Celebrate fresh spring strawberries by whipping up a quick batch of Fresh Strawberry Topping. Then, elevate Classic Cheesecake, turn your favorite poundcake into strawberry shortcake, or transform boring yogurt into a drool-worthy parfait! Yum!
What Makes Fresh Strawberry Topping Special?
Strawberry toppings are typically cooked to create a thick, syrupy sauce for drenching over desserts. Turns out the same thickened sauce can be achieved without cooking the berries. Don’t misunderstand – cooked berries are amazing! But when spring rolls around, capture all of what makes fresh, ripe berries a true delicacy without sacrificing the thick juices of cooked fruit toppings. And save the delectable cooked-berry recipes for times of year when delicious berries come from the freezer.
Fresh Strawberry Topping preserves the fresh-picked beauty and texture of strawberries by cooking only the strawberry juice. The sweetened juice transforms into thickened strawberry syrup and reunites with chopped fresh berries to create a springtime sensation.
Just add sugar to chopped fresh berries and wait for the mixture to create sweet, red juice. Strain the juice from the berries and set the berries aside to maintain their bright color and fresh texture. Cook the juice with a small bit of cornstarch until the desired thickness is reached. When the sauce is cool (so as not to cook the berries), stir in the reserved berries.
And enjoy over your favorite treat or straight from the spoon!
Fresh Strawberry Topping
Ingredients
- 2 cups chopped, fresh strawberries
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Instructions
- Pour sugar over strawberries in a medium sized bowl and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or even overnight.
- Place a small pot underneath a strainer and pour the strawberries with juice into the strainer.
- Remove about 3 tablespoons of the juice and place in a very small bowl or cup. Add cornstarch and stir until smooth to create a slurry. Add slurry back into strawberry juices.
- Cook strawberry juice over medium to high heat until juice thickens. Remove from heat and cool. Add strawberries back into cooled juice and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until served.
