Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Dana is much better at making chocolate covered strawberries, but I made some with my niece Emily when we were all visiting my parents. This is an easy recipe for kids to help with. And I'm thinking they were pretty good because they lasted only minutes once they were ready! When I'm doing them for adults I like to fancy them up a little with white chocolate stripes, but I just went with simple for the kids.

 

1 cup (6 oz.) milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate

Dana uses this kind

I usually just use chocolate chips

1 to 2 tsp. shortening or oil

1 pint fresh strawberries, with green tops left on

Earlier in the day, wash strawberries and drain on paper towels. It's important that the strawberries be absolutely dry when dipping in chocolate.  Place shortening or oil with chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave in 20-30 second bursts. You can also use a double broiler.
Hold strawberries by their green tops and swirl into the melted chocolate.  
 Place on waxed paper.
Refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving.Enjoy!

If you want them a little fancier you can add a bit of white chocolate:

Strawberry Shortcake

Sunshine cake is my grandmother's recipe that my mom adapted a little. We use it as our go-to white cake. We often pair it with lemon curd... sooo good! Here we used it for strawberry shortcake to use up some strawberries from my mom's garden. It was delicious! It can be a finicky cake, but I love how light and airy it is.

 Whipped Cream (homemade or canned) Strawberries Sunshine Cake: 11 egg whites9 egg yolks1 tsp salt1 cup cake flour 1 cup powdered sugar1 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar1-2 tsp. vanillaoptional: lemon zest  Sunshine Cake:Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Sift flour and set aside.  Beat egg whites till foamy.  Add cream of tartar and salt.  Beat till stiff. Add vanilla. Optional: You can add some lemon zest if you want. Then add 1/2 cup sugar gradually.  

Mix flour, corn starch, and other 1/2 cup sugar and fold in egg white mixture. Then beat egg yolks until thick and gently fold into the egg white mixture. Spray tube pan with some oil.  Pour batter in pan.    Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.  Then invert pan until cooled.Slide cake out of pan and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

 

 

Lemon Ice Cream with Strawberry Swirl

Homemade ice cream is the best! This is my favorite flavor so far. The lemon ice cream is tart and creamy and the strawberry swirl really perfects the flavor. I didn't check my strawberries before I made the ice cream and some of them had gone bad, so my pictures show about half as many strawberries as the recipe calls for. It was still delicious, but I will definitely use the full amount next time. 

This is a perfect summer treat! It's been pretty hot here in Utah and this ice cream is so refreshing!!

 Lemon Ice Cream
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup half & half
pinch of fine salt
 Strawberry Swirl
1/4 cup sugar 1 pint of strawberries
Combine the heavy cream and half and half into a saucepan and bring the mixture just to a simmer. Remove from the heat.

While that is taking place, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and a pinch of salt until the mixture thickens.

Using a ladle add the dairy mixture to the egg mixture one scoop at a time. This is done to prevent scrambled eggs. Make sure to whisk the mixture to combine before adding the next dose. Repeat this until about 1/3 of the dairy is left, then you can safely dump the rest of the dairy into the egg mixture.

Pour the now combined mixture into the saucepan over low heat. Attach a thermometer and whisk the mixture continually until it reaches 170-175 degrees. At this point if you stick a spoon into the mixture it will coat the back of the spoon.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and place the mixture into the refrigerator. After 30 minutes add the lemon juice. Then place into the fridge for at least 2 hours to fully chill.

For the strawberry swirl: cut up your strawberries and pour 1/4 cup of sugar over them. Let it sit for a half hour.  Then using a food processor or blender, puree the strawberries. Place your pureed strawberries into the fridge to thoroughly chill.

When your ice cream mixture is fully chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker according to the instructions of your model.   About 2-3 minutes, before your ice cream is done, slowly introduction your pureed strawberries.  Turn off the ice cream maker, and pour your ice cream into your favorite container and place in the freezer to fully harden before enjoying.