Strawberry Cobbler

It's strawberry season here in the U.S.! When we had our Cinco de Mayo party, a lot of people had strawberry margaritas on the brain. We ended up with quite a few leftover containers of strawberries. Maybe it was all the other margarita mixes everyone else brought? Or maybe after 3 or 4 margaritas, the designated margarita maker forgot how to make them? I'm not judging... ;) Either way, it was up to me to find a good use for these strawberries before nature called them to a moldy grave.After browsing through 6 or 8 cookbooks and comparing recipes with the ingredients I already had on hand, I came upon this lovely little recipe for strawberry cobbler. I had never had strawberry cobbler, or even heard of it. It sounded perfect!I ended up using all of the strawberries we had (somewhere around 2 pounds), and it came out to be the perfect amount! This cobbler is outrageous! It's so juicy and fruity and sweet with a little bit of tartness from the lemon juice. And the biscuit topping is such a perfect mellow compliment to the POW! from the bright strawberries. It's got a bit of crunch on the outside, but the inside of the biscuit is soft and ever-so-slightly sweetened.As usual, I made some minor changes to the recipe. I added a bit more lemon juice (only 1 1/2 teaspoons more) because I love how it brightens fruit flavors. I also added a nice pinch of salt to the strawberry filling, just in case the added lemon juice would be too tart. My filling didn't seem to be thickening up enough on the stove, so I added 2 more teaspoons of cornstarch in a slurry of 2 teaspoons of cold water. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to 1.5x the biscuit topping recipe. You could definitely double it if you love LOTS of topping on your cobbler, but the given amount was enough to make the topping look somewhat skimpy in the casserole dish. Oh, and I'd quarter the strawberries. The recipe didn't say to cut them at all, but I halved the large ones. I'd cut them smaller next time.Overall, I'm calling this recipe a keeper. It's nice to have on hand when you get sick of eating strawberry ice cream, strawberry cupcakes, strawberry rhubarb pie, strawberry shortcake, strawberry trifle, strawberry cheesecake......... *yawn*

Strawberry Cobbler (from The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book by Marilyn M. Moore)

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch (plus a few more teaspoons if your strawberries are extra juicy)
(I added about 1/8 teaspoon salt)
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used 2 tablespoons)
6 cups strawberries, washed and hulled (I'd halve the small ones, quarter the large ones)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
Biscuit Topping

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 3-quart casserole. In a large nonreactive saucepan stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the water and lemon juice. Stir in the strawberries.
Cook over medium heat, stirring often until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Transfer to the prepared casserole. Cover with Biscuit Topping.
Bake for 25 minutes. Serve warm with cream. (I let mine cool for about an hour before digging in.)

Biscuit Topping
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (vanilla sugar would be excellent here)
5 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup cold milk or half-and-half

Stir or sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Rub in the shortening with your fingers. Using a fork, gently stir in the milk, just intl the dough cleans the bowl.
Toss on a lightly floured surface until no longer sticky, and then pat or roll out to a shape that fits the top of the casserole to be used. (I just pinched off pieces of dough and dolloped them over the filling. Like I said, 1.5x this recipe would be a better amount of topping.)

My Best Banana Cream Pie

I'm extremely confident that Marilyn M. Moore truly did disclose the recipe for her best banana cream pie! And that's exactly what she named the recipe in "The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book." This is the first banana cream pie I've ever made, and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. The vanilla wafer crust is so yummy (even with reduced fat cookies). The custard is so creamy and delicious. Once it sits in the fridge layered with the bananas, the banana flavor infuses into everything and becomes so fragrant and wonderful! It seems like it would be such a heavy, rich dessert but somehow it feels light. I'm so pleased to finally have a recipe other than banana bread to use up ripe bananas!
My Best Banana Cream Pie (from The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book by Marilyn M. Moore)

Crust
1 3/4 cups vanilla-wafer crumbs (about 55 cookies)
3 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (I used salted because I like a little salt in my crust)

Custard
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold milk
3 large egg yolks, beaten
2 cups scalded milk
2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove 1/4 cup vanilla-wafer crumbs. Mix together remaining cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cool on a wire rack.
For the custard, in a heavy saucepan stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt, pressing out any lumps with the back of a spoon. Stir in the cold milk and beaten egg yolks. When the mixture is smooth, stir in the scalded milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, turn the heat to low and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly, about 1 minute longer. If the mixture threatens to become lumpy, remove it from the heat at once and stir vigorously until smooth. When thick, remove from the heat and gently stir in the softened butter and vanilla. Let cool 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent a film from forming on top.
Spoon 1/3 of the filling into the cooled crust. Peel and slice the bananas into 1/4-inch slices over the filling. Spoon the remaining filling over the bananas. Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.
Top with sweetened whipped cream and reserved vanilla-wafer crumbs. Refrigerate leftovers.