good by the universal positive response and rapid disappearance of all traces of this dessert.
I’m going to make one tonight, and if I’m lucky I’ll get to eat any leftovers for breakfast. You should too.
hairyweisenheimmer
The parental units are visiting and I needed an easiy, quick idea for dessert. Saw this and gave it a try. I did make my own whipped cream , and as you said, it wasn’t half bad! If whipping cream wasn’t $6.00 an effing quart it would have been even better!