Strawberry Whiskey Sour

This Strawberry Whiskey Sour is so frothy and refreshing. It's sort of like a grown up smoothie... with whiskey! Even if you normally don't care for bourbon or whiskey cocktails, give this one a try. 

Doesn't this drink just scream strawberry? I love the thickness from the fresh fruit, combined with the traditional whiskey sour flavor. It's a wonderful cocktail for an al fresco Sunday brunch or dinner. Use the freshest, juiciest strawberries you can find.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

These Strawberry Cheesecake Bars are so creamy and decadent. Add the toasted pecan and butter cookie crust, and you will have a hard time resisting slicing off "just a leetle bit more" every time you pass by the pan. 

The first time I made these bars, I took them to work and they immediately disappeared. I've since retired, so this time my neighbors, kids, and grandkids, and their friends are the recipients. No matter who gets a taste, these bars are still a big hit. 

Orange and Strawberry Whole Wheat Muffins

These orange and strawberry whole wheat muffins are filled with the flavor of fresh oranges and strawberries. 

 

Make these orange and strawberry muffins for breakfast, brunch, or a sweet afternoon treat. They are made with orange juice and orange zest and are loaded from top to bottom with strawberries. The combination of orange and strawberry is fabulous, and the heat from the oven helps concentrate the strawberry flavor. 

Strawberry Marshmallows

These strawberry marshmallows are flavored with real strawberries. The flavor is fresh and fruity, and really special. 

 

These strawberry marshmallows are so much fun to make and so delicious to eat. Plus, nestled in each strawberry-infused bite is a delicious strawberry slice. One of my taste testers said that she wanted to make sure she got one of those slices in every bit. 

Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake

This Elderflower & Roasted Strawberry Layer Cake is a delicious and pretty special way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or another milestone.

I made a cake! And it looks pretty okay!

Strawberry Danish Pastries

These Strawberry Danish have just emerged from the oven. They've been brushed with a hot glaze, and then drizzled with a fondant glaze. It's 10 pm and I just ate one. It's all I can do to not to eat the rest.

These Danish rolls are made with a croissant dough shaped into coils, filled with freshly made strawberry jam, and drizzled with a hot glaze. You can also shape the dough into pinwheels and little braids. It is so flaky, buttery, and amazing.

Strawberry Swiss Roll Cake

This strawberry Swiss roll cake, an almond chiffon cake filled with fresh strawberries and a mascarpone, white chocolate, and whipped cream mixture is light, not too sweet, and perfect for a tea time snack or dessert.

This is my first time attempting a cake roll! I've always been intimidated, but finally decided to try making one. After all, one of my goals with this site is to flex new cooking and baking muscles and share my experiences.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

These Strawberry Shortcake Cookies take the flavors of your favorite summer dessert and combine them into a delicious cookie.

The strawberries in these cookies are totally fresh. The cookies themselves are like tender little cakes combined with a buttery dough that's mixed into heavy cream.

Strawberry Swirl No-Knead Brioche with Strawberry Lime Jam | Strawberry Shortcake Bread

I am loving this strawberry swirl no-knead brioche bread. It's just slightly sweet and slightly buttery, and very soft and airy. To make it even tastier, it is filled with a swirl of homemade strawberry lime jam. 

This strawberry swirl bread is actually pretty easy to make, as long as you are comfortable with very sticky dough. It's very similar to working with a sticky ciabatta dough, except that this dough is enriched with some sugar, butter, and milk, resulting in a very tender bread.

Neapolitan Cheesecake

This Neapolitan Cheesecake starts with a chocolate brownie crust, a layer of vanilla cheesecake, and a layer of strawberry whipped cream... and it's topped off with a glorious coating of chocolate ganache.

This Neapolitan cheesecake reminds me of my childhood. The only dessert my dad ever really wanted was ice cream, and his two favorite flavors were rocky road and neapolitan, which we all called "pink, brown, and white." Neapolitan ice cream had a permanent space in our family freezer.

Bloodhound Cocktail

Isn't this Bloodhound Cocktail pretty? I found it in an old out of print Williams-Sonoma Bar Guide and just had to try it. It is gin based, and contains both white and red vermouth plus a small amount of strawberry jam puree.

Frozen pureed jam works just fine too, and helps keep the cocktail cold. I like to keep a container of it in the freezer and dip a spoon into it when I "need" to make one of these (this trick also works with frozen lemonade and limeade concentrates, all great when you want to make margaritas on the fly because the purees never really freeze solidly).

How was your Thanksgiving? I sure hope it was wonderful. I thought of my aunt Chris this Thanksgiving. She passed away recently and I miss her, especially on holidays. She was my dad's sister, and the only real aunt I had.

I have a lot great memories of her, but one of my favorites is of her helping me make gravy about 10 years ago when it was my turn to host the family Christmas dinner. I had no clue and I had an electric stove top that required that you move one knob to operate each of the burners (all of the others were stripped). She and I worked together... scraping and moving the knob to control the burners, and produced a gravy of which we would all be proud. She was so calm and never made me feel like I didn't know what I was doing, even though I didn't.

I still don't get gravy I guess, because I put too much water in the bottom of my roaster this year and ended up with seriously diluted pan drippings. I warned my family that we might have a gravy-less dinner and then went to work. Somehow, I ended up with an amazingly flavorful gravy. Thank you aunt Chris. I know you were looking over my shoulder.

Oh, and I made your Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes.  Cheers! And much love.

Bloodhound Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

2 fluid ounces gin

1 T dry vermouth

1 T sweet vermouth

2 tsp strawberry jam puree

Instructions

1. Chill a coupe or martini glass
2. Fill a shaker with ice and add the rest of the ingredients
3. Strain into the chilled cocktail glass

Enjoy!

Strawberry Chocolate Anniversary Cake

You know how when people celebrate their one year anniversary, they are supposed to bring out the top of the cake from the freezer and share it with each other? I'm pretty sure that top tier cake ends up in the trash (well, maybe it is Instagrammed and then dumped in the trash).

Why not make a new little anniversary cake?

This little cake is baked in two 5 inch cake pans, perfectly sized for a first year anniversary celebration. I have made the chocolate cake many times, sometimes with chocolate, and sometimes with vanilla frosting. This time I wanted something a bit fresher to go with the Chocolate Party theme for this month, strawberries. Why not whipped cream? Strawberries and cream on a little devil's food cake.

This cake is layered with a lightly sweetened whipped cream and a fresh strawberry reduction. It's light and seasonal. If you like, you can prepare the cake layers and the strawberry Cointreau reduction in advance. When you are ready to serve the cake, whip the cream and assemble the layers.

This cake also is in celebration of the one year anniversary of my blog. Happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, haaaaa-ppy anniversary.

What especially touches my heart about this cake is that I have baked variations of it several times with my grandson. He decorates it with as many candies and sprinkles as he likes. I keep a large assortment on hand of course. You can't have too many sprinkles in life.

Strawberry Scones

One of the nice things about living in our part of southern California is that the minute winter turns to spring, strawberry stands pop up on what seems like every corner where there is a vacant lot. These strawberries are huge. They are the kind you might imagine they use to make chocolate dipped strawberries. We usually have at least three or four baskets of strawberries in our house at all times.

Thus these scones. They are made with vanilla, cream, and butter, and brushed with a vanilla glaze. I also added a couple of drops of Fiori di Sicilia, which is a concentrated blend of vanilla and citrus. You could also add a few scrapes of orange zest if you'd prefer.