Deconstructed Strawberry & Cream Pie

The sun has found it's way around the clouds and we are finally getting some sunny days here in Britain! 

Which means right now is a great time to enjoy some of Britain’s best produce.

Like tomatoes, asparagus, new potatoes, rhubarb, and everyone’s favorite strawberries!

When the weather starts to get warmer I do bake less. It’s just uncomfortable to be in front of an oven when it’s hot outside.

Which is why deconstructing some desserts makes a perfect summer pudding! 

I’m not really a fan of deconstructing things, it seems a bit silly to me at, but I didn't know how else to describe this dessert.

So, deconstructed it is. 

It’s strawberries soaked in strawberry puree with fresh mint leaves and sugar. Topped with whipped cream served with lemon curd and shortbread. Sounds like a strawberry pie to me.

It’s super easy and perfect to make ahead of time, especially if you are having a BBQ or something.

So, here is how I made this refreshing and light summer pudding!

Strawberry Pie {deconstructed}:

400g strawberries, hulled and quartered

1 tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp of cider vinegar or lemon juice

3-5 mint leaves

75 ml British whipping cream

MacKay’s Lemon curd

Sainsbury’s All Butter Shortbread Petticoat Tails

Puree 150g of the strawberries with the icing sugar, vinegar, and mint leaves. Add more sugar or mint to taste. Pour over the remaining strawberries and leave in the fridge for about an hour or until ready to serve.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and swirl about a tablespoon of lemon curd into the whipped cream. I didn't do this because my husband is allergic to all things citrus, so I placed a tsp of lemon curd on the side when serving so he could have some too!

To serve place two heaped tablespoons of the strawberries on a plate, place a heaped tablespoon of whipped cream next to it with a tsp of lemon curd and a couple petticoat tails. Enjoy!

The recipe could always be doubled to serve more people. The quantities above would serve about 4. Another way to serve it would be to crumble the shortbread at the bottom of a bowl and spoon the strawberries over them, top with whipped cream and garnish with a mint leaf. I always think of these things when I’m writing out the blog post.

Stay tuned! I have another recipe using British Strawberries to share with you soon! 

notes: In association with Sainsbury’s The Best of British campaign. Recipe is adapted from Sainsbury’s Magazine’s June 2011 issue. Mackay’s had sent me a few jars of jams and curds last summer for their #bakingwithmackays campaign and this was leftover so I thought I’d mention it. This post was written for day 19 of Blog Every Day in May, #BEDM. 

Not Everyone Likes Cake Shortbread

I have a friend who doesn't like cake. I’m cool with it, not everyone has to like cake.

I don’t judge.

However I wasn't going to let her birthday go without baking her something! That is something I am not cool with.

To make a long story short she said that she liked shortbread.

I have never made shortbread in my life. It’s just typical she’d ask for something I had never made before. That doesn't mean I was unwilling to try.

Shortbread always seems Scottish to me. That is if baked goods had nationalities. Which some of them do and is a whole other topic for another day.

Anywho, I thought I would slightly adapt Sue Lawrence’s, she’s Scottish, shortbread recipe from her Book of Baking, by adding chocolate chunks.

It turned out well! It had a nice buttery taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture. I managed to successfully make shortbread! I do think I like my shortbread slightly thicker so next I will be playing around with tin sizes!

My friend was very pleased and said it was really good! Which is what I like to hear! 

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

225g/8oz/2 ¼ sticks of slightly salted butter, softened

100g/ 3 ½ oz/ ½ cup golden caster sugar/superfine sugar, plus extra for dusting

225g/8oz/2 scant cups of plain/all-purpose flour

100g/ 3 ½ oz/ 1 scant cup cornflour/cornstarch  or farola or rice flour

100g/ ½ cup milk chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas2 Lightly grease a Swiss Roll Tin (23x33cm/9x13in).

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and corn flour mix until just combined. Then add the chocolate chips give it a fast mix to combine, but do not over mix!

Tip into the tin and press it down until it is level. Use a fork to prick holes just like when making pastry.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a pale golden brown.

Gently dust over some sugar before cutting into squares. Leave for 5-10 minutes in the pan before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

notes: FYI: Sue Lawrence is publishing a new baking book called Scottish Baking this summer! I will probably be buying that as I have a couple of her books that I really like. Sainsbury’s have recently republished her Book of Baking exclusive to Sainsbury’s. I am sharing this information because I thought it worth sharing not because I was told too or paid too. 

Parmesan Shortbreads! {hummingbird bakery Home Sweet Home}

These were perfect for wine night with my Mum/Mom friends last Saturday night! They are a bit spicy which one friend wasn't expecting and therefore was not very keen. But overall I think they went down okay. 

I'll have to say too that I wasn't jumping for joy over them. Which is why I took so long to post them. That and since I took pictures of them at night the pictures aren't that good. However my 5 year-old ate the few that were left over with no complaints! 

If you have yourself a copy of the hummingbird bakery's Home Sweet Home you can try these out for yourself. Although I am probably going to stick to the sweet stuff from here on out. 

I haven't baked a lot recently. With so many baking books, I'm not short of recipes. I am short of people to eat what I bake. Have a few quick and easy recipes to try this week. Next week, I'm planning a much needed coffee morning with my mum friends to try some coffee I had sent to me to review. I will probably bake something to go along with the coffee. Then I finally spent the rest of my Lakeland's vouchers on a swiss roll tin, so should probably make a swiss roll! In March I've joined up to my local Clandestine Cake Club. The theme is Bake me a ... Song. My inspirational song is Savage Garden's Cherry Cola. Have so many different ideas of how to execute a cherry-cola cake. I can't wait to share with you what I finally decide.

So, a bit slow at the moment, but planning a few things already for this weekend! If you have the hummingbird bakery's Home Sweet Home, what have you tried so far?? 

notes: Home Sweet Home review; Peanut Butter & Jam Pinwheel Cookies; Lakelands; Clandestine Cake Club, Savage Garden- Cherry Cola 

3D Cookies!! by Janet

My sister, Janet, sent me these pictures of her 3D Cookies she made for the cake walk at her kids' school.  She told me she used her favourite and most reliable shortbread recipe from Martha Stewart.

Last fall she made these fun snowflake cupcakes!

For those readers in the UK I am not sure these cutters are available here- will have a look next time I am in Hobby Craft. They carry a lot of Wilton brand stuff. Joann's in the states is where these are available or probably any other reliable baking store or site like this one!

Millionaire Shortbread

This was my first time making Millionaire Shortbread and I would say it was a success!

Every time I'm at a coffee shop that has these in their display I have to have one! One of my favorite places to get a square of Millionaire Shortbread is from a cafe in Windsor called Cinnamon Cafe.

It also has the best Chai Tea Latte ever! Okay maybe not ever, but it's better then Starbucks and I love me a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks!

adapted from Home Bake by Eric Lanlard

Shortbread:

~ 175g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus a little extra for greasing

~ 250g plain flour

~ 85g caster sugar

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180*F (fan 160*C/350*F/gas mark 4)
2. Lightly grease your pan. Lanlard says to use a 33 x 22cm (13 x 9in) Swiss roll tin. I used my silicone (I hate it) 9x9 in pan because I don’t have the other size. To grease it I just use the butter package easy peasy!
3. Mix the flour and sugar together.
4. Rub in the butter (with your hands! I love this part) until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
5. Knead the mixture until it looks like dough.
6. Press mixture into the prepared pan.
7. Prick the shortbread lightly with a fork.
8. Bake for about 20minutes or until firm to the touch and very lightly browned.
9. Cool in tin/pan whatever it is you used.

shortbread

Caramel:

~ 100g unsalted butter

~ 100g light muscovado sugar

~ 750g condensed milk

1. Put all the ingredients into a pan and heat gently until sugar is dissolved.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring continuously for about 5 minutes. Mixture should thicken slightly.
4. Pour over shortbread.

Note: I found this a little confusing. Low heat, high heat, low heat and so on. It’s what I did, but I burnt it. I think my pan was too thin. I knew it was burning because after a stir I had some flecks in the mixture. Those shouldn’t be there it should be smooth and clear. It was usable though because I noticed it. Still tastes good….pan may take a bit to clean out though!!

caramel layer

Chocolate:

~ 200g milk or dark chocolate, broken into pieces

1. Melt the chocolate
2. Pour over caramel covered shortbread

Note: Everyone has different ways of melting chocolate. I always tend to use a glass bowl in a pan of simmering water. Before the chocolate is fully melted I remove it from the heat letting the hot chocolate do the rest of the melting. Hope that makes sense. Some people use the microwave. Use whatever method works for you!!

top layer chocolate

resource: Eric Lanlard

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 stick of butter, softened
1/4 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
1/4 cups chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
12 oz mini chocolate chips

1. Cream cheese, brown sugar, butter and vanilla together.
2. Stir in chips (reserve some for rolling) and powdered sugar
3. Refrigerate for 2.5 hours
4. Roll into a ball then roll in nuts and chips. Refrigerate for another hour.

Serve with cookies of your choice. My preference is shortbread.

Martha Stewart's Shortbread from Cookies

guest post~ IN Baker