Strawberry recipe contest winner!

As all you faithful readers know, we asked you to send in your favorite strawberry recipes. Well, the response was so overwhelming that we didn’t have enough time to try everyone’s recipes. So, to be completely fair, we randomly chose  a recipe. And lo and behold, we came up with the tried-and-true favorite: strawberry shortcake!

This recipe comes from Lucy Galgano of The Farmer’s Attic! Congratulations Lucy, you have won a one-year subscription to Create & Decorate, you lucky gal, you!

Here’s Lucy’s strawberry shortcake recipe:

Ingredients

4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Vegetable cooking spray

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, separated

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup skim milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg white

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups thawed, reduced-calorie frozen whipped topping

Garnish: Strawberry fan

Directions

1. Combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

2. Coat a 9-inch round cakepan with vegetable cooking spray; dust with flour, and set prepared pan aside.

3. Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until soft, gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating well. Add egg yolk, beating just until blended. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, one at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/2 cup beaten egg whites into batter; fold in remaining egg whites. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Slice shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate. Drain strawberries, reserving juice, and drizzle half of juice over bottom layer. Set aside 1 tablespoon whipped topping, spread 3/4 cup whipped topping over cake layer, and arrange half of strawberries over topping. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down, and repeat procedure. Dollop with reserved 1 tablespoon whipped topping; garnish with strawberry fan.

And, just for fun, here’s a show-and-tell from a reader! Rachel McCollogh created this strawberry Fruit Head from Kim Grasso’s pattern featured in our April 2011 issue. Thanks so much for sharing, Rachel!

 

 

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