I was raised by a family of schoolteachers, which meant that we all dreaded the month of August. The school season was just around the corner and thus, the end of summer was drawing near. In our house, you weren’t allowed to ask “when’s the first day o…
I was raised by a family of schoolteachers, which meant that we all dreaded the month of August. The school season was just around the corner and thus, the end of summer was drawing near. In our house, you weren’t allowed to ask “when’s the first day of school?” or turn to my parents and say, “oh, are you excited to go back to work?” You would swiftly be cut off before you could finish the sentence because who wants to think about going back to school in the middle of July?
But in August’s defense, there are some pretty wonderful things that happen this month, too. A streak of beautiful weather, and a bounty of incredible produce to take advantage of. Think eggplant, tomatoes, corn on the cob (finally!!!), plus sweet berries and stone fruit. So don’t think about the list of school supplies that will soon show up in the mail or the fact that you have to eat a cafeteria lunch at 10:58 a.m. For now, embrace several more weeks of summer with these recipes to make all throughout the month of August. They’ve all been hand-picked by our editorial team, so you know they’re good.
Perfection is these soft and chewy sugar cookies stuffed with a dark chocolate ganache and topped with a burst of freeze-dried strawberries. Love is in the air… love for the timeless combination of chocolate and strawberry, that is! Also, my love of stuffed cookies is seemingly endless (am I the only one that finds a […]
Perfection is these soft and chewy sugar cookies stuffed with a dark chocolate ganache and topped with a burst of freeze-dried strawberries.
Love is in the air… love for the timeless combination of chocolate and strawberry, that is! Also, my love of stuffed cookies is seemingly endless (am I the only one that finds a plain, not-stuffed cookie so incredibly boring now?)
Yes I realize I made the perfect Valentine’s day cookies in the middle of summer but, you know what? My love of chocolate and strawberry lasts all year round.
My first test run of these cookies resulted in two versions, one with the ground up freeze-dried strawberries mixed into the dough, and the other with plain dough and a coating of crushed berry powder before baking.
While the strawberry flavor was lovely on both versions, the strawberry-in-the-dough batch turned a not-so-enticing mauve color when baked. Nothing like the pretty pastel pink I envisioned. But such is life when you’re using natural colorings.
This is the cake features a fresh strawberry buttercream and elderflower cordial – can’t get more summery than THAT. As I find layer cakes endlessly frustrating to make, I decided to go sheet cake style here. They’re very easy to make and decorate so are much better for my level of patience! Fresh strawberry buttercream frosting: Strawberries are definitely something that taste best in season. But as we’re cooking them down into a jam for the frosting here, using slightly crappy strawberries (or frozen ones) is definitely a good option. The cooking process helps to concentrate the flavour so you get a nice strawberry hit. Cooking them also reduces the water content so you get a kind of ‘jam’ which, when cooled, can be incorporated into your icing with ease. You may need to adjust the amount of icing sugar to get the right consistency as the frosting can come out a bit runnier than you may be used to. The strawberries provide a nice pale pink colour to the icing but you can add a few drops of pink/red gel food colouring to the icing to make the colour stronger.
This is the cake features a fresh strawberry buttercream and elderflower cordial – can’t get more summery than THAT.
As I find layer cakes endlessly frustrating to make, I decided to go sheet cake style here. They’re very easy to make and decorate so are much better for my level of patience!
Fresh strawberry buttercream frosting:
Strawberries are definitely something that taste best in season. But as we’re cooking them down into a jam for the frosting here, using slightly crappy strawberries (or frozen ones) is definitely a good option. The cooking process helps to concentrate the flavour so you get a nice strawberry hit. Cooking them also reduces the water content so you get a kind of ‘jam’ which, when cooled, can be incorporated into your icing with ease. You may need to adjust the amount of icing sugar to get the right consistency as the frosting can come out a bit runnier than you may be used to. The strawberries provide a nice pale pink colour to the icing but you can add a few drops of pink/red gel food colouring to the icing to make the colour stronger.
Strawberry, Lemon & Elderflower Cake
Yield: serves 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour10 minutes
Ingredients
Cake:
150g granulated sugar
160g unsalted butter
zest of 1 lemon, finely grated (you need the juice for the buttercream)
3 medium eggs
250ml natural yogurt
270g plain white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp elderflower cordial
Buttercream:
75g fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped (plus a few for decoration)
juice of 1 lemon
100g unsalted butter, softened
200-300g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line an 20 x 20cm square tin or a 25 x 17 cm rectangle tin.
Cream the sugar, butter and lemon zest together in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and soft. Beat in the eggs one at a time - it’s okay if it looks like the mixture is curdling. Stir in the yogurt. Add in both flours, the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and fold in gently until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until it’s golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Dilute the elderflower cordial with 2 tbsp of water in a small bowl and spoon this over the warm cake to soak in. Set aside to cool before frosting.
For the buttercream:
Blitz the strawberries and lemon juice together in a blender/food processor or in a jug using a hand blender. Pour the blended mixture into a medium pot and heat over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced down to about 60ml. Let it cool - this is your strawberry ‘jam’.
Beat the softened butter together with 200g of the icing sugar. Gradually mix in the strawberry 'jam', until you have a loose but spreadable consistency. You can add more icing sugar to thicken, if needed. Spread this over the cooled cake and top with the extra strawberries (I slice them) to decorate.
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to see how it went! Tag me on instagram @izyhossack and hashtag it #topwithcinnamon so I can see your beautiful creation & reshare in my stories!
Are you ready for the ULTIMATE ice cream dessert? The king of all ice cream sundaes? I sure hope so because today we are making Banana Splits. I love ordering a banana split when we go out for ice cream, but banana splits are easy to make at home and S…
Are you ready for the ULTIMATE ice cream dessert? The king of all ice cream sundaes? I sure hope so because today we are making Banana Splits. I love ordering a banana split when we go out for ice cream, but banana splits are easy to make at home and SO fun, especially during the…
This strawberry watermelon smoothie is full of juicy flavor! This 3 ingredient recipe is a deliciously healthy treat.
Here’s a smoothie recipe that’s so simple and so utterly delicious, it’s jumped to the top of our favorites. Try this Strawberry Watermelon Smoothie! It’s sweet and delicious, with just the right juicy flavor with no added sweetener. It’s a great snack or even works as a healthy dessert after a summer meal: it’s just that good! Our 4 year old could not stop sipping it, and neither could we.
3 ingredients for a strawberry watermelon smoothie
This strawberry watermelon smoothie has the least ingredients of any of our smoothie recipes. But it’s one of the top in terms of flavor! There’s something about the melon and berry combination that’s pure summer. This one has a bit of nostalgia for me: I created it based on my favorite smoothie at the mall growing up in the 1990’s (ha!). It’s actually much better than the inspiration. Here’s what you’ll need:
Frozen strawberries: These bring in sweetness and an icy texture
Watermelon: Make sure it’s perfectly ripe, in season melon
Banana: A room temperature banana combines to make the perfect creamy texture and accentuates the sweetness
Simply throw them in the blender and puree it up. It makes the perfect sweet tart, fruity flavor!
Find a ripe watermelon!
The most important advice for this smoothie? Make sure your watermelon is ripe! It’s not worth making this smoothie with out of season watermelon, which can be tart and tasteless. Here are a few tips for shopping:
Shop in watermelon season. If it’s out of season, it’s much more likely to be unripe.
Look for a yellow field spot. Most watermelons should have a patch on the bottom, which is where they were resting on the ground before being picked. If the patch is yellow, the watermelon is ripe (if it’s white, it’s unripe).
Ways to add protein to a strawberry watermelon smoothie
One thing to note about this strawberry watermelon smoothie: it’s just fruit, so it doesn’t have protein. That means it’s best served as a treat or a way to drink your vitamins, not as a meal replacement. But if you’d like to add protein, you can feel free! Protein makes it filling and more suitable for drinking as a snack or breakfast. Here are a few protein adders:
Chia seeds. Add plant-based protein and fiber with chia seeds! 2 tablespoons chia seeds adds 4 grams protein and 11 grams fiber (see this Chia Seed Smoothie).
Protein powder: Use a high quality vanilla protein powder (some notes on buying a good brand are in this energy balls post).
Almond butter or cashew butter. 1 tablespoon nut butter adds 4 grams protein. This does compete with the flavor a bit, and dulls the color of this smoothie. But it works!
Flavor variations
Want to mix up this strawberry watermelon smoothie to have different flavor variations? Here are a few things to vary, change or add:
Mint or basil: Add a handful of mint or basil leaves for an herby variation
Blueberry: use 2 cups frozen blueberries
Raspberry: use 1 cup frozen raspberries and 1 cup strawberries
Strawberry blueberry: use 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1 cup strawberries
Mango: use 2 cups frozen mango
Pineapple: Use 2 cups frozen pineapple
More fruit smoothie recipes
Strawberry is the number 1 fruit to add in fruit smoothie recipes! Here are a few more variations on the theme:
This homemade strawberry lemonade recipe is easy with the best sweet tart flavor! It’s quick to mix up a big pitcher that’s deliciously festive.
Got fresh strawberries? Here’s one of the best ways to use them…a pitcher of homemade Strawberry Lemonade! This drink is bright and beautiful, citrusy with a hit of berry on the finish. It tastes infinitely better made at home: the flavors are brilliantly fresh. This one has become a favorite over here as a summery drink (if we’re not making the shortcut pink lemonade, of course!). This recipe is fast and easy: you don’t even need to cook down a syrup! Simply blend and go.
Ingredients for strawberry lemonade
This strawberry lemonade recipe skips making a strawberry syrup on the stovetop, and goes right to the blender. All you’ll need to do is blend berries and sugar, then mix it with lemon juice to form lemonade. Easy as that! In fact, you only need three real ingredients (plus water):
Strawberries
Lemons
Sugar
Use the best ripe berries
It might go without saying, but this strawberry lemonade is best with beautifully ripe strawberries. These days, it’s easy to find strawberries out of season: and their flavor is tart and bland. Make sure you find ripe fruit, because no amount of sugar can save an unripe berry! Bonus points if you’ve got a pint of berries from a local farmers market.
How to make strawberry lemonade (basic steps)
Once you’ve got your ingredients, there are just a few basic steps for strawberry lemonade. Here’s all you need to do (or jump to the recipe below for the exact quantities):
Juice the lemons. The only time consuming part is this! We recommend using a press juicer, which is the quickest, gets out the most juice and saves your hands. The next best choice? A handheld citrus juicer.
Blend the strawberries, sugar and water. Give it a whiz in the blender.
Mix the pitcher. Then mix it in a pitcher with the lemon juice and more cold water. Garnish with ice and mint if you like!
Serving in a pitcher with ice? Reduce the water
Are you planning to make this strawberry lemonade for a party, leaving it out in a big pitcher with ice? The ice melts over time, which can dilute the drink. If you think it might sit out for quite a while, you can reduce the cold water you add at the end to account for dilution.
But if you’re planning to serve it right away, there’s no need! Simply follow the recipe below.
Variations on strawberry lemonade
There are so many tasty ways to mix up this drink! Here are a few ideas:
This homemade strawberry lemonade recipe is easy with the best sweet tart flavor! It’s quick to mix up a big pitcher that’s deliciously festive.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (7 to 8 large lemons)
1 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces fresh strawberries, stems removed
6 cups water, divided
Ice and fresh mint, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Juice the lemons.
Add the strawberries, sugar and 2 cups warm water to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain through fine mesh sieve into pitcher, using a spatula to push the liquid through (discard the seeds; this takes a few minutes to complete).
Add 4 cups* cold water and the fresh squeezed lemon juice. Add ice to the pitcher and serve. If desired, garnish with extra strawberries and fresh mint sprigs.
Notes
*If you plan to serve in a large pitcher with ice and leave it out at a party, use 3 cups water to account for ice melting and diluting the drink.
It’s time to get snacking with this fresh and festive Blueberry, Strawberry, and Jicama Salsa. It is one of my favorite recipes to make for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, or really any day! It is so simple to make and so good with salt…
It’s time to get snacking with this fresh and festive Blueberry, Strawberry, and Jicama Salsa. It is one of my favorite recipes to make for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, or really any day! It is so simple to make and so good with salty tortilla chips. It is always a crowd…
This strawberry pie recipe has incredible flavor: an elevated take on the classic! Serve it to impress and everyone will ask for the recipe.
Usually we’re all about healthy everyday recipes. But sometimes, you need stunning dessert to impress everyone. Introducing…the best-ever fresh Strawberry Pie! It highlights the best ripe berry flavor, perfectly sweet tart with a delicious hint of cinnamon. The flavor is almost beyond words. Our neighbors promptly declared it was “the best pie I’ve ever had.” Don’t believe us? Well, you’ve got to test for yourself!
Why to make this strawberry pie
This strawberry pie is one of the favorite desserts to come out of our kitchen. To make sure we weren’t exaggerating, we had a few Instagram readers test the recipe for us. Here’s what a few recipe testers said:
“Oh my gosh this is delicious! I made it for a summer BBQ with my in-laws, and everyone raved!” -Erin
“Everyone in my family loved the filling! The cinnamon made the pie feel a little more elevated than your typical strawberry pie. Everyone also enjoyed how “real” it tasted. It didn’t have the artificial strawberry flavor.” -Elizabeth
Use homemade or storebought pie crust
You can use your favorite pie crust recipe for this strawberry pie. It’s best with homemade pie crust, but easiest with homemade. Here’s what to know about the options:
Homemade pie crust: This Quiche Crust is our favorite, but you can use your family favorite recipe if you prefer.
Store-bought pastry crust: This is a great shortcut! If you use it, keep in mind the timing for the blind baking may vary.
Tips for blind baking the crust
This strawberry pie highlights the best juicy flavor of fresh strawberries. In fact, the filling itself is completely no bake. But this recipe uses a standard pie crust, not a graham cracker crust. So you’ll need to first bake the pie crust using a technique called blind baking. Here’s the general overview of this process:
Freeze the crust 30 minutes. Why? This helps the crust to hold its shape while blind baking. (This freezer method shortcuts refrigerating for a few hours. You’re welcome!)
Prick holes with a fork all over the crust. This is called docking the crust: it makes it puff up less while in the oven.
Add parchment paper then pie weights, dried beans, or rice! Pour them right into the crust! Then bake it for 15 minutes. Here are the pie weights we use.
Remove the pie weights and bake until golden brown. Once the crust bakes 15 minutes, remove the weights and bake another 15 minutes.
Then, you’ll just need to cool the crust before you fill it. One trick we use: we like to slide the crust into a separate pie pan that’s already cool. It speeds up the process for cooling and you can go right to the filling step.
Keys to the strawberry pie filling
How did we make this pie taste so “real” and avoid the artificial flavors? Well, here are our secrets to the strawberry pie filling:
The filling has no strawberry jello or gelatin. There’s nothing artificially flavored here, and no gelatin or jello.
The tricks? Smashed strawberries and a bit of cornstarch make the very thick sauce. It’s flavored with both honey and sugar, to bring in a delicious nuance in flavor from the natural sweetener.
Cinnamon takes it home. The hint of cinnamon in this strawberry pie sends it to over-the-top goodness.
Cool for 2 hours until it sets
The filling for this strawberry pie will set after 2 hours in the refrigerator. The key to setting the pie is that the cornstarch mixture makes an extremely thick sauce. After refrigeration, it will set and become even more solidified. No Jello needed!
When you’re ready to serve, topping it with homemade whipped cream makes it pretty darn special! Here’s our best homemade recipe: you’ll never go back to store-bought.
Storage info for strawberry pie
This strawberry pie is great the day it’s made, but it also stores well. Store this pie for up to 3 days refrigerated, and it holds its flavor well. We were surprised at how well it holds up! It’s perfect for serving at summer barbecues, picnics, potlucks, or as a 4th of July dessert.
Variations: make it vegan and gluten-free
This strawberry pie is easily made vegan, and there’s a simple swap for gluten-free too. Here’s what to do:
Make the crust: Follow the directions in the Homemade Quiche Crust recipe to make the dough and shape it into a 9-inch pie plate. You can do either a fork pressed edge or a fluted edge. Then freeze the crust in the pie pan for 30 minutes (this helps to avoid shrinkage; you can skip the freezing portion for a purchased pastry crust).
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Blind bake*: Remove the dough from the freezer. Crumble a sheet of parchment paper, then place it gently on top of the crust. Fill the dough with pie weights (we used two sets of these), dry beans, or dry rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the parchment and weights and bake an additional 14 to 15 minutes until the bottom is golden brown (note that the timing may vary if you use store-bought pastry dough). Remove from the oven and allow the crust to cool completely before adding the strawberry filling. To cool it quickly, you can very gently slide it into another pie pan of the same size and place it on a cooling rack; this should cool it in about 10 to 15 minutes while you make the filling. (Or, the baked crust can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for 2 days.)
Make strawberry filling: Wash, destem and quarter the strawberries lengthwise, cutting very large berries into smaller pieces. Take 1 cup of the quartered strawberries (reserve the rest), place them in a bowl, and smash them with a fork until each one is mashed. Add the smashed berries and their juices to a large saucepan. Add the sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Then in a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and cook, stirring often while it bubbles, for 1 to 2 minutes until very thick and glossy. Turn off the heat. Add the remaining fresh strawberries to the pan and turn with spatula until they are fully coated with the very thick sauce.
Immediately scoop the strawberry filling into the cooled pie crust. Use clean fingers to arrange the strawberries in the top layer (you may need to flip some over to make it look nice). Allow to cool in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving until it sets. Serve topped with homemade whipped cream. Lasts up to 3 days refrigerated.
Notes
*Blind baking the pie crust shrinks it a bit. For a larger puffy crust, you can make 1.5 times the recipe and cut scraps to reinforce the sides. Go to How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust.
**Arrowroot may work as a substitute, but we have not tested it. Try at your own risk!
Everyone knows that cookies are my all-time favorite dessert. I also love a good brownie or blondie, BUT my heart has a soft spot for fruit galettes. I am really not a huge pie person, but I will take a fruit galette any day of the week. Sign me up! Th…
Everyone knows that cookies are my all-time favorite dessert. I also love a good brownie or blondie, BUT my heart has a soft spot for fruit galettes. I am really not a huge pie person, but I will take a fruit galette any day of the week. Sign me up! This Strawberry Galette is one…
This year marks the 156th commemoration of Juneteenth. The holiday has largely been celebrated in Texas and certain pockets throughout the American South, but in recent years, people across America and even around the world have taken an interest in wh…
This year marks the 156th commemoration of Juneteenth. The holiday has largely been celebrated in Texas and certain pockets throughout the American South, but in recent years, people across America and even around the world have taken an interest in what Juneteenth, shorthand for June 19th, is all about.
On that day in 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, news reached enslaved African Americans in Texas, finally ending legalized slavery. The day represents freedom, hope, and new beginnings for the Black community, and it is celebrated with parades, educational events, and communing around special foods.
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