Berries with Cream Sauce

My cherubs are on minimester this week.

Minimester is a ministry or education opportunity that students participate in during the week before Spring Break.

This year, my boy Cherub went with his class to Washington, D.C.  It was both an education and a ministry trip.

My girl Cherub went with her class for an outdoor science camp. 

I went as a chaperon to the science camp.

It was fun.

But for 2 days I've been in the blowing wind, learning about all sorts of interesting "scienc-y" things and eating camp food.

To their credit, this camp did offer lots of options in the camp food experience and there was always a salad bar.

But after 3 days, I was ready for some variety.

And I was ready for something from my kitchen.

Me and my sweet girl cherub decided we wanted kabobs!

Off to the store we went when we got back from camp and we bought all sorts of veggies and some chicken and beef so that we could make grilled kabobs!

We also picked up a variety of berries:

• raspberries
• blackberries
• blueberries
• strawberries

My girl Cherub wanted to make fruit kabobs too!

But I kind of decided against that and wanted to make a pretty fruit dessert with a cream sauce.

I didn't have a cream sauce recipe..

So I googled a fruit cream recipe.

Here's what I settled on.  The only reason I decided to try this recipe was for no other reason than it is on the Ruth's Chris menu.

I've never been to Ruth's Chris.

The Mr. has.

But not me!

That's sad, don't you think?

But if I were to go to Ruth's Chris, I think I'd order this for dessert.

That's not true.

I would NOT order this, because now I can make it!

Not only can I make it, but I can make it for way cheaper than what I can order it for from Ruth's Chris!

So there!

I don't need to go anymore!

Berries with Cream Sauce

2 Cups Heavy Cream
3/4-1 cup of sugar
10 Large Egg Yolks**
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 baskets of Fresh berries washed

 
Heat cream and 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar in a small saucepan on medium-low. Heat the cream and sugar through.  Bring to a strong simmer, but do not allow to boil.

In a medium glass bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar until sugar is well blended and dissolved.

In a medium saucepan, fill about half full with water and bring to a boil.  While water is coming to a boil, slowly incorporate cream mixture to egg mixture. Add about 1/4 cup of cream at a time to the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly. Add another 1/4 cup of the cream mixture to the egg mixture and whisk again. Then add the remainder of the cream mixture to the egg mixture and whisk again.  Add your hot cream very slowly and a bit at a time so you do not scramble the eggs.

Put the glass boil over the boiling water to create a double boiler (or use a double boiler).

Slowly cook the sauce for 10-12 minutes, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken and coat the back of a spoon.

Once thickened to the consistency that you like (such as a pourable pudding) you can pass it through a fine mesh sieve into the container you will use to store the sauce. I did not strain the sauce.  I didn't feel like I needed to.  However, if you step away and do not stir constantly, then you might want to do this because your sauce may have cooked a bit faster than you realized, leaving it a bit lumpy.

Make a ice bath by putting ice in a large bowl and putting a smaller bowl on top of the ice so that the ice is around the smaller bowl.  Pour the sauce into the smaller bowl and begin to gently fold the sauce to cool it as you slowly spin the smaller bowl.  The sauce will thicken a bit as it cools.

If you are going to refrigerate overnight, put saran directly on the top of the sauce to avoid a “skin” developing. If you are going to serve quickly, you do not need to saran wrap it

Once cooled, store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Put some berries at the bottom of a bowl or a pretty glass or even jelly jars then generously drizzle the cream sauce over the berries.

**Save the egg whites.  Once you finish making this sauce, go ahead and separate 2 more eggs and you'll have 1 dozen egg whites.  Now you can make a homemade angel food cake!  Maybe I'll post a recipe for that next!