Another fantastic dessert to create, if you are in the mood to make something from scratch (well, partially from stratch), is this famous and surprisingly easy Strawberry Malakoff made famous by Julia Child.
This can be made gluten-free by using gluten-free broas as substitute.
INGREDIENTS
4 cups fresh strawberries (or frozen strawberries)
⅓ cup orange liquor
⅔ cup water
24 single ladyfingers (or Gluten-Free Broas)
For the almond cream:
2 cups whipping cream, chilled
½ lb unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ cup orange liqueur
¼ tsp almond extract
1 ¼ cups pulverized almonds
DIRECTIONS
1.) Slice the strawberries. Line a mold of your choice with wax paper, placing a circle of wax paper on the bottom of the mold.
2.) In a shallow dish with the orange liqueur, and water added, dip the ladyfingers one by one, and drain on a rack.
3. Line sides of mold with ladyfingers. Reserve the remaining dipped ladyfingers.
4.) Cream butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in orange liqueur and almond extract until sugar is completely dissolved. Then beat in the almonds.Whip the cream until thick and fold the cream into the almond and butter mixture.
5.) Put a layer of cream into the lined mold. Arrange over it a layer of strawberries, heads down. Cover them with a layer of ladyfingers. Repeat with another layer.
6.) Repeat the process until top of the mold is reached. At the top most layer, trim off ladyfingers around edge of mold.
7.) Cover the top with wax paper, place a flat try, and add weight over it. Refrigerate for at least hours so the butter is chilled firmto not collapse when un-molded.)
8.) Peel off the wax paper on top. Reverse dessert onto a chilled serving platter. Refrigerate until serving.
Optional: Decorate the top with strawberries, add whipped cream or strawberry sauce.
