Hi friends,
Happy Friday! I am back! I felt so bad not posting at my usual day, but I really had very busy days with my kids at home from school and a teenager who came to visit us for a couple of weeks from Italy. I wanted to do things with all the kids and enjoy the beginning of Summer and we did! We went to Boston a couple times, we went to the beach, we hosted parties and bbqs at our house, we went fruit picking, to a spray park not far from our house, to the playground and much more! We are really enjoying this weather and I want to be outside with the kids as much as I can. I love the longer days, the sun, the hot air, the fact that we are able to play outside and that we can stay outside later in the evening without freezing, I love having barbecues with friends and most of all, my favorite place to go is the beach!
A couple weeks ago we went strawberry picking with the kids to a farm not far from our house and we picked a lot of strawberries. The kids love fruit picking, so they were very happy once we got to the strawberry field and started looking for the most perfect, red fruits! We left with a lot of strawberries and ate part of them, but we had so many left that I decided to make a pie. I got very surprised when I realized that my boys really enjoyed it and ate it for two days in a raw, which is pretty amazing, considering that they usually won`t eat any cake that I make or if they do, it will be just for the first day and then they won`t touch it again! So I decided to leave you the recipe, thinking that your kids might enjoy it too.
It is a crumble made with a custard and strawberries inside, which takes a little longer than a regular cake or crostata, but each step is very easy and quick. I got the recipe from my go to cooking blog: www.chiarapassion.com and as I always do, I modified it a little to make it even quicker and better for my taste. If you have some time, I really recommend that website, it is amazing, her recipes are always pretty quick and easy to make.
Here`s the recipe:t
FOR THE CRUMBLE PART:
-420 g flour
-100 g sugar
-2 eggs
-90 g oil
FOR THE CUSTARD:
-500 ml milk
-100 g sugar
-60 g corn starch
-zest of one lemon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE STRAWBERRY CREAM:
-500 g strawberries
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 teaspoon of corn starch
-1 teaspoon of lemon juice
CUSTARD:
Put the sugar, corn starch and lemon zest in a small pot with the vanilla extract. Add the milk little by little and stir well. Put on the stove and cook the custard until it starts bubbling and it becomes thicker. Take the pot away from the stove and let the custart cool. Once it is not hot anymore, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge (the wrap should touch the custard so that it doesn`t create a hard layer on the surface).
STRAWBERRY CREAM:
Clean the strawberries and cut them into small pieces, add the sugar and lemon and let them sit for a couple of minutes. Then add the corn starch, stir well and cook everything in a pan until it starts bubbling. You should keep stirring while the strawberries cook. Take the pan away from the stove and let it cool.
CRUMBLE:
Mix the eggs with the sugar first, then add the oil and the flour at last. Mix everything very well, it will result in a crumbly mix. Spray a 20×30 cm pan with a cooking spray and cover the bottom evenly with the crumble, press it a little and cover it with the custard first and with the strawberry cream then. Cover the strawberry part with the second half of the crumble and put it in the oven at 365 F until it reaches a light brown color. Once it is done, let it cool, cut it in squares and enjoy!!
I hope you liked this post and that you will try this recipe.
Have a great weekend and I will see you here next week!
Anna