Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

Cook's notes: Savor the flavors of summer with this light dessert. I made my own shortcakes but something from the bakery like sponge cake or pound cake works just as well. It's the filling that's the star attraction.
Strawberry Filling
Ingredients:

• 1 package (10 oz.) frozen halved strawberries in syrup, thawed
• 1/4 cup currant jelly
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3 cups fresh quartered strawberries
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon orange Cointreau (liqueur) 

Directions:

• Drain berries in a glass measuring cup.
• On the stove in a saucepan add drained juice, currant jelly, water, orange juice, and strawberries from the box.
• Add in cornstarch, and whisk to blend.
• On low heat thicken the sauce and add in fresh strawberries as well as drained strawberries.
• Remove pan from the stove and stir in Cointreau.
• Place strawberry mixture in a bowl, cool, cover, and refrigerate until serving.
  

Strawberry Shortcake Kebobs

Cook's notes: The concept is simple and can be tailored in a myriad of ways. Start with a pan of baked and cooled shortcake, pound cake, or angel food cake. Choose a few other kebob-worthy items, such as juicy red strawberries, blueberries, pineapples chunks, etc – the sky is the limit here. Thread the shortcake cubes and fruit onto the skewers, drizzle with vanilla melting wafers and you're all done! Easy summer treat. The recipe makes 24.

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes of strawberries
• 1 box of white cake mix 
• 3/4 cup of Greek vanilla yogurt
• 2 egg whites
• 1-1/3 cups of water
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 package of Ghirardelli vanilla melting wafers
• 10-inch skewers

Directions:

• Combine the cake mix, Greek yogurt, egg whites, extract, and water in a bowl.
• Mix until smooth and pour into a greased 9 x 13 cake pan.
• Bake at 350 for 18- 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean or according to directions on the box.
• Rinse and cut stems off of strawberries.
• Cut cooled shortcake into 2-inch cubes. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes to make them easier to thread on skewers. 
• Take a skewer and alternate the strawberries and shortcake cubes. (I like to do three or four of each per stick).
• In a glass bowl melt vanilla melting wafers according to the manufacturer's directions, stirring every 30 seconds.
• Drizzle over kebobs and place kebobs in the fridge to set until serving.