Fingerfood dessert recipe using frozen strawberries?

December 5, 2012 2:59 AM

I have been freezing strawberries from my garden and currently have about 6-8 cups of them. I need to take a dessert to a Christmas party this weekend. I would like to use the strawberries, but it needs to be something that can be eaten with fingers (probably no bowls or utensils will be available) and work well with berries that have been frozen. Any ideas?
posted by lollusc to food & drink (18 answers total)

Seems like the juiciness is the major hurdle. You could bake them into a cupcake or muffin, or dry them in the oven and then put them into cookies.
posted by jon1270 at 3:08 AM on December 5, 2012

Can you do a dessert version of chips and dip?
posted by iamkimiam at 3:11 AM on December 5, 2012

I've found that frozen berries work well as jam, so I'd suggest "make jam" and then use the jam as part of the dessert. Maybe mini Bakewell tarts?
posted by dubold at 3:36 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Freezer jam + tarts, scones, crumpets, etc.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:01 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is it going to be hot there this weekend? I'd put the frozen strawberries into paper pattie cake cups (yes, I'm resisting the new tradition of calling them cupcakes, they were pattie cakes when I grew up and they always will be), sprinkle lightly with icing sugar, keep frozen, and serve when you're ready. Maybe with a toothpick or a cocktail fork if the party is a tad too elegant to get icing sugar and strawberry juice on the fingers of the guest.

Seriously, home-grown strawberries are amazing. Don't ruin them by putting them in a recipe!
posted by malibustacey9999 at 4:13 AM on December 5, 2012

My suggestion would be cream puffs or a cake roll.
posted by drlith at 4:23 AM on December 5, 2012

I just made amazing strawberry curd with frozen strawberrys. It makes a good cookie filling, or a dip for other fruit, or a spread for a delicate dessert bread.

1lb strawberrys, between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of sugar, half a stick of butter, 2 whole eggs+2 egg yolks whisked together

Cook the strawberries in a pot w/ 2 tbsp water until they start to simmer, stir and cover for for about 5-10 minutes until they're very soft.

Force them thru a fine sieve into a double boiler (or a Pyrex bowl) put the double boiler back on medium heat, add sugar and butter, whisk in all eggs. Turn up heat to high, stir constantly for 10-15 minutes until mixture thickens - it'll be thick bisque consistency in the stove. Chill in fridge several hours, it will thicken considerably in fridge.
posted by dadici at 4:43 AM on December 5, 2012 [9 favorites]

I've made several fans using fresh-frozen strawberries in an adaptation of my mother's apricot bread.

Mix together: 1 c sugar, 2T soft butter, 1 egg
Stir in: 1/4 c water, 1/3 c orange juice
Sift together and add: 2 c flour, 2t baking powder, 1/4t baking soda, 1t salt
Stir in: 1 c strawberries (roughly chopped if they're really big), 1/2 c broken walnuts

Pour mixture into a foil-lined loaf pan, let stand 20 minutes. Bake 55-65 minutes at 350F, let cool outside the pan.
posted by DrGail at 4:48 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think I'll try the strawberry curd, which sounds amazing, in little tarts.

I think things where the strawberries are uncooked and the focus of the dish, such as cream puffs or cake roll or the strawberries with icing sugar wouldn't work as well with frozen strawberries as with fresh ones. And normal strawberry jam seems a bit boring.

Also I meant to say that it might be very hot here this weekend and it's a half hour drive to the party (where I can't rely on freezer space being available), so anything that relies on the strawberries STAYING frozen is probably too difficult.

But thanks for all the suggestions! And I won't be cooking until Saturday, so any more ideas between now and then are most welcome.
posted by lollusc at 5:09 AM on December 5, 2012

Meringues! Make small meringues and sandwich them together with a good dose of fruit puree (or the delicious sounding strawberry curd above).

I may be biased because that is my favourite way to eat meringues. And I love them.
posted by stillnocturnal at 6:06 AM on December 5, 2012

Strawberry Hand Pies? Nice if you can get glassine bags from a bakery or baking supply place and tie a ribbon around them. Otherwise, use parchment or even napkins, and wrap them like a burrito.
posted by peagood at 7:05 AM on December 5, 2012

Individual bettys (betties?)" Her recipes are pretty reliable and this sounds simple. I would thaw the berries in a colander because I bet they will give off quite a bit of juice - save the liquid for a lemonade or something.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:04 AM on December 5, 2012

If you decide not to do tarts, that strawberry curd would be pretty amazing on toasted slices of pound cake, topped with curd (and possibly a dab or spread of mascarpone or cream cheese).

Toasted pound cake is my go-to for handheld/assemble-in-place desserts.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:30 AM on December 5, 2012

This is a kind of cheat thing, but it would be trivially easy to buy a pack of vol-au-vents, feel the bottom with thickened cream with a dash of vanilla essence, then top with a small spoon of the macerated strawberries. and some icing sugar. It would be yummy.

This is not what you're asking for, but I read it just yesterday and damn some strawberry vodka sounds really nice.
posted by smoke at 2:31 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

The pies and meringue ideas sound great too. I'll see what I feel like making when Saturday rolls around...

And I love the vodka plan for my own consumption. I'm getting a large bowl full of berries from the garden every second day lately, so I'll soon have more to use up!
posted by lollusc at 10:33 PM on December 5, 2012

This may not work with your frozen strawberries, but it's so seasonally-relevant that I had to share anyway! Santa Strawberries
posted by whalebreath at 5:11 AM on December 7, 2012

Oh my god, you guys!

So I actually ended up making three things, because I had forgotten I had a party on Saturday night as well. So for Saturday I made little meringue nests and filled them with the strawberry curd, drizzled creme fraiche on top, and decorated each with a single fresh strawberry. They were the biggest hit!

Then I was thinking all "pies"? "meringues?" "strawberry curd filling?" and my mind went from there to lemon meringue pie. So I made mini strawberry meringue pies, which are totally adorable and delicious. But because I had more pastry than meringue, I also made a batch of plain strawberry tarts, filled with the curd and with fresh strawberries on top. These two trays are sitting in my fridge ready to go for this afternoon (but I sampled them liberally for brunch already).

The strawberry curd recipe is fantastic, and it thickened up really well (like, to a consistency where you can make swirls or peaks in it and they stay put). And that even though I forgot to add the extra egg yolk I had planned to. The only disappointment is that the colour of the curd isn't very pretty. The strawberry puree before I added the eggs and butter was a beautiful vibrant red, but somehow the next steps turned it greyish-purple, and it doesn't look very much like strawberries or even especially appetising any more. But covering it up with meringue or fresh strawberries solves that problem.
posted by lollusc at 4:11 PM on December 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

(And PS, it turns out that the best way to use up leftover strawberry curd is to swirl it through Greek yoghurt, along with uncooked meringue and some fresh strawberries. Mmmm....)
posted by lollusc at 4:12 PM on December 8, 2012