Strawberry Topping (sauce)
This 4-ingredient homemade, easy strawberry sauce beats anything you ever tasted that is store-bought! It's sweet but not cloying, has a deep berry flavor, and is a snap to prepare, ready in 20 minutes. It's also the perfect topping for cheesecake, french toast, pound cake, angel food cake, waffles, pancakes, and ice cream, and can even be used as a pie filling,
Servings 2.5 cups
Ingredients
- 1 pound whole strawberries fresh or frozen (about 2 ½ cups strawberry pieces)
- 4 tablespoons water divided
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup light brown sugar or white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Wash, hull, and cut the strawberries into bite-size pieces or chunks.
- Put ½ pound strawberry pieces in a medium saucepan and add ¼ cup light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water. Cook until it boils and foams, stirring occasionally.
- Dissolve 1 teaspoon cornstarch in the remaining 2 tablespoons water and add the cornstarch slurry to the strawberries in a thin stream. Stir constantly and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and add the remaining ½ pound strawberry chunks or pieces. Stir and let cool.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to a week in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid or other types of airtight container. It can also be frozen for a month and thawed at room temperature.
Notes
Strawberries: this is the recipe to use those overripe berries. You can cut them small or just in half, depending on what you'll be using them for. If using frozen, cook them all together, because you won't have fresh pieces to add at the end.
Make ahead: this strawberry topping can be kept in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for a month, always in a container with a tight-fitting lid. If you need to use a large amount of strawberries, consider making a double batch and freezing it in portions. It thaws well at room temperature or in the refrigerator when you need to use it.
Sweetness: you can add up to ¼ cup more sugar if you have a sweeter tooth.
Syrup: if you like to go heavy on the syrup, double the amount of water and add a teaspoon more of cornstarch. Add 2 to 4 more tablespoons of sugar to compensate for the extra ingredients.
Thicker topping: if using it as a strawberry topping and you want it to be firmer, consider adding 3-4 tablespoons of a good strawberry jam. I've done it several times, especially when using it for cheesecakes.
Smooth sauce: If you're the type of person who doesn't like a chunky or thick sauce with pieces of fruit (beats me, but hey, who am I to judge? I love reheated pasta), you can process it or use an immersion blender or a regular blender to turn it into a puree rather than a sauce.
Flavorings: besides the citrus, you can add other ingredients to flavor the sauce, like a few drops of vanilla extract, pure almond extract, a pinch of ground cinnamon, or some other spice or extract you like paired with strawberries.
