Strawberry Short*cup*cakes!

It's springtime!!  For me that means strawberries....  I earned the nickname Strawberry Shortcake for a reason!

I love them!  But my favorite part of strawberries are my strawberry short-cupcakes!  We have a farm nearby that sells homemade baked goods.  They sell this amazing strawberry cobbler- I decided that I wanted to make my own. So I took a recipe that I had from my husband's great grandmother and modified it to make cupcakes! Cupcakes are the easiest way to serve strawberry shortcake. Here's the recipe- enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcupcakes (recipe follows post)

First we mix all our dry ingredients together with a large spoon.

 Next, add your stick of butter and cut it in. 

 Basically, take a knife and cut up the butter into smaller and smaller pieces until it looks a little something like this. Make sure you give it a good stir when you're done!

 Next we add the heavy cream and stir until combined.  The batter will be thick!

 

 Line your cupcake pan with papers and put about a 1/4 cup of batter in each one.  You should get about 15 cupcakes- unless you let your son eat the batter!  Hey, don't judge- there's no eggs in it!

Now, for the best part....

Give each cupcake a good sprinkle of the raw sugar- it gives the finished cake a nice crunchy, sweet top! Throw 'em in the oven and let's move on!

Now for the yummy part....mmmmm....strawberries!

Cut each strawberry into bite size pieces.

After you get all the berries cut up, you are going to need to sweeten them.  The amount of sugar you use will depend on the berries.  This time of year I use a good amount of sugar as the berries aren't that sweet.

Put a lid on it and let them sit. The longer you leave them, the juicer they will get!  Your cupcakes should be about done, so get them out of the oven and take them out of the pan.  If you let them cool in the pan, they will continue to cook.  They can be cooled completely or served warm.


Mmmm...check out these juicy berries!!

And now, for the finished product:

 Yummmmm!! This one was for my dear friend.  If it were mine, it would have almost an entire can of whipped cream on it. But we can discuss whip cream another day!  Enjoy your shortcupcakes!!  Feel free to share this recipe, but please be sure to link back to my page!

Recipe:

2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cup of heavy cream
Sugar in the Raw

strawberries
additional 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)
whip cream

Mix together all dry ingredients, cut in butter and stir in heavy cream.  Place in lined cupcake pan and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes.  Meanwhile cut up the strawberries, sprinkle with additional sugar and let sit for at least an hour. Layer your cupcakes up and enjoy!

Cinnamon Streusel Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• tsp salt
• 1tsp vanilla
• ~2 TB milk (more or less for desired consistency)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together and set aside. In a separate small bowl, combine 1/4 cup white sugar sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar and chocolate chips. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 2 cups white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until well combined.
3. Pour half of batter into Bundt pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chip mixture on top of batter in pan. Add remaining batter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
5. Invert cake on to serving dish.
6. Mix together last 4 ingredients and drizzle over cake when completely cooled.

So tonight for dinner I did another food experiment loosely based off a recipe I have. I was expecting tears and plenty of push back but it was well received by all!

Baked Balsamic Chicken.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
salt 
pepper 
oregano
1 large shallot sliced
1 large green bell pepper, sliced
1 large red bell pepper, sliced
2 tsp rosemary finely minced 
2 TB balsamic vineagar
1 cup chicken broth



Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil and garlic until it starts to cook. Place the chicken.  Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and oregano.  Brown on both sides, about 3 minutes a side. Place in baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile in the same saucepan that you cooked the chicken in, place the shallot, peppers and rosemary.  Saute for about 3 minutes.  Add chicken broth and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in vinegar.  Pour over chicken and bake additional 10 minutes.