11 Pounds of Strawberries
Thursday, May 4th, 2006
And what did I do with all of these you ask? Well for starters I entered the Raleigh Farmer’s Market’s Dessert Contest. I figured this would be the best start to my future (hopefully) in cooking contests. I made my dessert last night and carefully drove it the Farmer’s Market this morning and then had to wait 2 hours for the results. I was fine until about 10 minutes before they were to announce the winners. I don’t know why I got all worked up, 1st prize was only $100, but I guess I can just excited about my chances, I was really happy with the dessert I made. So the panel of judges included TV weathermen and government officials and the results were read with Suzy Strawberry nearby. I won third place. I was quite proud of myself since this was my first contest and the winner was about 60 so she had some experience over me. I took home my $50 and white ribbon proudly and I look forward to the next contest…peaches!
So My Mother-In-Law got some pictures of the announcement that I will have to get from her and because I was such a ball of nerves I forgot to take a picture of the entry but I will pass along the recipe incase you find yourself with a large amount of strawberries.
A Slice of Strawberry Heaven
2 cups strawberries, divided
juice of half a lemon
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 packages (3 ounces each) ladyfinger cookies
1. In a blender, puree one cup of sliced strawberries together with the juice of half a lemon. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whip together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold whipped cream and strawberry puree into cream cheese mixture.
4. Line a 9 inch spring form pan with plastic wrap. Arrange ladyfingers around sides and bottom of the pan, standing ladyfingers lengthwise around sides of pan. Pour 1/2 of the filling into the pan, then arrange about 1/2 a cup of sliced strawberries over the filling, then place a layer of ladyfingers on top of strawberries. Pour remaining filling over ladyfingers.
5. Place the remaining strawberries, either whole or sliced on top of the final layer of filling. Refrigerate overnight and remove from pan once thoroughly chilled.
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