If you’re firing up your grill for the upcoming holiday weekend, here’s the perfect, no-cook dessert. Whip sour cream with honey and vanilla to use as a dip for fresh, sweet strawberries and allow everyone to dive in. There’s something addictive about the sweet and tangy combination that makes them hard to stop eating.
Fresh Strawberries with Honey Vanilla Sour Cream
One of the fun things about being a chef and food blogger is attending special events to learn about fantastic products. I attended a cheesemaking and tasting class featuring Redwood Hill Farm and Green Valley Organics. This award-winning, certified humane, Grade A goat dairy farm and creamery has been family owned and operated for 45 years in the beautiful wine country of Sonoma County, California.
The hosts were still setting up as I arrived early. Jennifer Bice, owner and cheesemaker at Redwood Hill Farm and Green Valley Organics, was putting out delicious goat cheeses for us to taste while goat milk heated on the stovetop to make fresh goat ricotta cheese.
Use Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche
This dessert dip uses Green Valley Organics lactose-free sour cream. It’s not the usual sour cream. The texture is thick and rich, more like the French sour cream called creme fraiche. It’s available at Whole Foods and many other grocers. If you can’t find this brand, you can use regular sour cream (what my mom did), creme fraiche, or a combination of the two.
Whip it Up In a Minute
Whisk sour cream with honey and vanilla together in a small bowl. Wash the berries and leave the green tops on to hold the berries, like a natural handle for the creamy dip. The combination of the sweet and tang are incredible. Its an easy, no-cook solution for dessert. My mom used to serve this as a dessert and I had completely forgotten about it.
You can offer a small bowl of natural brown sugar or coconut sugar to dip the berries into after the sour cream. That gives a bit more sweetness and a nice crunch.
Thanks to Andrew Wilder of Eating Rules and Erika Kerekes of In Erikas Kitchen for hosting the event. Big thanks to Jennifer Bice for traveling to LA to share her amazing knowledge of cheesemaking and wonderful dairy delights.
If you love berries, here’s another dessert idea for you, berries with a Champagne sabayon sauce or chocolate dipped strawberries.
Fresh Strawberries with Honey- Vanilla Sour Cream
Ingredients
- 1 16 ounce container of sour cream or creme fraiche
- 2-3 teaspoons real vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1 tablespoon mild honey
- 1 container fresh strawberries washed, dried, green stems left on
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar or coconut sugar optional
Instructions
- Conbine the sour cream, vanilla and honey in a small bowl and whisk or stir together until smooth and creamy. Serve with fresh strawberries as a dip. For added sweetness and crunch, offer a small bowl of brown sugar to sprinkle on berries or dip into after the sour cream.
I am still in awe of how delicious that sour cream was… lactose free and all.
No kidding! It was almost like butter, so creamy and rich. Heavenly! So glad Whole Foods has it. Have you used yours yet?
Gosh, you can’t get easier than this. Nice to be able to have a dessert that takes the pressure off the cook.
Hi Sally,
Thanks for the beautiful recipe idea using our lactose-free sour cream! We’re glad you discovered it and are spreading the news! Your photos are beautiful – we love the way you subtly added in the blue color for a nice red, white and blue Memorial day picnic look! We are sharing your recipe on our Facebook and our next newsletter, due out tomorrow!
Thanks Nancy! You have a big-time new fan here in So Cal. Two more posts coming soon with your raw goat feta, then how to make goat milk ricotta. My hats off to Redwood Hill Farm. And please thank Jennifer for me. She is amazing!
I’m a huge fan of sour cream desserts… will bookmark this recipe for strawberry season in Australia ; )
Hi Sally,
This recipe sure brought back some fond memories. My grandmother used to make me strawberries and sour cream sprinkled with sugar all the time growing up as a little kid. Love the new twist with honey and vanilla……delicious! Keep em coming!
Hi Mark. Isn’t it amazing how food can provoke such powerful memories? I had not thought of this combination for years, and when I saw it, the memories popped up for me too!
Where do you buy the organic sour cream
Hi Steve. Most any grocery store has organic sour cream these days. The most amazing brand is Green Valley Organics. Not sure where you live, so not sure if it in is your area. Check their website. if you can’t find it, use Creme Fraiche, a kind of thick, tangy French-style sour cream. You can find it at most markets often in the cheese department. Ask around.