Last weekend in Michigan, was the last weekend for strawberries from the farm. Sometimes the late season strawberries are not as sweet as the beginning, so you may have to tweak the sweetness of the berries. But there is still nothing like fresh farm strawberries. My husband zealously bought a giant amount and I had my hands full with them. We froze a lot in gallon bags for jams to give during the holidays. But that still left me with a lot to play with. So we decided to make some shortcakes for dessert. But typical me, I needed to do something a little more special than just whipped cream, so I made a stove top custard to use on top of the cakes to make them extra creamy. It worked out great wonderfully!
Strawberry Custard Shortcakes
Ingredients
Strawberries
1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 Tbsp. orange juice
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Custard
2 egg yolks
1/8 cup flour
1/8 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
4 Tbsp. butter, divided in half and softened to room temperature
Whipped Cream
6 Sponge cake shortcake shells or sliced pound cake, 2 per serving
Directions
Macerate the strawberries. Mix all the ingredients for the strawberries, toss and let sit for about an hour.
Whisk the yolks in a small bowl, then whisk the sugar in until thick and lemon colored. Meanwhile heat the milk in a saucepan on low, and heat until warm. DO NOT let boil.
Into the eggs, add the vanilla extract and whisk in the flour and cornstarch until smooth and thick.
Take 1/4 cup of the lukewarm milk and whisk it in gently and slowly. You are temepering the yolks to bring them up to temperature so the eggs don’t curdle.
Next, on very low heat, add the tempered egg mixture to the milk, and whisk. Cook slowely until the custard is thickened. When cooked and thick, sitr 2 Tbsp. butter into the custard and pour into a heat safe bowl. Let cool down to troom temperature. When it is cooled down, stir in the final tablespoons of butter until smooth. Chill until ready to use.
Now time to assemble. Place the cakes on serving dishes, and ladle the custard on top. Next, ladle the strawberries with plenty of juice. Top with sweetened whipped cream and serve.
Flora is an award-winning creative director in Chicago turned food and lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. She is also author to the popular BEE NATIVE! gardening book series and various children's books that celebrate the wonder and hard work of bees and butterflies. Her blog and social spaces inspire thousands to create, learn, cook, grow, and craft, making their world lovelier one pixel/petal/seed/bite/stitch/brushstroke at a time. Follow her on all the social spaces, YouTube, and Amazon, and get creative!
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