Have you ever had a stuffed strawberry? Is that not the coolest mini dessert ever? They taste divine (no matter what the stuffing is), they look lovely when displayed, they’re easy to eat, they’re an affordable treat, and they’re easy to make.

We were talking about all the ways to stuff these berries at a recent neighborhood brunch not long ago. The ideas just flowed.

Start with firm, large berries for this dessert. The first step, of course, is to rinse and de-cap the berries. With a sharp knife you core out a little of the berry insides so you have a nice cavity for filling. Be sure to save what you remove to use later for strawberry shortcake, or to top ice cream, or to mix with rhubarb for a pie, or to fold into tapioca pudding, or… You get the idea.

An all-time favorite filling is simply sweetened and thinned cream cheese. I mix a little powdered sugar with a smidge of cream, whole milk, or sour cream and blend this well. Then I fill and icing cone and pipe the cream cheese into each berry. Yes, stuffing berries is a little time-consuming, but oh it’s worth the effort.

A twist on the cream cheese theme is flavoring it with cocoa and powdered sugar. We’ve seen chocolate dipped berries, so why not chocolate stuffed berries?

Another chocolate approach is with chocolate gnoche. Jeanne Wolfley and I did this for the magazine we created and edited, Cook’n. Our taste-testers couldn’t get enough.

And STILL on the chocolate band wagon, how about chocolate mascarpone? Mascarpone (pronounced mahs-car-POH-nay) is really just thickened cream that's one step away from being butter. If you don’t have mascarpone, you can always substitute creamy ricotta or cream cheese, but the flavor and texture will be a little different.

But for an entirely different flavor surprise, why not go the savory route? Blue cheese paired with chopped pecans is spectacular when stuffed into a nicely ripened strawberry.

And only a grand-daughter would think to stuff them with strawberry Jello®! This was a very fun treat she served at a little tea-party she held for some neighbor friends. Clever, huh?

Under inspiration from my grand-daughter, I decided to think outside the box as well. I don’t have a picture for this idea—we were so busy eating this creation that we forgot to shoot a photo. But take it from me, stuffing strawberries with cherry pie filling is scrumptious! We topped each one with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and oohed and aahed through the entire plate!

I’ll close by coming full circle, back to the cream cheese theme. An absolute favorite filling for strawberries at our house is the Cloud Nine Frosting we use for our Chocolate Fudge Dream Cake (recipe on p. 200 of Everyday Gourmet). It’s easy to make, pipes well, and it’s light flavor doesn’t overpower the berry. For those that don’t have our cookbook, I share the recipe. Why not seriously consider some stuffed berries for your next get-together? They’re absolutely the coolest mini dessert EVER!

CLOUD NINE FROSTING

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

¾ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash salt

2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a medium bowl, cream the cheese, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Add Recipe to Cook'n