Fresh Whipped Cream

It's Tuesday.

You look like you could use a magic trick.  Nothin spices up a Tuesday like a little magic.

And I bet you this might be the tastiest magic trick you've ever seen. You also need this right now because it's the best {and easiest} dessert for this time of the year.  All you need is a little fresh whipped cream to make a bowl of fresh summer berries seem like a refreshing and fancy dessert.

And no, canned whip cream does not even come close to what this tastes like.  Sorry, but no.

Mr. Hungry was a little floored when he saw me whisk this up out of what he thought was liquid cream that only seemed to be useful for his coffee.

You just need a few dollops for small batches of berries so grab a whisk and this will be ready in minutes.

For bigger jobs, you might want to pull out the hand mixer or you could be whisking for quite awhile.

Summer berries are still at their prime so go ahead and put this at the top of your to do list before berries go back to being expensive and out of season.  Seriously... hurry.

From my little kitchen to yours... Enjoy.

Recipe Notes
The exact way you make this will depend on what you are making it for.  With fruit, I like to add a pretty good amount of sugar to make it sweet.  If you are adding a dollop to a pie or cake, you might want to only add a little bit of sugar because you already have so much sweetness.
If you are trying this for the first time, start with very little cream.  Watch how the process works and then add more.  If you are making more than one cup of cream, I would probably use a hand mixer (unless you have lots of time to whisk).
* Regular sugar or powdered sugar will work.  If you have powdered, use it.  If you don't, you do not need to buy any.  The only different is that you  need to add the regular sugar early in the process so that it has time dissolve into the cream.  Powdered sugar is preferable because after whipping, you can add more at the end to get to the exact sweetness you would like.
** A little vanilla goes a long way, but once again, the exact amount will depend on what you are making.  I always add a dash, but if I am putting cream on something that would be great with a vanilla flavor I add a little bit more.

What you need...
Heavy Whipping Cream
*Powdered Sugar or regular sugar
**Vanilla (optional)
Large bowl
Whisk

1.  Start with cold cream in a large bowl.  The colder the cream, the easier and faster it will whip.  Having a large bowl will also help quite a bit.

2.  Time to start whipping.  Make wide strokes with a whisk, changing direction every so often.  This will help get air into the cream faster.  Bubbles will start to form.

3.  Now it's time put some muscle into it.
Exercising and making dessert at the same time?  This is just the best.
When the cream starts to thicken, add sugar and vanilla (if using).

Tip:  A good rule of thumb is two teaspoons of sugar for every cup of cream.  Adjust sweetness according to tasate.  Optional:  Add about a teaspoon of vanilla per cup of cream

And before you know it, you will have peaks that look like this.

Done! Seriously, we are done.  What was that, like 1 minute worth of work?  And you have great looking arms.

Ah, I love magic.


Keep in the refrigerator and serve within an hour of making.

Add a dollop to a bowl of mixed berries, perhaps a freshly sliced peach, or maybe on top of a piece of pie or chocolate cake.  But that means you cannot sit there and eat the whole bowl.  But no one's watching... maybe just the first batch... no one has to know.