Sweet Strawberries

Last night we made what instantly became our new favorite summer sweet! At the suggestion from a loyal Make It Happen Monday reader, we whipped up these stuffed strawberries for dessert. Read on for the simple directions! 

Ingredients: 
-2 baskets of Strawberries (we used about 25)
-1 (8 ounce) package of softened cream cheese
-1/2 cup confectioners powdered sugar
-2 table spoons orange-flavored liqueur (we used Grand Marnier)

Cut off the stems of the strawberries and place them pointing up. Make a cut 3/4 of the way down, starting from the tip of the strawberry. 

Next, beat cream cheese, sugar and liqueur together until smooth. 

Pipe the mixture into the strawberries. We used an electric cookie dough press with a special tip for frosting. This made the piping process so quick and easy, and meant we could avoid a piping bags, which due to an unsteady hand and sticky mess, are the bain of my baking existence! 

If you have an orange on hand, using orange zest as a garnish is both pretty and yummy!

In about 30 minutes, our stuffed strawberries were ready to eat. The strawberries themselves were sweet and juicy, and the filling was light and soft like creamy frosting with a kick of orange liqueur. We were SO impressed! After taste testing more than a few stuffed strawberries each, the Girls Team decided these treats will need to be a staple around the house this summer! 

These strawberries will compliment our other favorite fresh fruit dessert very well...chocolate covered blueberries! We made these last night too because they are the definition of deliciously easy! Melt chocolate on the stove in a double boiler, group blueberries together on a tray covered with wax paper, coat blueberries in chocolate, refrigerate overnight and then enjoy the next day :)

What's better than sweet fruit and chocolate on a warm summer-like night in May? Nothing that the Girls Team can think of :)