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Strawberry Shortcake Bars

Source of Recipe

From "Classic Snacks Made from Scratch" by Casey Barber


Recipe Introduction

"I never realized it until now, but our elementary school cafeteria was totally ahead of the curve: we had a food truck before there were food trucks. Ours was a small, wheeled freezer piloted by a lunch lady peddling Good Humor bars at 35 cents a pop. With only one parentally permitted chance per week to get an ice cream bar, I didn't have room for variation. How could I choose any other flavor when Strawberry Shortcake was staring at me? Now I can have as many bars as I want, of course - heck, I can eat an entire batch if I really want to make myself sick - and I can buy all the Good Humor flavors in the world with my own allowance money, but Strawberry Shortcake is still my number-one choice. You never forget your first love."

List of Ingredients

Strawberry Ice Cream:
◦  1 16-ounce bag frozen strawberries, thawed
◦  ½ cup light cream or whipping cream
◦  2 Tbsp light corn syrup
◦  ¼ cup granulated sugar
◦  1 tsp cornstarch

Vanilla Ice Cream:
◦  1½ cups light cream or whipping cream
◦  ¼ cup granulated sugar
◦  ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Cake Crumbs:
◦  ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
◦  ¼ cup powdered milk
◦  3 Tbsp powdered freeze-dried strawberries (see note)
◦  1 Tbsp powdered sugar
◦  1 tsp cornstarch
◦  2 Tbsp unsalted butter


Recipe

Make the Strawberry Ice Cream:
Pulse the thawed strawberries, cream, and corn syrup together in a blender or food processor until the berries break down into a thick but even purée. Add the sugar and cornstarch and purée for 1 minute more to incorporate fully. Pour the strawberry purée into six standard (3- to 4-ounce) Popsicle molds and freeze.

Make the Vanilla Ice Cream:
Bring the cream to a bare simmer in a 1-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, just until it is steaming and small bubbles form around the edges. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar and the vanilla until the sugar is fully dissolved. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until fully chilled.

Make the Cake Crumbs:
While the strawberry and vanilla bases freeze and chill, whisk the flour, powdered milk, freeze-dried strawberries, powdered sugar, and cornstarch together in a medium bowl. Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then stir gently into the dry ingredients to form coarse cake clumps.

Assemble the Bars:
When the vanilla ice cream base is fully chilled, freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper. Remove the strawberry pops from the molds and, using an offset spatula or stiff rubber spatula, "frost" each pop with a thin layer of vanilla ice cream to completely cover the strawberry filling. Sprinkle cake crumbs evenly over both sides, pressing gently to adhere. Place the finished bars on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 1 hour before serving. Store the bars in the freezer in an airtight container for up to a month.



Makes 6 bars



Note:
◦  Look for freeze-dried strawberries in the dried fruit and nut section of Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target, and nearly every grocery store (and like pretty much everything else in this world, on Amazon).

◦  Use a food processor or spice grinder to pulverize the dried berries into powder; 1 ounce of berries makes a heaping ¼ cup of powdered strawberries.