Florida Fruit Recipe

Fruit-5046

Ingredients

Shortcakes:
Use your favorite pancake mix or recipe.

Syrup:
1 pint	strawberries, trimmed and quartered
1	vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1/3 cup	sugar
1/3 cup	water
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons	finely grated fresh orange zest
1/4 cup	fresh orange juice

Cream:
1/4 cup	heavy cream, chilled
2 teaspoons	sugar
2 tablespoons	sour cream

Preparation To make syrup: Scrape seeds from vanilla bean with tip of sharp knife into a small saucepan, then add pod. Add sugar, water, zest, and juice. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and boil 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and chill 30 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve into another bowl and discard solids. Gently stir in strawberries and let stand 15 minutes. To make cream: Beat together heavy cream, sugar, and sour cream until mixture just holds stiff. To assemble: Make shortcakes/pancakes. Drizzle pancakes with syrup from strawberry mixture. Spoon strawberries onto pancakes. Top rounds with dollops of cream and drizzle with remaining syrup.