Strawberry Cups

I love summer because the fruits and vegetables are so yummy, and eating healthy is simple nature, not a task. Right now, here in the South, it is strawberry season. strawberries are sold everywhere, at the corner of intersections, at Farmer Markets, in stores and of course in Strawberry farms. Strawberries are so good and flavorful at this time of the year. They are so sweet that eating them by themselves is wonderful.

If you have guests however, presenting sliced or diced strawberries in a cup can be a bit boring so I suggest that you present them in an eatable cup instead. For this recipe, here, for example, I used the recipe of the Tuiles I presented a few posts ago and I molded them inside the large cupcake.

The ingredients are changing slightly as we want them to be flavored with vanilla instead of almond:

Ingredients for about 12 cups:

2 egg whites at room temperature
100 gr. or about 1/3 cup and 1 tbsp of white sugar
35 gr. or about 2 1/2 tbsp of butter melted but cold
35 gr. or about 2 1/2 tbsp. of flour
1/2 tsp of of vanilla extract

Turn the oven to 330.
Place the butter in a microwavable bowl and cook for 30 seconds or until the butter is completely melted. Let it cool.
In a bowl, beat the egg whites and the sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved, and the egg whites get a bit foamy.
Add the butter, the flour and the vanilla extract and stir well.
Place a large silpat on a large perforated sheet.
Drop 2 tablespoons of the mixture on the silpat and with the back of the tablespoon spread the mixture out to make a circle of about 4-5 inches.
Repeat to make about 4 circles per silpat. Do not make more than 4 per batch or the tuiles will cool off and you will not have time to shape them all if you make them too many
Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the circles are becoming brown.
Remove the perforated sheet from the oven. Wait a few seconds to let the cookie cool a bit or they will tear as you lift them. Do not wait more than a few seconds or they will cool too much and you will not be able to shape them.
With the tip of a kitchen knife ( not sharp, You do not want to perfore the silpat), lift the side of the circle and pull it up carefully.
Place the circle inside the large cupcake mold and with your fingers press the cookie inside the cup to lay the cookie flat and be careful not to tear it. Let it cool completely before lifting them from cupcake tray
Repeat steps 5-10 until you have used the whole batter.
Keep the cups in an airtight container to keep them dry and crunchy.

You can use those cups with any fruits, but today I chose to fill them with fresh strawberries.

Ingredients for the Strawberry Salad for 4:

1 pint of fresh strawberries diced thinly
1 tbsp of fresh Meyer lemon juice
zest of one Meyer lemon
2 tbsp of sugar

Clean the strawberries under running water
dice them thinly, but cutting them in fourth and then in slices.
place them in a bowl
add the Meyer Lemon Juice, the zest and the sugar
stir well.
Decorate the plate by drizzling some strawberry syrup, spoon a bit of the strawberry salad in 4 cups. Sprinkle more lemon zest for decoration and serve right away.