| Recipe: |
Made with just a few ingredients presented beautifully, berries and cream is the perfect cap to a summer meal. If you keep vanilla bean paste on hand, this would be an excellent way to use it: Substitute an equal amount of vanilla bean paste for the extract. If you’re feeling up to it, you can whip the cream by hand, but you can also use an electric mixer. The berries and cream can be assembled up to four hours in advance, covered and stored in the refrigerator. But for the best appearance, wait until just before serving to add the final layer of berries on top.
3-4 cups fresh mixed fruit that likes to play with cream (any combination of raspberries, blueberries, sliced strawberries, bing cherries, peaches/nectarines...)
1-3 T granulated sugar (I used toasted sugar) plus more if needed
1.5 t vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
up to 1/2 t almond extract - optional - add if you're using fruits that pair well with it (cherries, peaches/nectarines...)
3/4 c heavy cream
3/4 c full-fat yogurt - I used Greek yogurt without even *thinking* because that's really all I buy; it was delicious, though perhaps I wasn't able to incorporate as much air as I might have with regular (unstrained) whole milk yogurt
1/3 c toasted slivered almonds or other nuts if your fruit wants them
If your fruit is beautifully ripe & juicy, it needs nothing more than to be cut into bite-sized pieces. IF your fruit needs a little encouragement...
put it in a medium bowl with up to 2 T sugar. Stir gently to combine. Let the fruit macerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours, until juicy.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the heavy cream, yogurt, 1 T sugar, 1.5 t vanilla, and almond extract (if using) until soft peaks form, 7 to 8 minutes. I used a whisk attachment on my hand mixer - I don't know if it was the electricity or the Greek yogurt, but I got it to the point I didn't want to go further (i.e was concerned I might tip over into butter instead of whipped cream) at about 2 minutes.
You may assemble the berries and cream and serve immediately, or assemble & cover/store up to 4 hours in the refrigerator. If you store the berries and cream separately, cover and refrigerate up to 8 hours.
Makes about 4 servings, so assemble 4 individual-sized clear serving glasses (or teacups or ramekins or...). Yossy Arefi (the original author) suggests: To assemble, spoon a large dollop of yogurt cream into each glass; top each with about ¾ cup of berries (with their syrup, as desired), then spoon the remaining cream evenly over the top of the berries. Top each glass with the remaining berries and serve immediately. But you should construct however your heart desires (ending with nuts if the fruit asks nicely :-). |
