Tag Archives: strawberry

Strawberry Banana Ice Pops {recipe}

No Bake Desserts, ,

Strawberry Banana Ice Pops | Lil Miss Cakes

As soon as the summertime rolls around I find myself buying way too many strawberries. They look so sweet and delicious that I can’t resist. But sometimes we just can’t finish them all. Instead of freezing the strawberries as is, I thought it would be way more fun to make them into ice pops. This recipe is so quick and simple, no cooking required. It’s just four ingredients to blend and freeze! Most ice pop recipes call for some sort of fruit juice but to keep these really light and refreshing I used coconut water. The flavor of the coconut doesn’t come through at all. I also used pure maple syrup instead of white sugar to sweeten the pops. I like the flavor the maple syrup gives these treats and since it’s liquid, there is no need to cook the sugar to dissolve it. These are so refreshing delicious, I make sure to have them in my freezer all summer long. Check out some more delicious recipes that my friends brought to our virtual BBQ after the recipe.

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Strawberry Banana Ice Pops {recipe}
Author: 
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10 Ice Pops
 
Ingredients
  • 1 lb. strawberries
  • 1 banana
  • ½ cup coconut water
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
Instructions
  1. Trim the green tops off the strawberries.
  2. Place all the ingredients into a blender of food processor. Blend until chunky or longer if you want your ice pops smooth.
  3. Pour into ice pop molds and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.


Strawberry Banana Crumb Cake {recipe}

Cakes,

Strawberry Banana Crumb CakeThis is a very exciting time!  A fun and creative set of Kosher bloggers and I formed a cute little club just about a year ago.  Once a month we like to challenge ourselves and choose one topic to all blog about.  It has been a lot of fun and I have made some great friends in the process!  This month we wanted to celebrate by doing something a little different: a Great Blog Swap!  We were randomly matched with another blog and asked to use a recipe found by a fellow blogger to inspire a new dish.  I was assigned Bizzy Bakes.  She had a lot of dessert recipes for me to dig into, but none of them really inspired me.  I wanted to do something different and fun.  Then I came across this strawberry banana smoothie recipe and the wheels started turning.  I knew I had to make a strawberry banana cake! I’ve never heard of one and it’s weird because strawberries and bananas are a match made in dessert heaven!

Springform Strawberry Banana Crumb CakeI have to admit, this was my second attempt at a strawberry banana dessert.  My first try involved a bundt pan and way too much strawberry jam.  The cake tasted delicious, but looked like a mess and I was not a happy camper.  Instead of trying to perfect a bundt cake, I went more rustic with a round crumb cake baked in a springform pan.  This recipe would also work nicely in classic 9×13 inch cake pan, but I have something against baking in squares and rectangles.  I can never get each piece to be exactly the same size and that bugs me every time.

Strawberry Banana Crumb Cake Slice

I combined a bunch of different recipes to create the perfect crumb cake.  The banana cake layer is moist and dense.  I cut the sugar in the cake because the strawberry pie filling is extremely sweet and cutting back on the sugar in the cake helps to balance out the sweetness.  The crumbs bake up brown and crunchy, a perfect balance to the tender cake. I know I used canned pie filling and if that’s not your thing, make your own filling.  I like to cut corners once in a while.  I can whip this cake up in a pinch as long as I have some pie filling in the cupboard, and it looks absolutely beautiful.  Best of all, my recipe is non-dairy and printable!

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Strawberry Banana Crumb Cake
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16
 
Ingredients
  • 1-21 ounce can strawberry pie filling
Cake
  • ½ cup margarine (I used earth balance buttery sticks)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 overripe bananas
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¾ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
Crumb Topping
  • ¼ cup margarine, melted (I used earth balance buttery sticks)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup flour
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease and flour a 9x3 inch round springform pan.
  3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat margarine and sugar until combined.
  4. Add in the vanilla and the eggs and mix until combined.
  5. Add the bananas and mix until broken down.
  6. Finally add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until incorporated.
  7. Pour into prepared springform pan and spread evenly.
  8. Top with the strawberry pie filling.
  9. Prepare the crumb topping by melting the margarine and mixing it with the sugars, flour, cinnamon, and salt.
  10. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the strawberry layer.
  11. Bake for 55-60 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

This blog swap was super fun, now here’s where you can get in on the action.  We are hosting an amazing giveaway!  We are giving away two prizes from Emile Henry. A Bread Cloche valued at $130 and a 4.2 qt Dutch Oven valued at $170! Use the Rafflecopter below to enter- you can enter up to 23 ways! Two winners will be chosen at random.

Giveaway Prizes

The contest winners will be contacted via email. They will have 48 hours to respond before other winners are chosen. This contest is open to United States residents over the age of 18.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are all the recipes from the other creative blog swap participants; enjoy!


Strawberries Dressed to the Nines

No Bake Desserts, ,

When the weather heats up, the last thing I want to do is heat up my oven and bake.  How do I satisfy my chocolate fix during the hot and humid New York summer?  Chocolate covered strawberries!  Just thinking about red, juicy strawberries enrobed in sweet, velvety chocolate makes my mouth water.

chocolate covered strawberries

I love using long stemmed strawberries but they are not always available.  These are just regular strawberries dipped in melted milk chocolate.  I melted the chocolate using the double boiler method.  If you have never done this, it’s simple!  Fill a pot with an inch or so of water and over low heat bring to a simmer.  Then place a heatproof bowl on top of the pot.  Make sure the bowl is not too small, it shouldn’t fall into the pot, you should be able to remove the bowl easily.  The steam that hits the bottom of the bowl will gently melt the chocolate.  Be careful because the bowl will get hot.  If you want to dress up the classic chocolate dipped strawberry, melt some white chocolate and drizzle it on top once the milk chocolate is set and dry.

White Chocolate Drizzle

Not so confident in your drizzling abilities?  Here is my new favorite idea.  Crush up some pretzels.  First dip the strawberry in chocolate and then immediately in the pretzels. These are ridiculously good!  The sweet and salty combination is divine.

Pretzel Covered Strawberries

If your strawberries are invited to a black tie event you might want to try these.  What is cuter than a strawberry in a tiny tuxedo?

Strawberry Tuxedos

These are a little more difficult to do.  The best strawberries to use are big and flat.  The bigger the better (and easier).  First dip the strawberries in melted white chocolate.

White Chocolate Covered Strawberries

They are delicious just like this!  They can also be drizzled with milk chocolate or dipped in crushed pretzels.  However, if you want them to wear tiny tuxedos, allow them to dry completely.  Then tilt the strawberry to one side and dip it in milk chocolate.  Then do the same for the other side.

Step TwoThe last step is to add the buttons and bow tie.  Fill a pastry bag fitted with a tiny round tip and fill with melted chocolate.  Pipe three buttons and two triangles for a bow tie.

All Dressed Up!

I bet you could use an edible food coloring marker to draw on the buttons and bow tie, but I haven’t tried it.  Let me know if you try it!

PS-What is your favorite no bake dessert?