Happy belated holidays to all of my readers! I just finished my first semester of sophomore year and had a great 2 week break at home. Although most people at PSU would say the break was too short, for me - it was just perfect. It was enough time to see family, friends and the people who matter as well as enough time to lounge, bum and contemplate the meaning of life. Although I did not cook too much during break and mainly tried to feast on my moms delicious home cooked meals, I did have time to make several desserts. This dessert, inspired by something I saw on Giada At Home on the Food Network (aka my second favorite show on the channel). My dad is a huge dessert person, and recently we've been trying to get him onto a more healthy lifestyle. He has always been the one to push us ahead in line for seconds for dessert because he says those are the little things in life we should enjoy.
This recipe was super simple and I thought of it on the drive home from a grocery trip with my mom; with just 1 store bought ingredient this will be something you adapt to make for any season!
Filling portion:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 lime (for zest and for juice)
2 tablespoons water
8-10 strawberries (diced!)
1 jam packed tablespoon of orange marmalade
Topping:
1 1/2 cup oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 table spoon melted butter
1 Graham cracker pie crust or these ingredients for 3 mini-pies.
In a small saucepan, add the water and sugar and bring it to a boil - you are trying to make a simple syrup to add a little sweetness to the strawberries. Once this is at a boil, add the lime juice and the strawberries which you have diced up and then add the orange marmalade. Once they begin to bubble a little bit, take a taste and see if you want more sugar or more orangeness or more strawberries or if everything tastes good. Now, at the last minute add the lime zest! You want it to be in the strawberry "compote" long enough to infuse its flavors, but short enough so that the zest is still bright green like its original color. Take a taste and make sure these flavors have had enough time to mingle with each other, and turn off the heat letting the mixture cool. Before you begin to make the topping, preheat your oven to 350 degrees! For the topping grab a food processor or if its easier, just do a rough chop of the oats and add in the brown sugar mixture and make sure they are at the same size pieces. Melt the butter as your binding agent so that the sugar melts a little and sticks to the oats because the topping will become crispy but sweet all at the same time.
Fill the pies with the strawberry "compote" and then top it off with the oats mixture and send them into the oven for about 7-9 minutes, just until the brown sugar starts to darken on the top.
Eat them hot, thats the best part! Enjoy :) and let me know what other kinds of fruits you use!
This recipe was super simple and I thought of it on the drive home from a grocery trip with my mom; with just 1 store bought ingredient this will be something you adapt to make for any season!
Filling portion:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 lime (for zest and for juice)2 tablespoons water
8-10 strawberries (diced!)
1 jam packed tablespoon of orange marmalade
Topping:
1 1/2 cup oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 table spoon melted butter
1 Graham cracker pie crust or these ingredients for 3 mini-pies.
Fill the pies with the strawberry "compote" and then top it off with the oats mixture and send them into the oven for about 7-9 minutes, just until the brown sugar starts to darken on the top.
Eat them hot, thats the best part! Enjoy :) and let me know what other kinds of fruits you use!
