Strawberry Shortbread

Strawberry Shorbread

Not your traditional strawberry shortcake!  This creamy layered dessert is based on a rich shortbread crust.

Yummy Strawberries

Love strawberry shortcake, strawberry cheesecake and shortbread?  You’ll love this dessert!

Several of us content creators for a major culinary website were approached to develop a strawberry shortcake-like dessert for a leading berry producer.  I was up to this challenge because I just love strawberries.

Honestly, I’m not much into strawberry shortcake though, but I do love strawberry cheesecake, so I based my dessert off that.  And keeping with the “shortcake,” I decided to make a layered strawberries and cream dessert with a rich shortbread cookie crust.

Another angle to strawberry shortcake

Yes, the dessert is a little involved to make–there’s steps and a chilling process, but it’s easy to do.  It’s just that there’s no instant gratification for this–waiting is involved!

I caution that it’s a bit messy to cut if you want perfect slices. Just cut with a wet and sharp knife and a offset spatula will help you remove the portions.  But if it does fall apart, why worry?  We’re going for taste here, not beauty!

Enjoy!

The Recipe

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Strawberry Shortbread

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time1 hr

Servings: 9

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup 1 stick butter
• Cream Filling:
• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 3 tbs confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup milk or half and half
• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin
• Strawberry Layer:
• 1 pkg 4-serving size strawberry gelatin
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup cold water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8x8 or 9x9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour and confectioner's sugar; mix well. Cut butter into chunks and add to flour mixture. Cut in butter, as if you were making a pie crust--you can use a pastry blender, 2 knives or your hands. The mixture should look like small peas.
• Press crust into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until crust begins to brown around edges. Remove from oven and cool completely.
• Prepare cream filling: Place cream/milk in a heatproof container. Sprinkle unflavored gelatin on cream/milk. Let sit for 5 minutes to soften.
• Beat cream cheese and confectioner's sugar until well blended.
• Heat cream mixture in microwave until very hot--about 20 seconds. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.
• Beat cream/gelatin mixture into cream cheese mixture. Pour on top of crust. Chill while preparing strawberry topping.
• Strawberry topping: In a small bowl, mix strawberry gelatin with the hot water; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Add cold water. Place bowl in refrigerator and chill until gelatin just begins to mound. It should look like congealed stock.
• Add the sliced strawberries and stir well to distribute. Pour on top of cream cheese layer of dessert. Chill until very firm--about 4 hours.
• When ready to serve, let dessert sit at room temperature about 5-10 minutes. Cut with a wet knife. Serve with whipped cream or whipped topping.
• Serves 9

Strawberry Shortbread

Copyright © Judith Hannemann aka The Midnight Baker 2014. All Rights Reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced without The Midnight Baker’s express consent.

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