"Sometimes they're tiny, sometimes they're tall but friends are the 'berry' best people of all! ~Strawberry Shortcake
I grew up in a world of Strawberry Shortcake where friends were important. Even in the age of technology where the value of friends have been lessened and have been turned into a matter of convenience, I still value friendships. Letters are now be emails. Notes are now texts. It is the little things that we do because we care that maintains our friendships and means so much.
In my world food and friendship goes hand in hand. Holiday dinners where we all pitch in. Parties to celebrate successes. Dinners to celebrate promotions. Comfort foods when failure, loss and disappointments occur.
There are some foods that are good to share with friends anytime. A food I love to share with friends is strawberries. This time of year strawberries are ripe, sweet and plentiful. A sweet treat that I make using fresh strawberries to share with friends and neighbors is “Strawberry Cheeseball”. This sweet fruity treat is very simple to make, inexpensive and enjoyed by all (in my experience anyway).
I hope you and your friends enjoy!
Strawberry Cheeseball
Soften 16 ounces of cream cheese and ½ cup of butter, mix well. Mix in 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and ¾ cup of powdered sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Fold in 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries.
This is the part where you can be versatile.
-You may put the mixture in a bowl in the fridge for an hour and let it set up so you may roll it into one large ball. Roll the large cheeseball in crushed graham cracker crumbs. An easy way to cover the large ball with graham cracker crumbs is to pour the crumbs in a deep bowl or cake pan. Place the large cheese ball in the center of the crumbs and lightly toss the crumbs around to coat the ball.
-After refrigerating the mixture, you may use a cookie dough scoop to make small balls before rolling in crushed graham cracker crumbs. An easy way to cover the small balls with graham cracker crumbs is to pour the crumbs in a deep bowl. Place the small cheese ball in the center of the crumbs and lightly toss the crumbs around to coat the ball.
-After mixing, you may pour the mixture into a graham cracker crust and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs before refrigerating. It is really cute to use the small graham cracker crusts and makes for easy serving at a large gathering.
- You may store the mixture in a covered bowl and use to dip graham crackers or animal crackers into it for a yummy treat.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Chocolate-fruit cups
I have been procrastinating writing another blog entry for whatever reason I could conjure up. Today I received an email from one of my friends saying she missed my blog. Really? Wow! I have been busy writing but for a different reason. I have been writing stories for my sweet little girl.
We officially ended the sugary sweet candy season with the Easter holiday. During the holidays beginning last fall up until Easter I noticed in the mall’s candy shops some of the prices on some of their sweet treats. Five dollars for a single piece of candy! Yes really.
While strolling through one particular sweet treat shop I noticed tiny chocolate baskets filled with berries and chocolate covered. This was the five dollar treat. I thought there must be something under the berries that made it special or different. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to purchase one of these sweet fruity treats. I chose the blueberry chocolate basket.
I start breaking the chocolate away from the top of the berries. I ate the mediocre chocolate and fed my sweet girl the blueberries. Was there anything special about this cup? Nope.
The wheels in my head started to turn. I went to the store and purchased strawberries, blueberries and melting chips. I tried the whole little basket candy mold idea and that was a disaster. I would make six baskets and on a good batch only one would come out without cracking and then I would break it somehow. I then decided to buy holiday themed cupcake wrappers.
I placed the cupcake wrappers in a muffin pan, stacked the berries in the wrapper, melted the chocolate, filled zip-loc bags with the melted chocolate, made a tiny hole in the bag and piped the chocolate over the berries. That simple, cost much less and just as good if not better than the five dollar piece I bought.
The only problem I had with the fruit choices I made was with the strawberries. When I added chocolate over the strawberries, the sugar in the chocolate started working with the sugar in the strawberries and it made a syrup. If you do decide to use strawberries, I would suggest make them the day you want to eat them. The blueberries held up well. I also think raspberries, cranberries and pomegranate arils.
I hope you enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)