A few times a year I will donate my time for a charity event. Last night it was for a group of twelve fellow fifth grade parents who won a Cooking with Friends evening at a silent auction. When I run a cooking party, my life stops for two straight days as I’m hyper focused on prepping and organizing for the big event. I believe that a hands on cooking evening runs best if I am extremely organized and have many of the ingredients pre-chopped. Of course I’ll leave a few cloves of garlic, onions and handful of herbs to be chopped by the group and to demo some knife skills. For two days I’m quite busy in my own kitchen dicing, chopping and telling the kids to get their hands off me and the party food! And then I’m busy in someone else’s kitchen running the cooking party.
Last night I taught an enthusiastic group of men and women a hefty agenda. In each corner of the host’s center island I had a work station for each of our menu items — curry chicken meatballs, dumplings, lettuce wraps and salmon cakes. For two hours, I flittered from station to station guiding a whirlwind evening of cooking and eating. I think it was a successful evening as people left full and satisfied.
The Marscapone cream filled strawberries added a sweet ending to a savory night which left me content as I left with a lighter load and a handful of new friends. I found a similar recipe on the web from Driscoll’s Strawberries and theirs look much prettier than mine!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 18 Strawberries | 20 Minutes |
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Strawberries filled with a light and creamy Marscapone whipped cream make an elegant and refreshing dessert on a hot summer evening. Serve as a one or two bite dessert at a cocktail party and there will be no leftovers! Who needs the shortcake?
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- 8 ounces Marscapone cheese
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbs sugar
- 2 tbs confectioners sugar for dusting
- 2 lbs strawberries washed, stems cut off and well ripened
- Using an electric mixer, beat the Marscapone cheese with the whipping cream, sugar and vanilla until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Be careful not to over beat so that the mixture isn't too stiff.
- Transfer the mixture in a large zip loc bag and close the top. Cut a corner out of the bottom and use as you would a pastry bag to pipe the filling into the strawberries.
- Cut the stem off the strawberries and place face down on a plate point upwards. You can either hollow out the center or slice the strawberries with an "x" going almost all the way down. Pipe the filling into the strawberry, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with some mint.
Here’s a link to the dumplings we made together and I’ll post the lettuce wraps soon.
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