Orange strawberries + vanilla cream

If you’re looking for a super, super simple un-cooked dessert recipe, you can’t go past the beautiful combination of juicy ripe strawberries macerated in orange and served with freshly whipped vanilla cream.

As a kid I loved nothing more than a bowlful of berries and freshly whipped cream. The sight of my mother’s electric hand beater (which is well over 30 years old!) would always bring a burst of excitement as I stood next to her in the kitchen waiting to lick the beater.

We didn’t eat cream all that often growing up and still don’t (as we are mildly lactose intolerant!), but on the odd occasion when we do eat it, it’s savored just as much as when I was little, all those years ago. (Don’t tell my kids, but I always lick the beaters when they are not looking!)

Nowadays I sweeten the berries slightly, sometimes with unrefined cane sugar, other times with a lick of maple syrup, adding in a touch of orange to bring a gentle tang. Leaving them to sit for a good half hour brings out the beautiful natural juices of the fruit and allows the orange zest time to mingle and do its thing. I then leave the cream un-sweetened, adding just a touch of vanilla to bring that beautiful memory-inducing perfume to the mix.

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Orange Strawberries + Vanilla Cream

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 500 g ripe strawberries hulled + halved
• 2 tablespoons unrefined raw sugar or pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Vanilla cream

• 150 ml whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or the scraped seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean pod

Instructions

• Place the halved strawberries into a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar or maple syrup, orange zest and juice and stir well to combine. Set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinate, stirring a couple of times during that 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place cream and vanilla into a large bowl and whip using a balloon whisk or electric beaters until soft peaks form.

  Serve berries and their juices in bowls with a generous dollop of vanilla cream on top.

Notes

Note: To make this dairy-free/vegan, you can use whipped coconut cream in place of the whipped vanilla cream. A little lime zest and juice in place of the orange makes for a lovely change, or you can leave out the orange zest and juice altogether and add a splash of rosewater for an exotic twist.