Tuesday, June 25, 2013

2 Ingredient Strawberry Syrup for Ice Cream, Pound Cake, Pancakes from Cleo Coyle


Got over-ripe strawberries in your fridge? 
"Waste not!" I say. Turn that uber-ripe
fruit into a delectable fruit syrup.

Sweet, homemade strawberry syrup isn't only delicious drizzled over ice cream. It's also spectacular over fruit-topped French toast and waffles. You can enjoy it over a slice of pound cake, angel food cake, or warm short cakes topped with strawberry slices and whipped cream for a classic strawberry shortcake dessert.

Cleo Coyle, stretcher of
$$ dollars and pincher
of pennies, is author of The
Coffeehouse Mysteries




All things considered, this simple recipe is truly amazing: Two ingredients, a few easy steps, and you have liquid strawberry candy. 

And isn't this a much prettier end to spoiling fruit than the trash bin?


Eat (leftovers) with joy!
~ Cleo 


To download this recipe in a PDF document that you can print, save, or share, click here





Strawberry 
Syrup 

Ingredients:
2 pints ripe strawberries (pictured above)
1 cup sugar

Yields: 1-1/2 cups syrup


Step 1 - Prep the strawberries: Hull, wash, and lightly drain the berries but do not dry. Slice the wet berries into a bowl and toss with ½ cup of the sugar. Cover bowl loosely with a paper towel and let stand for 30 minutes to an hour, allowing liquids to accumulate at the bottom of the bowl.


Step 2 - Cook the Strawberries: Pour the entire contents of the bowl (berries and all excess liquid) into a saucepan. Bring mixture to a full boil. Turn heat down a bit and simmer for about eight to ten minutes. You want the fruit to cook down, collapse, soften and give up its liquid.


I wish the Internet had a SMELL THIS hot button option 
so I could tell you to click here and enjoy! 
The aroma of the strawberries cooking is intoxicating. 
And that incredible scent is perfectly captured 
in the taste of the finished syrup.

Step 3 - Strain the Strawberries: Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Pour contents of saucepan into the sieve and catch all the delicious liquid in the bowl. Use the back of a large spoon to press and squeeze the cooked fruit. Come on, tap into your inner serial killer! (Bwa-ha-haa!)

When you’ve squeezed as much blood-red liquid as you can out of the fruit, discard the pulpy remains that are left in the sieve.



Step 4 - Heat Once More: Return the gorgeous ruby liquid in the bowl back to the saucepan. Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn heat down a bit to simmer and stir for 5 to 10 minutes. You are looking for the sugar to dissolve and the sauce to darken and thicken. Remove from heat and cool. Strain once more if you like.

While still warm, the finished strawberry syrup
should be pourable but thick enough to coat a spoon.



After chilling overnight, the strawberry syrup will thicken even more.
If you prefer a thinner consistency for pouring over pancakes
or ice cream, simply place a portion in a bowl and whisk in a little water
until the syrup is as thin or thick as you want it for your purposes.
(Store your finished syrup in an airtight container in the fridge.)

Serve over ice cream. Or try it over pancakes, fruit-piled french toast, or waffles. Drizzle it over pound cake, angel food, or short cakes. Include fresh strawberries and whipped cream and you’ve got a beautiful, colorful summer treat. To store, allow syrup to come to room temperature and place in an airtight container in the refrigerator and...


Eat with (summer) joy!
~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries


Yes, this is me, Cleo (aka Alice). 
Friend me on facebook here.
Follow me on twitter here
Visit my online coffeehouse here.







To view the
Coffeehouse Mystery
book trailer, click here.
 






The Coffeehouse Mysteries are bestselling
works of amateur sleuth fiction set in a landmark
Greenwich Village coffeehouse, and each of the
12 titles includes the added bonus of recipes. 
To learn more, click here. 

 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure


Book #1 of 

The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries
, which Cleo writes
under the name
Alice Kimberly

To learn more, click here.


11 comments:

  1. I wanted to jump head first into that top picture! Now I have to go find strawberries, if they haven't all shriveled up in our current heat wave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jumping head first into ice cream is my ideal heat wave solution, too. Cheers, Sheila, and enjoy the sunshine (with sun screen, of course. :))

      ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
      Cleo Coyle on Twitter

      Delete
  2. oh my Cleo, that looks so refreshing. I wonder how long it keeps, either in refrigerator or freezer? Imagine what it would taste like in the dead of winter??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll bet it would freeze well, Lucy/Roberta, great idea. On the storage, my guess is that it would keep well for about two weeks. (Marc and I go through a batch in about that time, and it's been good to the end, so it may even keep longer.) But I do love your idea of freezing some for a little taste of summer on a freezing January day.

      ~ Cleo
      Coffeehouse Mystery.com
      Cleo Coyle on Twitter

      Delete
  3. My heavens, Cleo, the pictures are enough to give me sugar shock, they're so gorgeous! I love strawberry syrup. I make it every season. Yum! But the pictures. I need ice cream for breakfast.!!!

    Daryl / Avery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ice cream for breakfast on a sweltering summer day sounds good to me, too! Thx for dropping in today, Avery/Daryl, and I'm still counting down to the launch of your new Cookbook Nook series with FINAL SENTENCE. Cheers and have a great week ~

      Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
      Cleo Coyle on Twitter

      Delete
    2. Ice cream for breakfast sounds like a spectacularly cool way to start any sweltering summer day, Avery/Daryl. Stay cool and thanks for dropping by today!

      ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
      Cleo Coyle on Twitter

      Delete
  4. So simple and so sublime!
    How about using it to make homemade strawberry soda? Seltzer and syrup.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brilliant!!! Must try the strawberry soda idea. Applying palm to forehead for not having done it yet...Cheers and thanks, Libby, it's always a pleasure to see you in our Kitchen.

      ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
      Cleo Coyle on Twitter

      Delete
  5. Well! Let me just say that this is one of the cruelest things you have ever posted. Now I want, no, I *must have* vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce! Here's the important question -- exactly who was the lucky person who got to eat the ice cream in the pictures?
    ; )


    ~Krista

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely, Cleo! We are just entering strawberry season and I always buy too many. No worries with this!

    ReplyDelete