Fresh Strawberry Topping

This Fresh Strawberry Topping will replace whatever strawberry sauce you used to use! The strawberries themselves are not cooked, thereby maintaining all the glory of a fresh strawberry, but with all the drippy goodness of a sauce. Top your pancakes, cheesecake, ice cream, you can’t go wrong! I love to use it as a Strawberry Shortcake topping!

Have you ever been trapped on an airplane with a lap-baby and a 3-year-old who just wet her pants? Yeah, me neither.

But just hypothetically, what you should NOT do is take her all the way to the front of the plane (carting aforementioned 20-pound baby) only to be told that you can’t wait there, go to the back of the plane and wait, (shuffling slowly behind the drink dispensing flight attendant) where you wait some more while the ice-cup-filling flight attendant eyes your barefoot, pants-less child and says, “People always think there’s water on the floor of airplane bathrooms…it’s not.”

Here male flight attendant, hold my baby, I have to lift my kid onto the toilet, WHOA, that was a BUMP– “This is the captain speaking, everyone sit down, flight attendants, get in your seats, we’re getting some turbulence” Except now you’re standing in the spot where the flight attendants’ seats fold out and you all just stare at each other with your feet spread out linebacker-like, thinking, when is this airplane going to stop earthquaking, I hope we don’t die.

This is what you should NOT do when your 3-year old wets herself on a full-capacity commercial jet. When I figure out what exactly it is that you ARE supposed to do, I will call you on the phone to tell you because this is really important information to have. Really important.

The lady sitting next to us was super nice. She offered Charlotte a banana and even helped her put on her still-damp shoes when the plane landed. Bless you, Josie. You saved my children from being abandoned on an airplane.

I’m glad to be home. I had so much fun visiting my sister but sometimes there’s just nothing like a routine. You know?

And can I just say, there’s nothing like this Strawberry sauce. It’s not really a sauce, per se, because the strawberries are not cooked, but it works as a sauce. It’s perfect for topping anything from ice cream, to strawberry shortcake, to cheesecake, to waffles, to your naked spoon. I really love that the strawberries are not mushy. They remain firm yet tender. The fresh lemon juice adds the perfect brightness, so don’t skip it.

Stay tuned for my post later this week which will use this Fresh Strawberry Topping. It involves pancakes but is not what you think…any guesses? (Update! Here’s the recipe for this Deep Dish Buttermilk Pancake!)

You can chop the strawberries to whatever size you want.

Grab some jam. I used seedless. Any type will do.

Cook it up for just a couple minutes and then pour it over your strawberries.

And it will get nice and syrupy.  Mm-mm.

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Fresh Strawberry Topping

5 from 7 votes

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 3 mins

Resting Time: 30 mins

Total: 38 mins

Servings: 6 Servings

This Fresh Strawberry Topping will replace whatever strawberry sauce you used to use! The strawberries themselves are not cooked, thereby maintaining all the glory of a fresh strawberry, but with all the drippy goodness of a sauce. Top your pancakes, cheesecake, ice cream, you can't go wrong! I love to use it as a Strawberry Shortcake topping!

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 & 1/4 pounds strawberries, 4 cups
• ▢ 1/4 cup sugar
• ▢ pinch salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup strawberry jam, I used Smuckers
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh

Instructions

• Hull the strawberries and slice or chop them (however big or small you want). Add them to a medium bowl and toss them with 1/4 cup sugar and a dash or two of salt. Stir together, then set aside for 30 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, heat the strawberry jam over medium heat for abut 3 minutes, until no longer foamy.
• Add the jam and the lemon juice to the strawberries and stir together. Let the mixture cool for about an hour. It will thicken as it cools. Serve room temperature or chilled.

Notes

Unfortunately you can't use frozen berries in this recipe. They will end up mushy.

This sauce goes great with pancakes, waffles, french toast, cheesecake, ice cream, shortcake...it also goes great with a spoon and a mouth.

Source: the geniuses at Cook's Illustrated

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 142kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 169mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Vitamin C: 59mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Calories: 142

Keyword: strawberry, Topping

Did you make this? I'd love to see it!Mention @thefoodcharlatan or tag #thefoodcharlatan!