First Strawberries!

I consider strawberries the first bliss of the summer produce. We are going to eat ourselves tired of them in the next few weeks, but for that first precious (expensive!) box, what to do?



We ate them on top of Lemon Chiffon Pudding (a cake layer on top of pudding). Glorious.



After Beth gave me that amazing hot fudge sundae cake recipe, I went on a mad search for more like it. I turned up this one in The Christian Home Cookbook; I've written the recipe below to be very efficient and if you are not distracted, you can probably whip it up in the time it takes your oven to preheat.


Lemon Chiffon Pudding

Set a 9x13 pan with an inch-ish of water in it in the oven. Turn on to 375.

Zest and juice one large lemon - set aside.

Put one cup of milk in a liquid measuring cup with some room left over.

Separate 2 eggs, dumping the yolks in on top of the milk. Set aside.

Beat the 2 whites, with a pinch of cream of tartar, until stiff. Set aside.

In a bowl, cream together:
5 Tbs. flour (I use up to 4 Tbs. whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tbs. soft butter

Add and mix:
2 egg yolks
zest and juice of one large lemon
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt

Fold in the egg whites until uniformly combined (true confession: I usually end up stirring). Pour in 8x8 glass baking dish or casserole - set that in the now-warm water in the 9x13 pan in the oven. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Serve warm or cold, garnished with fresh berries or not.