BaltimOregon to Maine

Oatmeal shortbread with Mascarpone cream

Craving tangy strawberry and sweet cream taste combination? The Oregonian‘s FOODday feature offers lots of interchangeable, relatively effortless suggestions that go beyond shortcake. I just happened to have picked up Mascarpone cheese at Trader Joe’s, so I made the dark chocolate-flecked cream. And the oatmeal shortbread was simple yet nutty and substantive. You can make the same dough into a crumble or press it into a tart shell. But for some reason tart pans elude me. I’ll stick to the cookies.

Not that there’s anything wrong with shortcake. It’s was the perfect end to the “That’s My Farmer” dinner Chef Intaba catered last week (I volunteered to help her with the meal). When you have to feed a crowd, and strawberries are just in season, there’s no finer dessert.