Mason Jar – Foodologie

It’s almost summer, you know what that means?

Summer means that everyone and their mother is making strawberry shortcake. Why don’t you take a ride with me on the strawberry shortcake wagon, but with a twist of Foodologie.

That’s code for take something sweet and put it in a jar. I love things in jars…

Pies in Jars

Birthday Cake in a Jar

Coconut Curry Stew in a Jar

Cocktails in jars: Strawberry Basil Gin and Tonic

The list goes on really. But aside from the hipster-y “cute” factor of a jar, I find them to be extremely functional. They’re sturdy and portable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped jars, thrown them into bags. They just don’t break. It’s great.

So let’s go back to strawberry shortcakes.

They’re one of those appealing desserts because they’re simply delicious. Everyone seems to have a way to make them. Some people use biscuits, some use pound cake, others use angel food cake.

I like to use plain yellow cake (specifically this recipe for Moist Yellow Cake from Epicurious). It’s lighter than pound cake but denser than angel food cake. It’s really just all sorts of amazing.

Here’s what you need:

Your Cake of Choice (I like Epicurious Moist Yellow Cake)
Strawberries
Sugar
Lemon Juice
Whipping Cream
Vanilla

That’s a pretty short list of ingredients for such a fantastic dessert. The beautiful thing about making them in jars is that they’ll pretty much look cute no matter what you do.

Wash and slice your strawberries. Remember these are going in jars, so you want to cut them into small pieces. Toss with sugar and lemon juice. I eyeball the sugar, about 1/4 cup for every cup of strawberries. If you like them sweeter, add more sugar. Remember this is all about how it tastes best for you. Let the strawberries sit (macerate, if you want to get technical) for 15-20 minutes so they let out all those wonderful juices and you get strawberry saucy goodness (yes, saucy goodness is a legitimate culinary term).

Next whip your cream. I don’t like mine too sweet. I add a few tablespoons of sugar for each cup of whipped cream, and about 1/2 a tsp of vanilla. Once your whipped cream is mixed, transfer it to a ziploc bag.

Now you can assemble. Take your cake and break it up into little chunks. Place some in the bottom of your jar, next put a few spoonfuls of strawberries in there, press down with a spoon. Next the whipped cream. Cut off a corner of the ziploc bag so you have a piping bag of sorts. Pipe some whipped make sure to get it one the edges so it looks nice. Then repeat (be sure to press down the cake so more fits in there!). Depending on how big your jars are and how thick your layers are, you might be able to do 2 or 3 layers.

Serve or put a lid on them and take them to go!

I wish I had eaten these on a picnic in a park or on the beach, because that really would have added to the full effect of it all. They’ll just have to go on the menu for my next picnic.

What’s your favorite summer dessert?

Ithaca made me a jar person.

At the risk of sounding totally hippie/granola, I will say I find jars to be very multifunctional. Not only can you carry soups, beverages and meals in them, you can also make a pie in one…

Versatile. I like it. I also like blueberries and nectarines. Let’s find a way to combine them all.

Doesn’t that look like summer? I thought so.

Summer Blueberry-Nectarine Pie in a Jar

5 half pint mason jars
1 recipe for pate brisee (this is the crust, you can also use store bought)
2 nectarine, diced (optional to peel)
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

A quick note before starting: make your crust/pate brisee a few hours, or the night before, to prevent the dreaded shrinking crust. The longer it rests, the better!

Roll your crust on a well floured surface. I suggest rolling it thinner than you would roll your average pie crust, if not your crust to filling ratio will be quite high, but keep it thick if that’s you’re style. After rolling, line jars with pie crust. This was a little tricky for me. I bought the jars that were kinda narrow so I couldn’t fit my hand in it, so I suggest using the wider mouthed jars. I had to piece to together and use a spoon to press it down. Either way it should look somewhat like this by the end:

Place them in the fridge or freezer as soon as they’re ready. You don’t want melted/soft crusts in your jar!

While your jars chill, dice (and peel, if you like) your nectarines and wash your blueberries. In a bowl, combine nectarines, blueberries, sugar, flour and vanilla. Toss to coat all the fruit in the sugar and flour. Let sit for a few minutes.

In the meantime, make your pie lids. Roll out some more pie dough then using the jar lid, cut out circles.