Strawberry Tiramisu

Strawberry season in the Pacific Northwest is here! Fresh strawberries and cream are classic, and this tiramisu perfectly combines the two in a no-bake dessert.

A note about ingredients: unlike classic Tiramisu, here, the Lady Fingers are dipped into juice (instead of espresso). I used an orange/peach/mango-juice, but a wide variety of juices would taste wonderful here, from regular OJ to passionfruit or pineapple juice (a little acidity is what we’re looking for). For the Lady Fingers, I prefer using Italian brands as they tend to be lighter - I found mine at my local grocery store, and you can also find them at Italian markets. For the strawberries, fresh, sweet, smaller-sized strawberries work best for this recipe. 

STRAWBERRY TIRAMISU

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1½ quarts (6 cups) fresh strawberries, hulled (divided)

• ⅓ cup sugar, plus ¼ cup (divided)

• 1 Tablespoon Chambord, or fruit liqueur (optional)

• 3 large egg yolks

• 16 oz. (1 lb) mascarpone

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• Pinch of salt

• 2 packs (28 oz) Italian Lady Fingers

• 2 cups juice (Orange/Mango/Peach, or any good orange juice), or as needed

Directions:

Wash your strawberries, remove their green tops (hull), and allow them to fully dry on a clean kitchen towel before using. Slice 1 quart (4 cups) of the strawberries, and top them with 2-3 Tablespoons sugar (if your strawberries are very sweet you may need less sugar); reserve the remaining strawberries for the top of the tiramisu. Add a Tablespoon of Chambord, or you can substitute the liqueur with 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Stir and allow the berries to sit (macerate) while you prepare the cream filling. 

In a double boiler, or in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, continuously whisk together the egg yolks and ⅓ cup of sugar over a low simmer for 5 minutes; the mixture will double in volume and turn pale yellow, and the sugar will fully dissolve. (This will kill any bacteria in the egg yolks.) Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes, whisking occasionally as it cools.

Once cool, add the mascarpone and heavy cream to the yolk mixture. Using a handheld mixer or a whisk, whip until the mixture thickens and forms soft peaks. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, and mix until incorporated; be careful not to over-beat the cream.

Pour the juice into a bowl that is big enough that the Lady Fingers can be fully submerged in the liquid. 

To assemble:

You will need a 9 x 13 deep cake pan baking/casserole dish for this recipe.

Dip each Lady Finger in the juice for 3-4 seconds, and layer the bottom of the dish with the cookies.

Add half of the cream mixture to the bottom layer of Lady Fingers, spread it out into an even layer. Add the 4 cups of the macerated strawberries in an even layer on top of the cream mixture. Add a second layer of Lady Fingers dipped in the juice, and then top with the remaining half of the cream mixture, spread evenly over the top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Before serving, slice the remaining strawberries and toss them with a Tablespoon of sugar. Top the tiramisu with the freshly sliced strawberries.

Tiramisu will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge, but it is best on the first day.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Galette

Galettes are just about my favorite thing to bake. I like the ratio of dough to filling. I like that the results of most galettes aren't too sweet. And I love the beauty of the arrangement of fruit against a browned flaky crust.

I use my go-to crust recipe/ratios for every galette, but for the filling I rarely use a recipe. I'll use fruit that's in season, toss them with sugar, vanilla/lemon zest, and let them hang out for an hour while the dough is chilling in the fridge. 

This galette was no different. I had a bunch of rhubarb that I brought home from work, and I had a handful of good strawberries too. I also had some rye flour I wanted to use up. The rye flour went into the dough, and the fruit got added to the filling. A short time later, the galette came out of the oven, warm and fragrant. This galette is perfect for any beautiful spring day.

Rhubarb Strawberry Galette

For the crust:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup rye flour (or all purpose flour)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks butter, cold and cubed
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3-4 Tablespoons ice water
• 1 egg yolk + 1 teaspoon of water (for the egg wash)
• Turbinado sugar, to sprinkle on top

For the filling:

• 1 lb rhubarb, cut into equal-sized pieces
• 1 cup strawberries, halved or quartered depending on size
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crust:

In a food processor: pulse the flour, rye, sugar, and salt together. Add the cubed cold butter and pulse until pea-sized crumbs form. Add the apple cider vinegar and ice water and pulse until the dough just gets combined and forms a ball. Be careful not to over-mix.

By hand: whisk together the flour, rye, sugar and salt. Add the cubed cold butter and combine with the flour with a pastry cutter or by hand until pea-sized crumbs of dough form. Add the apple cider vinegar and ice water and incorporate quickly with your hands until a ball of dough is formed. Be careful not to over-mix.

Form the dough into a round disc shape, and tightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

For the galette:

Combine the cut rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar and vanilla. Allow to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Roll out the dough into a circle about 1/4" thick. The edges don't have to be perfectly round, and the dough doesn't have to be a perfect circle either. Transfer the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet

Add the macerated fruit to the dough, leaving a 2-3" border around the perimeter. Fold over the dough over the fruit, overlapping as you fold each piece.

Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. You can sprinkle the inside of the galette with sugar if you like it extra sweet, too. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown with tender rhubarb.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Keeps at room temperature. covered, for 1 day. 

Strawberry Hamantaschen Tartelettes

I need no excuse to make a cookie, but holidays are a good one.  

Purim

is this Saturday, and 

Hamantaschen

, a three-sided cookie with a filling, is traditionally eaten and given as gifts on this holiday.

There are 2 things that hamantaschen need to be: three-sided and filled with something (jam, poppy seeds, prunes, etc.)  These aren't bad requirements for a cookie.  The only problem is that most of the Hamantaschen I've eaten in my life kind of suck.  They tend to be large in size, with dry bland cookie dough surrounding average tasting jam.

The only exception to the sucky-hamantaschen rule are my grandmother's (of course).  Instead of cookie dough, she made a pastry dough that she typically used for peroshke.  She also made her hamantashen small. She also filled them with homemade jam.

Pie dough is my favorite type of dough, and I  thought why not make hamantaschen with that?

The result: it worked.

These don't taste like typical hamantaschen. They taste like little pies.  If you want to make them into tartelettes, you don't need to form them into triangles.  If you want to make them triangular, you need to make sure you fold over the corners really well. This is a versatile base to work with, and I'm sure I'll play around with this recipe in the future.

I apologize in advance for the directions on this one... I sort of winged it, and some of this you have to do by feel... make sure your dough isn't too wet, don't roll it out too thick, make sure you chill the dough, and make sure you chill the cookies before you bake them. They are a little labor intensive, but they're also fun to make, if you like this sort of thing.

Pie-Dough Hamantaschen with Strawberry Filling

Makes 30 cookies

for the dough-

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1/2 cup very cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cubed

• 1/4 cup ice water

for the filling-

• 1/2 cup strawberry jam (thick is best, recipe below if you want to make your own)

• 3-4 strawberries, quartered and sliced very thin

• 1 egg

• turbinado or coarse sugar

for the dough-

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. 

In a food processor, add the flour and the cubed butter.  Pulse until the butter looks pea-sized and the mixture is crumbly.  Slowly add the ice water, a little at a time.  Pulse each time you add.  The dough is ready when it sticks together when you press it with your fingers.

Form the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disc, and cover it in plastic wrap.  Let the dough chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

to assemble-

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Make an egg wash by cracking an egg and beating it in a small dish.

Cut the dough into thirds, keep the dough you're not using in the fridge.  Roll the dough out until it is about a 1/4-inch thick.  Cut the dough with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. You can take the scraps of dough and re-roll those out so that none of the dough goes to waste.  If you want the tartelettes larger, use a 3-inch biscuit cutter or a glass (add more filling accordingly).

Spoon a 1/4 teaspoon of strawberry jam into the center of each round. Top the jam with a thin slice of strawberry.  Fold over the edges of the dough onto the jam, forming a triangle.  I start by folding one third, then another, then the last.  Pinch each corner super tight, otherwise the dough will unfold when the cookies bake.

.

Place the cookie on the baking sheet, leave an inch or two of room between each cookie.  Once you fill up the tray, place the tray of cookies in the freezer (or fridge) to chill for 15-30 minutes before baking. Take the cookies out of the freezer.  Brush the egg wash over the edges of the cookie, sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.

Fresh Strawberry Jam

• 2 pints fresh strawberries, rinsed and cut into small pieces

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

• juice and zest of one lemon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and continue to cook over very low heat for 45 minutes, until the strawberries release some of their juices and the mixture boils slowly. Cook until a small amount of the juice gels on a very cold plate, and the mixture starts to look thick and jammy. (I keep one in the freezer.) Pour carefully into a canning jars and either seal or keep refrigerated. Use immediately, or follow proper canning guidelines below.