[Recipe] "Summer Lovin'" Strawberry Tiramisu

It's easy to fall in love when you're on vacation.  You're far from home and all the stress and chaos or, alternatively, the humdrum, of normal, everyday life.  It's beautiful and sunny and fresh and new.  And then you meet someone, and you don't overthink anything-- you can't.  This handsome stranger lives hundred, thousands of miles from you, and this wine from a different state, a new country-- it's local here.

Thus starts 50% of all chick flicks.  And then, in those romantic movies, the object of your (brief) affections somehow winds up not being so brief but instead, coincidentally, the older brother/cousin/best friend of someone you've known forever, or they have always been meaning to move to the U.S. and away from Italy or Chicago.  Or wherever.

In real life, though, you leave your summer romance, your Roman Holiday, exactly where you found it.  And you know you'll always have Paris, but it's just not where you belong.

Soundtrack: Summer Nights (Grease)

Summer lovin', had me a blast, oh yeah
Summer lovin' happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
Met a boy cute as can be

Summer days drifting away
To, uh oh, those summer night

"Summer Lovin'" Strawberry Tiramisu
A recipe by Giada De Laurentiis 

Regular readers of my blog/followers of my Facebook or Instagram feed have likely figured out my not-so-secret secret: I'm very much into strawberries.  They are such a lovely summer fruit and yet easy to work with in baking (as opposed to, for example, watermelon, another summer love of mine that is somewhat more difficult to incorporate into delicious goodies-- although perhaps that should be my next challenge... ).   This strawberry tiramisu was a very popular, refreshing ending to the Sunday Supper summer run.

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups strawberry preserves
1/3 cup, plus 4 tablespoons of Grand Marnier or Cointreau (or another orange liqueur)
1/3 cup orange juice
1 pound mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1-1/3 cups chilled whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
52 (approximately) crisp ladyfingers (Boudoirs or Savoiardi)
1-1/2 pounds strawberries, divided

Directions
1.  Whisk preserves, 1/3 cup Grand Marnier, and orange juice in a 2-cup measuring cup.

2.  Place the mascarpone cheese and 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier in a large bowl; fold just to blend.
3.  Using an electric mixer, beat the cream, sugar, vanilla, and remaining 2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier in another large bowl to soft peaks.

4.  Stir 1/4 of whipped cream mixture into mascarpone mixture to lighten.  Fold in remaining whipped cream.
5.  Hull and slice half of the strawberries.  Spread 1/2 cup of the preserve mixture over the bottom of a 3-quart oblong serving dish or a 13x9 glass baking dish or baking pan.  Arrange enough ladyfingers over the strawberry mixture to cover the bottom of the dish.  Spoon 3/4 cup of the preserve mixture over the ladyfingers, then spread 2-1/2 cups of the mascarpone mixture over it.  Arrange 2 cups of the sliced strawberries over the mascarpone mixture.

 

6.  Repeat layering with remaining ladyfingers, preserve mixture, and mascarpone mixture.  Cover with plastic and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

7.  Slice remaining strawberries.  Arrange over tiramisu and serve.

[Recipe] "Summer's Kiss Goodbye" Strawberry Nutella Muffins

I love autumn.  This, dear reader, you know.  I love the colors and tastes of fall-- so warm, inviting, and bright but muted.  I love my fall wardrobe—sweaters and leggings and peacoats, at once slouchy and sleek and sexy and oh-so-comfortable and chic.  I love the crispness of the air in fall, so crisp and brisk it has its own scent but not yet so cold as to have bite.  Autumn, to me, is sugar and spice, warmth and family.

Autumn makes me wax poetic.

But all this is not to say that there aren't things I love about summer equally as well.  Top of that list are sundresses, sandals, and summer fruits.  Like strawberries.

Growing up, my mother had a beautiful garden, but it consisted almost exclusively of flowers.  The only type of fruit she grew was strawberries.  They were inevitably tiny and carried off by my neighborhood's resident rabbits, but they always signaled the beginning of summer to me, and all during the hottest months of the year, I'd eat strawberries with fresh cream, white sugar (so simple, so delicious), and strawberry shortcake.  Summer strawberries are sweet romance to me, gorgeous and juicy and red, the fruit of simultaneous innocence and seduction.

When this recipe, courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod, popped up on my Facebook newsfeed, I just knew I had to make it.  I can't think of a better way to kiss summer goodbye than with strawberries and nutella in breakfast pastry form :)

"Summer's Kiss Goodbye" Strawberry Nutella Muffins

a recipe by Two Peas and Their Pod

There's something ephemeral about summer and in particular summer romance.  Both are bright and beautiful but also, in a way, delicate.  I'm not sure why this is, except that maybe everything seems bright and beautiful in the summer, before they wilt or fade in the autumn and winter cold.  But their somewhat doomed, delicate nature makes them no less beautiful, and they should be embraced—if only for a little while (and if only in the form of this muffin).

My sweetest summer romance was tall, dark, and sensitive, with a musician's voice, a philosopher's soul, and blue eyes that could pierce through all my defenses and lay all my secrets bare.  He was going one way, and I was going another, and we were doomed the moment we smiled and said, "Hello."

How about you, dear reader?  Do you have a particularly bittersweet summer romance?

Soundtrack: Jon McLaughlin feat. Sara Bareilles - Summer Is Over

Autumn never seemed this cold before

Here I am sleeping on the floor

We changed just like the leaves

Outside my house

And my phone lay silent by the couch

I remember June

Back when I met you

And your eyes were green

And we were, too

But summer is over

We were tangled in the morning sun

Felt you getting colder

And we knew that we would come undone

And it's back to my town, back to your life

Gray skies are blowing a kiss goodbye to the lovers

'Cause summer is over...

Yield: 10 muffins

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

1/3 cup Nutella

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top of muffins

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.  Set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

3.  In a small bowl, combine the canola oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Use a fork or whisk and mix until well combined.

4.  Incorporate the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.  Add slowly and gently stir-- but don't over-mix.  The batter will be thick.  Carefully fold in the strawberries.

5.  Fill each muffin cup half-way with batter.  Next, add a small spoonful of Nutella to each muffin cup.  Cover the Nutella filling with the remaining batter.  Sprinkle each muffin with Turbinado sugar.

6.  Bake the muffins for 17-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.