“Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” — Dr. William Butler, 17th century English writer
I agree 100%. For me — strawberries are my favorite fruit (ok, I also like a good nectarine!).
Mostly I like strawberries plain, because if you get a sweet, fragrant, ruby-red strawberry you don’t need anything else, although whipped cream is always welcome.
But if you’re like most of us and aren’t able to get the perfect farmer’s market berries and you have to rely on fruit from the supermarket ok, they’re never the best there is, but you can prepare them in ways that make the most of the fruit.
For instance: stuffed strawberries! They’re really just larger berries that are cut and stuffed with sweetened cheese and whipped cream. They look fancy but actually quite easy to make and take very little prep work! Check out the instructions and see for yourself — also, if you don’t have a pastry bag or parchment paper or foil to make one, you can use a small spoon to fill the berry middles.
You can make this dish even more glamorous with a sauce — just melt some preserves. That’s it!
You can make them ahead!
Stuffed Strawberries
16-18 large strawberries
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese (or use cream cheese at room temperature)
1 tablespoon dark rum, orange flavored brandy or orange juice
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
freshly grated nutmeg or chocolate shavings
thin shreds of orange peel, optional
orange marmalade or other jam, optional
Wash and dry the berries but leave the hulls on. Place the berries on a cutting board with the hull down. Cut the berries from the narrow end into quarters up to the hull, but without cutting through or breaking the hull. Gently separate the berry into quarters. Beat the cream and mascarpone cheese with the rum and confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is thick. Place the mixture into a pastry bag and fill each berry piping from the stem end up to the narrow end. Sprinkle with nutmeg or chocolate shavings. Garnish with orange peel if desired.
For optional sauce: melt the jam, spoon it onto dessert dishes and place stuffed strawberries on top
Makes 4-6 servings