A Treat for Your Sweet: Strawberries and Cream Cookies

I read that Americans are expected to spend an average of $175.41 per person on Valentine’s Day gifts in 2023. Last year, it was $167.76.

Who are these people polling? 

Well, at our house, that does not happen. And I don't want it to happen. I have enough Midwestern thrift in me that I can't fathom spending that kind of money on a Hallmark-inspired holiday. And I seem to remember that the whole thing is tied to a massacre. (Spending that kind of money will massacre your pocketbook, all right.)

Randy usually has to settle for a treat from our kitchen. I don't hear him complaining.

If that's closer to the budget, I have an option for you: Strawberries and Cream Cookies. Freeze-dried strawberries provide the flavor bomb, along with white chocolate or cream cheese baking chips. I found Hershey's brand cream cheese baking chips one time. I'm now searching for them again. But white chocolate chips are tasty, too.

I initially tried a new recipe. But I ended up liking my old standard cookie recipe better. As I've shared before, I usually triple a standard cookie recipe and let that serve as my base. Then, I divide the dough into three or four portions and add different mix-ins. That way, I make one mess and end up with a variety of cookies. I LOVE that. (Get it: I LOVE it for Valentine's and for any time I need a bunch of cookies.)

And, yes, I use shortening. I like the texture that shortening provides. Plus, you don't have to refrigerate the dough before baking. However, if you want to substitute butter, you can do that. You'll need to refrigerate the dough before baking to prevent spreading. Recipes that use butter usually say to refrigerate at least 2 hours, then let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Forbes magazine said that 53 percent of U.S. consumers plan to celebrate Valentine's Day, and more than three-quarters believe it’s important to show some love on Valentine’s Day given the current times.

Show some love: Make cookies. (For more Valentine treat ideas, go to the bottom of this post for more tried-and-true recipes from Kim's County Line.) And Happy Valentine's Day!

Strawberries and Cream Cookies

1 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup roughly chopped or lightly-crushed freeze-dried strawberries

1 cup white chocolate or cream cheese chips

 

Combine dry ingredients; set aside. Cream sugar and shortening in mixer until smooth and well-combined. Add vanilla and eggs; mix well.  Add dry ingredients. Stir in freeze-dried strawberries and white chocolate chips. 

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Use a cookie scoop to portion out cookies and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

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Here are some other ideas for Valentine treats: 

Why not start with breakfast? Cranberry Apple Coffee Cake

Homemade Pretzels

Decadent Chocolate Torte

Chocolate Chip Truffles

 Cake Ball Truffles

 Caramel Chip Bars

 

  White Chocolate Blondies

Caramel Puffed Corn

 
My Valentine would prefer a blueberry pie.

Either traditional blueberry ...

or crumb-topped!

There are lots of other tried-and-tested dessert recipes here on Kim's County Line for everything from snack mixes to drop cookies to bar cookies to cakes to pies. I don't post them unless we like them! There is a search function at the upper left of the blog. Or, you can always ask. Just post a comment here or email me at rkjbfarms@gmail.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Red, White and Blueberry Crisp

Hooray for the red, white and blue!

Can  you believe we turn the calendar to July today? I can't. The countdown to the 4th of July has people thinking fireworks and potlucks. And while nothing is more American than apple pie (so they say), this Red, White and Blueberry Crisp will put people in a patriotic mood, too.

The red comes from fresh raspberries and strawberries. The blue comes from succulent blueberries. And the white comes from coconut, a little twist on the traditional crisp topping. South Dakota blogger Brenda put together this salute to summer fruits on her blog, "A farmgirl's dabbles."

I just got my small-town grocery store flyer for the week, and the sale on these fresh berries continues here, as well as at the bigger stores. I love this time of year, when I don't have to feel guilty about adding fresh berries to my grocery cart and bill.

I made this crisp for a harvest dessert yesterday, and it got good reviews from the guys. I like the convenience of a making a crisp instead of a pie, though Randy did get his blueberry pie for Father's Day.

After I made an unexpected parts run to Hutchinson yesterday evening, we are back up and running in the wheat harvest field. If everything holds together - machinery AND people - we should be done sometime today. That's reason to celebrate, too! Fingers crossed everyone!

Red, White and Blue Crisp

Adapted from A Farmgirl's Dabbles blog

Filling
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh chopped strawberries (about 1/2-inch pieces)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 tbsp. Minute Tapioca

Topping
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For filling:  Put berries in large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and fold gently. In a smaller bowl, combine sugar, lemon zest, cornstarch and tapioca, mixing well. Sprinkle half of the dry mix over the berries and fold gentl. Sprinkle remaining dry mix over berries and fold again. Set aside.

For topping: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and baking powder. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture is combined and about the size of large peas. Add coconut, using the pastry cutter to cut it in.

To assemble:  Stir the berry mixture again. Pour it into a 12- by 8- by 2-inch pan and spread evenly. Top with the topping mixture, evenly distributing it over the berries. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until berries are bubbling and the coconut crisp is nicely browned. Remove to wire rack to cool.

The crisp is best when eaten after it has cooled 30-60 minutes so the berry filling is still warm, but the topping is still crisp. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired. Serves 8 to 10.

Notes:

•  Brenda from a farmgirl's dabbles put her crisp in a 9-inch square pan. I decided to spread mine out a little in a 12- by 8-inch pan. I thought that gave a good mix of berries to crisp.
• To have the berries peeking out of the crisp, nestle a few extra berries in the coconut topping before baking. (Unless you're trying to get a photo, it's not necessary!) 
• Leftovers are tasty, but just like all fresh fruit crisps, the topping isn't as crisp once it has set and absorbed the moisture from the fresh berries. 

Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert

Remember the story of The Velveteen Rabbit? A stuffed rabbit becomes real by being loved.

 "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse to the Velveteen Rabbit. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

From Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit

My cookbook compiled by the Kansas Electric Cooperatives is decidedly real. The brown plastic binding is cracked. Bent pages are splattered with left-behind ingredients. Paper clips are scattered across the pages, marking tried-and-true recipes. Handwritten notes dot the margins. The Breads, Rolls & Pastries divider was artfully scribbled with blue Crayon by one of my assistant cooks long ago. I had to dig under other cookbooks on the shelf to find the cover and copyright page, Kansas Kountry Kitchens: 1987.

But the recipes in the book are "real." They are from rural cooks, and the ingredients are ones that aren't in the gourmet aisle at the grocery store. Rather, they are ingredients found in well-stocked pantries, refrigerators and freezers of cooks who live far enough away from town that they don't run to the grocery store for a random ingredient.

In those pages, I rediscovered a recipe for Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert. I made it earlier in the summer, when Jill's family was coming for the weekend. It may not have reached the well-loved status of Frozen Lemonade Dessert in our family favorites list, but it was a tasty and cool treat on a hot summer day.

As you will see in the directions, you are supposed to let the egg whites and other ingredients whip on High for 10 to 15 minutes. You really need to do this. It's kind of like a mini miracle when you put a few ingredients in the bottom of your mixing bowl and end up with a whole bowl of fluffy pinkness. You can just put them on to whip and go dust for 15 minutes (OK. Let's get real here. You don't want to dust. Go read a book or play on the computer ... you fill in the blank.) Then pop it into the freezer for a sweet treat.

Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert

Modified from Kansas Kountry Kitchens: 1987
A Kansas Electric Cooperatives cookbook

1 pkg. (15.5 to 16 oz.) chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 8-oz. carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
10-oz. pkg. frozen strawberries, thawed, undrained
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Crush sandwich cookies - either with a food processor or crushing with a rolling pin after putting cookies in a heavy-duty plastic bag. Melt butter and combine with cookie crumbs. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for topping. Pat the remaining crumbs into a 9- by 13-inch pan. Chill while preparing the strawberry mixture.

Beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar in a steady stream, keeping the mixer going. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Add strawberries. Put mixer on high and beat for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture is high and fluffy. Gently fold in thawed whipped topping. Pour strawberry mixture over crumbs in the 9- by 13-inch pan. Spread evenly. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving. Cut into squares to serve. If desired, garnish with fresh strawberries.

The color is lousy on this, but it shows you how much volume you need for the egg white/strawberry mixture.

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Today, I'm linked to What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday, a feature at Wichita blogger Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl. Click on the link to check out what's cooking from food blogs across the U.S.

Strawberry Delight

It's hot. It's very hot.

So a frozen dessert is the perfect way to cool off.

Jill & Eric came home last weekend. Randy is always glad when the kids come home. He gets desserts that he doesn't normally get.

Instead of my go-to frozen concoction, Lemonade Dessert, I wanted to do something different this time. I remembered a frozen strawberry dessert that both my Mom and Randy's Mom had served once upon a time.

I looked through my recipe box. I looked through a bunch of cookbooks.

And then I called my Mom. I have been married 29-plus years, and I am still calling my Mom for recipes.

I should have just called her to begin with because she found it right away. It was in her little white recipe collection book. That little book has been nestled among my Mom's cookbooks all my life. But I'd never asked about it before.

Her friend, Donna, mailed the little recipe binder from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to my mom to commemorate my parents' first wedding anniversary in 1954. My mom has been using it ever since. So it has 56 years worth of recipe cards, newspaper clippings and the like stuffed in its pages. It's often the repository for recipes from my childhood, many of which have taken on the yellow tinge of age and food splotches over the years. (Aren't the best recipes found on the cookbook pages that have a dribble or two of food that has stained the entry?)

Even though it's definitely a little worse for the wear, it's a pretty valuable book, in my eyes. Today, August 12, my parents celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary. There have been plenty of meals cranked out in my Mom's Pratt County kitchen and some of the best recipes have found their way into the little white recipe binder.

The Strawberry Dessert found stashed in the binder's pages didn't disappoint. After Jill & Eric arrived, I asked them if they wanted dessert. They looked at each other and grinned.

They had eaten at Wendy's on the way here, and Eric had wondered out loud if there would be dessert when they got here. Jill told him that she bet there would be.

Well, I guess I'm predictable. But I'm glad I didn't disappoint my favorite son-in-law. My parents even got to sample it when they met us for supper at the new Stafford Mexican restaurant and then came here for dessert.

And you won't disappoint either, if you serve this easy dessert. The mixer does most of the work for you. As you will see in the directions, you are supposed to let the egg whites and other ingredients whip on High for 15 minutes. You really need to do this. It's kind of like a mini miracle when you put a few ingredients in the bottom of your mixing bowl and end up with a whole bowl of fluffy pinkness. You can just put them on to whip and go dust for 15 minutes (or read a book or play on the computer ... you fill in the blank!)

The original recipe called for pecans in the crust. Jill doesn't like nuts, so my Mom suggested using pretzels instead. It was a success! In fact, I may use the substitute again the next time I make this dessert.

Enjoy! It might even be worthy of an anniversary celebration. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Strawberry Delight

Crust:
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (see note below)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 egg whites
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
10-oz. frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup cream, whipped (See note below)

Crust: Mix crust ingredients together and spread on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until golden brown. Spread half into 9- by 13-inch pan. Keep remainder for sprinkling on top.

Filling: Beat fill ingredients on high for 15 minutes except for cream, which you should whip separately. Fold whipped cream into the strawberry mixture. Put strawberry filling on top of crumbs in bottom of 9- by 13-inch pan.

Put remainder of crumbs on top. Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Recipe notes: I crushed up pretzels to substitute for the pecans (crushing the pretzels with a rolling pin to about the same size as chopped pecans). I also didn't have whipping cream, so I used a tub of Extra Creamy Cool Whip (thawed). Both substitutes worked well.

For the picture, I decorated the top with a little more whipped cream (Cool Whip) and a fresh strawberry. That's the way to impress the ladies at Beta Sigma Phi or PEO!