If you're like me, most of the time for Valentine's I prefer to stay home and prepare a nice dinner myself. And it's not just because Valentine's Day is notorious for being a bad night to go out, but it's nice to make something a little more luxurious than normal and break out some of the great wine we have at home. So if you are one of those people who are going to make a Valentine's dinner yourself, maybe the dinner is work enough for you and you don't want to labor over a complicated dessert. These easy stuffed strawberries are quick and simple to fix and go great with a glass of champagne.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Stuffed Strawberries
for a printable recipe click here
stuffs about 28 strawberries
8 ounces of mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese for a substitution), room temperature
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons confectioner's sugar
28 strawberries
dark chocolate bar for garnish
Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl until well blended.
With a sharp paring knife, cut off the leafy bottoms of the strawberries to create a flat base. Cut a deep cross in the tops of the strawberries, down through the tip but not completely through to the bottom.
Place the cheese mixture into a piping bag with a star tip (I used a 1M tip). If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a quart sized zip lock and just cut off a corner so the tip fits snugly through that. Pipe the cheese mixture into the strawberries. With a course microplane or cheese grater, grate chocolate over the cheese stuffed strawberries. Place the strawberries on a serving platter and refrigerate until ready to serve.
