shortcake Archives - Wood & Spoon

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

My kids came in as I was finishing up these strawberry shortcake popsicles, and they were astonished. “What are those, Mama?!?” Sure, the sight of a creamy pink popsicle would be a wonder to anyone, but to two kids who have never experienced the full glory of an ice cream truck and all the novelties it contains, these might as well have been magic. For me, these frozen treats are pure nostalgia, hanging out in my heart somewhere between a box of Dunkeroos and a bowl of Kraft Macaroni, and if your summers were spent anything like mine, I’m sure you may love these too. Let’s dive in.

How to Make Homemade Popsicles

To make these strawberry shortcake popsicles, we start by briefly cooking our berries. Sliced strawberries, water, and a little sugar cook in a small saucepan until the mixture heats and the berries start to break down. Gently smash the contents of your pan with the back of a fork to release the juice. Once smooth, remove the mixture to cool briefly. The rest of the recipe is as simple as turning on the blender. Add the strawberries and sweetened condensed milk to a blender to bring the two together. Once smooth, add the heavy cream and vanilla, blending just until the mixture thickens slightly. Pour the thick liquid into a prepared popsicle tray and freeze with the sticks inserted until solid.

The crumble here is made of vanilla wafers, freeze-dried strawberries, and melted butter. All three come together in a food processor until it has been reduced to crumbs. Spread the mixture out into a flat pan or plate and begin removing the popsicles from the molds. I find it’s best to work with the crumble when the popsicles are fresh from the mold, but you can do whatever works best for you. Refreeze the pops in the freezer just until solid and then enjoy! Once frozen, you can wrap in parchment and foil to save for a rainy day, but I’m not sure they’ll last that long. These strawberry shortcake popsicles are perfect this time of year for sure!

With Fourth of July just around the corner, I hope you’ll enjoy cooling off with these yummy strawberry shortcake popsicles. If you give them a try, let me know what you think! Happy Tuesday and Happy Baking!

If you like these strawberry shortcake popsicles you should try:

Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Popsicles
Rosé Popsicles
Champagne Cocktail Popsicles
No-Churn Strawberry Pretzel Pie Ice Cream
Jamocha Popsicles

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

Print Recipe

These strawberry shortcake popsicles are creamy pops made with fresh fruit and coated with a strawberry cookie crumble!

Author: Kate Wood (adapted from Erin McDowell)
Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 5
Total Time: 8 hours
Yield: 10 Popsicles
Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the popsicles:

2 cups fresh or frozen sliced strawberries
1 tablespoon water
1–1/2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crumble:

2 cups vanilla wafers
1 ounces freeze-dried strawberries
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3–4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

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Instructions

Combine the sliced strawberries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, gently mashing the softened berries occasionally, until the mixture softens and begins to bubble, about 4- 8 minutes (depending on if you use fresh or frozen berries.)
Spoon the mixture into a food processor or blender and allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes. Puree just until smooth. Add in the condensed milk, heavy cream, and vanilla and blend for another minute until the mixture has thickened slightly. Pour the thickened mixture into prepared popsicle molds, add the popsicle sticks, and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours but preferable overnight.
When ready to finish your popsicles, process the freeze-dried strawberries, vanilla wafers, salt, and sugar until they have been reduced to a crumble. Pulse in 3 tablespoons of the melted butter, adding more as needed to make a moist, sandy mixture. Dump the crumbles into a small rimmed dish. Release the popsicles from their molds one by one. I like the fill a glass with hot water and place the unmolded popsicles into it to melt around the edge slightly before gently releasing. Place each one in the freezer on a sheet pan lined with wax paper while you work on getting the popsicles out. Then, coat the popsicles in your crumble mixture and place back on the sheet pan to re-freeze for about 20 minutes. I like to coat the pops when they’re fresh from the mold as the softened edges hold onto the crumble best. Enjoy fresh from the freezer!

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream (No-Churn!)

6 Comments / Frozen Desserts

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream by Wood and Spoon. This is a no-churn ice cream with a strawberry sauce and bits of cake throughout. The no churn base has a bit of cream cheese to enhance the flavor and the strawberry sauce is a quick stovetop drizzle with a jam consistency. Learn more about the how to make ice cream at home without an ice cream machine and what to use leftover cake scraps for with this recipe on thewoodandspoon.com by Kate Wood

There’s going to be a few haters out there- I can hear the protests now. “ICE CREAM? IN APRIL? Are we even out of winter yet?” Look, I get it. We’ve had some crummy weather, and the opportunities for ice cream desserts are few here too, but how about we all just snuggle up in some warm clothes, throw on a Jimmy Buffet record, and pretend it’s a warm summer day so that we can enjoy this strawberry shortcake ice cream? Deal? Cool, because I’m positively starving.

No-churn ice creams like this strawberry shortcake ice cream are absolutely one of my favorite things to whip up. I love being able to use everyday kitchen appliances in lieu of the bulky occasional ones that I hide in the back of my pantry. With little more than a hand mixer you can have homemade frozen treats, and no-churn ice creams are so easy that I’ve basically given up making any other varieties.

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

This strawberry shortcake ice cream is conveniently timed, because the mini layer cake recipe I shared a few weeks ago will leave you with an extra bit of cake scraps to work with. While developing that recipe, I couldn’t stand to throw away those delicious little crumbs and decided a cake-loaded ice cream was just the ticket. After a bit of testing, I found this recipe to be as simple as it was delicious and I am thrilled to be sharing it with you today!

If you aren’t planning to make the mini layer cakes anytime soon you can also use leftover sweet biscuits, cake doughnuts, or those cute little strawberry shortcake shells. Anything soft and sweet that you can crumble will be great. I opted to soak the cake in a little milk and simple syrup too to make those bites of cake even more flavorful, but if your cake is super moist you can skip this. As the late Biggie Smalls used to say: More Flavor, More Better.

Give this strawberry shortcake ice cream a try and let me know what you think! I’ve slowly been chipping away at the freezer-full of it I have in my own home for the past month, and I am not mad about it. I feel like we need a bite of happiness, and this is definitely the ticket. I hope you all are well, safe, and finding contentment even in these days. All my love to you!

If you like this strawberry shortcake ice cream you should try:

Rhubarb Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake Macarons
Mini Victoria Cakes
Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Popsicles
Strawberry Almond Skillet Cake

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream (No-Churn!)

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

This strawberry shortcake ice cream is a no-churn treat with strawberry sauce and bits of cake throughout!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 15
Total Time: 360
Yield: 1 Quart
Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Sauce:

2 cups (300 gm) halved strawberries
1/3 cup (70) sugar
Pinch of salt

For the cake:

1 cup (240 gm) whole milk
2 tablespoons simple syrup
2 cups cake crumbles (I used leftover white cake that I crumbled into dime-sized clumps but you could also use leftover sweet biscuits, vanilla dessert shells, or vanilla pound cake)

For the Ice Cream:

3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
14-ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 cups (480 gm) heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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Instructions

To prepare the strawberry sauce:

Combine the strawberries, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stir regularly bringing to a simmer and begin to smash the berries with a potato masher of the backs of forks. Continue cooking to break down the berries and thicken slightly, about 5-6 minutes. Pour into a heat-safe bowl and place in the fridge to cool completely.

To prepare the cake:

Combine the milk and simple syrup in a medium-sized bowl. Toss in the cake and allow it to soak up the mixture. Set aside while you prep your ice cream.

To prepare the ice cream:

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk just until smooth. Add in the whipping cream and vanilla extract and, using the beaters of a hand mixer or the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, whip the mixture until it thickens to the consistency of medium-stiff whipped cream. Fold in the cake crumbles and begin layering the mixture your freezer-safe container (I like to use a metal loaf pan!), alternating with swirls of the strawberry sauce. Once combined, place in the fridge to freezer completely, about 6 hours. Allow to sit out for 5 minutes prior to scooping and enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake Macarons and a Mother’s Day Gift Guide

14 Comments / Cookies and Bars

Strawberry Shortcake Macarons and Mother's Day gift guide by wood and spoon. These are simple homemade macarons filled with whipped cream, strawberry jam, and fresh fruit. These taste like a shortcake in cookie form. Gifts for mom's on your list including cookbook, jewelry, beauty and home supplies, and more. Read all about these fancy spring desserts and learn how to make them on thewoodandspoon.com

We’re a few days shy of Mother’s Day, so I figured I’d hit you with a quick and dirty gift guide for the Mamas we love. Some of these item’s can be rush shipped to make it to your Mom in time while others will require a raincheck, but either way they’re all gifts she will LOVE. Take a peek and stick around for the strawberry shortcake macarons that we’re going to dive into after!

Artifact Uprising Color Series Book. There’s not a Mom on planet Earth that won’t boohoo her eyes out at a well-made photo book filled with memories of her kids or grandkids. These new books from Artifiact Uprising start at a low price and come with a variety of colored covers to suit Mom’s preferences. You can even upload photos straight from social media. So simple.
Personalized Tumblers. For our anniversary, I gave Brett a Yeti mug featuring a photo of my face and the words “Brett’s Favorite Mug.” The arrows pointing from the words to my face made for a laughable yet memorable gift that has actually turned out to be really useful. While my mug was made by a friend, I’ve linked above a site that will personalize a variety of tumblers for anyone.
Icing on the Cake Cookbook. My sweet blog friend Tessa Huff recently published this new book. Filled with tips, how-to’s, and loads of recipes, this cookbook is a great resource for the baking moms you love. Spoiler Alert: the strawberry shortcake macarons I’m sharing today are adapted from her base recipe!
Voluspa Candles. These are my favorite candles to gift. The jars and tins are beautiful and they come in a variety of delicious scents. My favorite is Baltic Amber, but peek around to find one your Mom will love!
Kate Spade Recipe Box. This is maybe the cutest recipe box I’ve ever seen. How about you bake your Mom some treats from my site, print off the recipe, and stick it in her brand new recipe box? PERFECT IDEA!
Follain Everything Soap. This is a great soap for just about everything. Hands, dishes, pets, kids, the works. It’s vegan, organic, and comes in a lavender lemongrass scent that is divine.
Cookie Fix Cookies. If you’re from Alabama, these cookies need no introduction. These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever had, and now you can buy and ship cookie tins or frozen packs of their dough. Both are excellent and totally worth splurging on.
Duraclear Glassware. Brett and I registered for scads of this Duraclear glassware when we were married. It look like glass to the naked eye but is, in fact, plastic! The glasses come in a variety of shapes and styles and they’ve even got some beautiful colored glasses that would be super fun for summer.
Vrai & Oro Studs. Diamonds are a Mom’s best friend, right? I am in love with these emerald cut diamond earrings right now, and I can totally recommend this brand if you’re working with a budget for your Mom. If precious stones are a little out of reach, check out their more affordable rings, gold studs, and necklaces. I’ve had these line earrings for a few years, and I still adore them 100%.
Eberjey Floral PJ Set. Can we agree that PJs are a great gift no matter what? Unless your mom sleeps in the buff (weirder things have happened) she definitely requires some nighttime clothing to cozy up to. These pajamas are super soft and come in a floral pattern that feels both young and classic all at the time same.

Ok, let’s talk these strawberry shortcake macarons. Aren’t they adorable? I’ve had the idea for these treats for some time now, but it took Tessa’s helpful hints in her new book to work up the nerve to make them. With her help, I was able to nail these macs on the first try. They’re delicious, incredibly special, and maybe just the thing that will make your Mom feel like a million bucks this year.

So what makes up these strawberry shortcake macarons? First, we have plain vanilla macaron shells, baked until crisp and domed. Inside of each macaron pair is a stable vanilla bean whipped cream, a bit of strawberry jam, and a single thin slice of strawberry. Each element plays a vital role in these strawberry shortcake macarons and are all totally worth the effort.

If you need more help with macarons, be sure to check out Tessa’s book. Her tips for troubleshooting were incredibly helpful and gave me the opportunity to land ones I was proud of the first time around. If you’re a little unsure about whipping egg whites, you can reference my How-To guide that I posted last month. Whatever you do, be sure to make a batch of these ASAP.

Happy Mother’s Day to any Mamas who may be reading this. I hope you have someone waiting to love on and celebrate you well. Happy Baking!

If you like these strawberry shortcake macarons you should check out:

Strawberry Shortcakes

Rhubarb Shortcakes

Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Popsicles

Strawberry Almond Skillet Cake

Lemon Lavender Cookies

Strawberry Shortcake Macarons

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

These vanilla macarons are filled with a whipped cream, strawberry jam, and a thin slice of strawberry to make a strawberry shortcake macaron!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 45
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 120
Yield: 26
Category: Cookies

Ingredients

For the macaron shells (recipe from Tessa Huff):

1–1/4 cups plus 1-1/2 tablespoons (158 gm) almond flour
1–1/4 cups (158 gm) powdered sugar
105 gm egg whites (from 3 or 4 eggs)
½ cup plus 1-1/2 tablespoons (117 gm) granulated sugar

For the filling:

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180 gm) heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup strawberry jam
1 cup fresh strawberries

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Instructions

To prepare the macarons:

Line two of three baking sheets with parchment paper templates or silicone baking mats set over the templates and fit a large piping bag with a plain round tip.
In a food processor, combine the almond flour and confectioner’s sugar and process the mixture for 1-2 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the bowl, until the almond flour is finely ground. Sift the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Discard any large chunks left in the sieve or grind again until fine.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with a whisk attachment (make sure both are clean and grease-free!), whisk the egg whites on low speed until they begin to foam, form small tight bubbles, and turn opaque. Over the course of a couple of minutes, very gradually increase the speed to medium while slowly adding the granulated sugar. Mix on medium-high until stiff peaks form.
Using a flexible rubber spatula, scrape the meringue off the whisk attachment into the bowl with the almond mixture. Begin folding the meringue and almond mixture together, five to ten folds. Scrape in the meringue from the mixer bowl and continue to fold the mixture until incorporated, rotating the bowl as your go. Every so often, gently deflate the meringue by smearing the batter around the side of the bowl. Stop folding once the correct consistency is achieved: the batter should flow very slowly like lava.
Fill the prepared piping bag with the macaron batter. Holding the bag straight down, pipe the macarons. Once one baking sheet is full, tap the bottom of the sheet a few times in each corner with the palm of your hang. Set aside and repeat with the remaining prepared baking sheet(s). Set the piped macaron shells aside to rest for 20 to 40 minutes, until a skin forms over the shells and the tops feel dry to the touch.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with a rack in the center position.
Bake the macaron shells once sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, until the tops feel secured to the feet but wiggle very slightly when nudged.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Let the macaron shells cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes. Repeat to bake and cool the remaining shells.

To prepare the filling and finish the macarons:

When ready to fill the macaron shells, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly stream in the heavy cream, scraping the bowl every so often, and then continue mixing until the mixture thickens to a stiff consistency. Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I use a Wilton 12).
Match each macaron shell with another shell of the same size. Pipe a small round of the cream mixture on one half of each match leaving a small 1/8” border around the shell so the cream doesn’t squish all the way out of the sides. Use a small spoon to place a bit of jam in the center of each piped circle and top with a thin 1/8” slice of strawberry. You can pipe a tiny dot or two of cream on top of the strawberry to help the macaron shell stick to the top. Place the finished macarons in the fridge to firm up prior to eating. I usually let them sit for at least 30 minutes but up to a few hours. Remove from the fridge about 20 minutes prior to enjoying!

Strawberry Shortcake

3 Comments / Breakfast, Cakes

If I ended up on death row and tonight’s dinner was destined to be my last meal, I would you ask you for an over-sized portion of my mom’s baked spaghetti. It’s nothing fancy, really- diced onion, ground beef, and canned tomato sauce, baked together with cooked spaghetti noodles under a blanket of shredded mozzarella and parmesan- but to me, no baked spaghetti could ever taste as good to me as hers. Other contenders for my last meal just may include something similar to today’s recipe: strawberry shortcake .

Food Memories

One of the first foods I can remember learning to make is biscuits. Growing up, my Mimi would prepare her famous chicken and dumplings. I would watch her cut the fat into the the flour, rolling out the dough to cut our rounds. Mimi’s take on chicken and dumplings included baking the biscuits in the oven and smothering them with the chicken and thickened sauce. If we were lucky, she would prepare extra biscuits and these would become the foundation pieces for a dessert of strawberry shortcake. We would macerate berries in sugar and make a generous bowl of whipped cream to dollop over the sweet berries and warm biscuits. The words “strawberry shortcake” will always be synonymous with Mimi and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And isn’t that the one of the coolest things about food? Food can take you somewhere- to a place, to a time, to a feeling. Just the smell of certain foods make me feel like I’m a kid again, or on a first date, or fanning the kitchen after scorching something on the bottom of the oven. Foods jar memories, emotions, and a range of other things because those moments become apart of us. Baked spaghetti and strawberry shortcake, to me, is more than just a meal- it’s a memory of home.

I want to create moments like that with my kids. I want them to grow up and say their version of some food was better because it was apart of their memories… because eating that food was like sharing a meal with their mom again.

Strawberry Shortcake

Okay, I swear I’m not crying over here. (Read: I am.) We should move on. Let’s get to the good stuff. The nitty gritty. Let’s talk strawberry shortcake.

roasted strawberry shortcake with honey whipped cream I started with my Mimi’s biscuit recipe and modified it to make a sweeter, more scone-like shortcake. The end result features roasted strawberries and realllly good honey whipped cream. Roasting the strawberries intensifies their strawberry-ness, making an otherwise ordinary dessert something to talk about. And the honey whipped cream? Well, let’s just say I’m putting this bad boy on everything now.

If I were you, I’d double the batch of shortcakes and plan on eating those little nuggets for breakfast all week long. Monday could be butter and honey, Tuesday could be fresh preserves and left over honey whipped cream, Wednesday could be hazelnut spread and marshmallow fluff… the possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that with summer just around the corner and fresh berries on the verge of taking over your grocery store, you NEED a strawberry shortcake recipe that is for the books. Done and done.

Strawberry Shortcake

Print Recipe

This strawberry shortcake recipe features roasted strawberries and really, realllly good honey whipped cream.

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 60
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 10

Ingredients

For the shortcakes

2 cups flour
1–1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
1 cup whipping cream

For the roasted strawberries

2 pounds of strawberries, stemmed, hulled- cut large berries in half and leave petite ones whole
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the honey whipped cream

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sugar
1–1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

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Instructions

To prepare the shortcakes

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Using a pastry cutter or the back of a fork, cut in the butter until well combined and with pea-sized clumps uniformly throughout.
Add the cream, stirring until a soft, shaggy dough is formed.
For rustic shortcakes, use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to portion out 1/4 cup mounds of dough and flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand. For more biscuit-like shortcakes, gently pat dough out on to lightly floured surface until 3/4″ thick. Using a 3″ biscuit cutter, cut out rounds of dough. Lightly brush the remaining cream over the mounts of dough. Sprinkle a little extra sugar on top, if desired.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until shortcakes are golden and cooked throughout. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

To prepare the strawberries

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Toss together the strawberries, sugar, and salt on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes or until juices are released and strawberries are fragrant. Add two tablespoons of water to the berries and juices and stir with a spatula. Allow to cool slightly.

For the honey whipped cream

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until most clumps are smoothed out, about one minute. Add the honey and sugar and beat to combine, about one minute.
Add about 1/4 of the cream and beat just slightly until the cream cheese mixture is thinned out, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining cream and beat until cream is whipped to stiff peaks. Avoid over-beating.

To assemble the shortcakes

Set aside about 1/2 of the strawberries, leaving the juices behind with the other half. Using a potato masher, mash the half of strawberries with the juices remaining until all large bits of strawberry is smooshed. Fold in the other half of intact strawberries.
Slice each shortcake in half, removing the tops. Spoon a generous dollop of whipped cream on top of the bottom.
Spoon a generous helping of strawberries over the cream, saving enough liquid and intact strawberries for the rest of the shortcakes.
Replace the top of the shortcake and enjoy immediately!

shortcake

How to Make Homemade Popsicles

If you like these strawberry shortcake popsicles you should try:

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

Ingredients

For the popsicles:

For the crumble:

Instructions

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

If you like this strawberry shortcake ice cream you should try:

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream (No-Churn!)

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Sauce:

For the cake:

For the Ice Cream:

Instructions

To prepare the strawberry sauce:

To prepare the cake:

To prepare the ice cream:

If you like these strawberry shortcake macarons you should check out:

Strawberry Shortcake Macarons

Ingredients

For the macaron shells (recipe from Tessa Huff):

For the filling:

Instructions

To prepare the macarons:

To prepare the filling and finish the macarons:

Food Memories

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

For the shortcakes

For the roasted strawberries

For the honey whipped cream

Instructions

To prepare the shortcakes

To prepare the strawberries

For the honey whipped cream

To assemble the shortcakes

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