Summer time is here — or at least that is what it feels like in So Cal!  Strawberries are in season and that just screams summer, right?  Well strawberries are the Abundant Crop for the month, whether or not it is summer.  I found this delicious recipe at Betty Crocker a few years back.  It is super easy. But don’t let super easy make you think “no time.” You need to give yourself a few hours for chilling. So just be prepared for this to take a bit of time, but over all it will be simple.

Strawberries & Cream Dessert Squares
via Betty Crocker (in a 2008 newsletter)

Crust

• 1 pouch Sugar Cookie Mix
• 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
• 1 Egg

Filling

• 1 cup White Vanilla Baking Chips
• 1 package (8 oz.) Cream Cheese

Topping

• 4 cups fresh sliced Strawberries
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1/3 cup Water

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your 15″ x 10″ or 13″ x 9″ pan.  In a large bowl, stir up that crust (the mix, butter and egg) until it is a nice soft dough.  Press it into your pan and bake until light golden brown — about 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool completely (this takes around 30 minutes).

Once cool, make your filling.  I bet you can look at the 2 ingredients and tell me what to do…  Beat the cream cheese, then pour in the melted chips (just use the microwave in 30 second intervals to melt the white vanilla chips).  Spread this over the crust and then stick the pan in the fridge.

For the topping — in a small bowl, crush 1 cup of strawberries.  Then, in a 2 quart saucepan, mix the sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in crushed strawberries and water.  Cook over medium heat, making sure you stir constantly, until it boils and thickens.  If it is not red enough for you (it was for me), you can add food coloring at this point.  If you are impatient like me, skip the next step (waiting 1o minutes) and just stir in the rest of the strawberries.  Put over filling and refrigerate for at least one hour.  They recommend serving within 4 hours, but we ate it the next day and it was fine.