Strawberries Stuffed with Honey-Lavender Cream Cheese

A friend of mine, who writes for The San Francisco Chronicle, tends to the paper's rooftop beehives at their downtown location. I've had the pleasure of visiting the hives a few times and when she gave me some of the honey, I was dying to do a recipe with it. It took me quite a while to get around to it, I admit. Mostly because I wasn't really finding a fit for the honey's unique flavor...but I finally did! This recipe is divine. The lavender and honey brighten the strawberry's more tart notes and just makes a lush, simple and scrumptious dessert.
A Jerry James Stone Recipe

Categories

Dessert, Red

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb strawberries
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 tsp lavender
  • 2 tbsp honey
Jump to instructions
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Instructions

  • Let the cream cheese soften by placing it at room temperature for a few hours. I suggest lightly whipping it in a stand mixer or with beaters, but you can also just mix it up with a spoon.
  • Grind one tablespoon of dried lavender and stir it into the softened cream cheese. Please make sure you are using culinary lavender. While all lavender is edible, culinary lavender is light and sweet. Other forms are higher in camphor which is bitter but also treated as a toxin by the body.
  • Mix in two tablespoons of honey to the cream cheese mixture.
  • Cut the tops off the strawberries so that they sit flat and upright.
  • Crown the strawberries or just slice them, whatever you prefer. There are many ways to make these fancy and fun.
  • Add the cream cheese mixture to a pastry bag. You can also just spoon them on but I like the control a pastry bag offers me. I know, control freak, right?
  • Stuff the strawberries with the cream cheese mixture and serve!