Summertime means shortcake to me.....

I love chocolate but in my mind...there's nothing better than dessert made with fresh berries! You have to take advantage of the season you're in and use what's available. The berries at the market today were just unbelievable! The colors were so bright and I could just tell how sweet they were going to be just by looking at them. Homemade shortcake is great but if you don't have a lot of time or baking know how....here's a great recipe for a simple...but very impressive berry shortcake.

Mini Berry Shortcakes:
1 box frozen puff pastry (defrosted)

Vanilla Custard Filling
2 pkgs white chocolate pudding mix
3 cup milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Berry Mixture
3 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
12-18 whole fresh raspberries


Preheat oven to 400 degrees



Make the pudding as directed on the package, in another bowl, combine the heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Beat the mixture at medium speed just until stiff. Fold the whipped cream mixture into the pudding until combined. Refrigerate to chill well, several hours or overnight.

While the whipped cream mixture is chilling, seperate the puff pastry and cut into 2 inch squares. You can either use a muffin or cupcake pan and form your pastry squares into little shells or you can use cupcake liners on a baking pan and form your shells in them and serve them in the liners. Bake the shells in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Let the shells cool completely.

Combine the chopped strawberries and sugar and refrigerate until ready to put together shortcakes.

When the puff pastry is completely cool, seperate the pastry in half...leaving half in the cupcake liner or pan and putting the other half to the side on wax paper. Pull out your custard filling and put a heaping spoonful of the cream in each of the shells. Top the cream with your berry mixture then add a small spoonful of cream on top of the berries (this will help "glue" the tops of the puff pastry to the bottom half). Top all the bottoms with the pastry tops and add one more spoonful of cream to the top of each shortcake. Garnish with an upside down raspberry. If you have extra berry and/or cream filling left...put in small bowls and serve along side your shortcakes in case your guests want some more filling. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

These mini shortcakes are great for parties because they are individual sized and if you use the cupcake liners your guests can just grab one and eat it right out of the liner. I make them for weddings and showers and guests are so amazed by how good they look! Plus they're minature so if there's several dessert options, you can have more than just one dessert!