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In honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus I am making a dessert that will be sure to catch the attention of everyone in your house. As you know, the Sacred Heart has a flame on top of it, but do you know why? Here's a small serving of faith to make the connection in your Catholic kitchen meaningful.
The flame over the top of the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents these things.
1. Jesus' passionate, ardent, burning love for all of us.
2. Fire offers light, and Jesus is a light in the darkness.
3. Fire is a symbol of His divinity. Take the fires we see in the Old Testament that stand as a symbol for God. Ex: Moses and the burning bush.
4. In the Old Testament, sacrifices were made as burnt offerings, usually with the death of an animal and a consuming fire. Jesus' sacrifice is the fulfillment of that, as He offers Himself on the cross out of pure and perfect love for us.
To celebrate the Solemnity I wanted to bring fire into the mix because as we can see, it stands as such an important symbol of the Sacred Heart. Side note: you can also make these for Pentecost as a representation of the tongues of fire. But, since the little strawberries look like hearts, it just seemed like the right thing to make.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: Dependent upon your case of strawberries
Ingredients
1. Fresh Strawberries
2. Any alcohol that is at least 80 proof, for a fail proof flame use Bacardi 151 (I just went with this)
3. Cupcakes or ice cream scoops with cool whip to hold your strawberry
4. Lighter
Start by washing your fresh strawberries! Aren't they beautiful?
Take your strawberry corer and remove the center. I found this one at Sur La Table but I have also seen it on Amazon. Alternatively, you can use a butter knife but try to avoid puncturing the strawberry. If you do accidentally poke a hole in the sides or bottom do not use it for your flame, just eat it and move on.
They should look like this, a nice clean cup for the alcohol to sit in later.
Is there anything better than fruit that is in season? You can just see all the yummy nutrients in the color!
This would be a good time to do a trial run before calling all the family and friends into the kitchen for a flaming strawberry. My husband created a little ring of foil for the strawberry to sit in and we tried out a couple of different alcohol options to see what worked best. I would say just go with the Bacardi 151.
Now that we know we have a winner we will go ahead and plate the dessert and then top with the strawberries. I went with red velvet cupcakes to continue on with our Sacred Heart (red) theme.
The strawberry should fit firmly into the icing so that we don't have any accidents! A heap of icing will do the trick, no need to overthink it. If you decided to go with ice cream just press it into a scoop or you can top your ice cream with cool whip to more easily hold the strawberry.
Using a shot glass pour your alcohol of choice into the strawberry until almost filled to the top. We don't want it to overflow but the goal is for the flame to sit atop the strawberry so it can be easily seen.
Light it up and enjoy the ooooohhhhh ... aaaahhhhhhhhhh. Wow ___________ (insert name here) you're amazing!
Blow out before eating, don't be a goofball!
While you're eating your treat with your family, husband, children, friends, or by yourself, read the 12 promises of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that Christ gave to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
The Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary (1) "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life. (2) I will establish peace in their homes. (3) I will comfort them in all their afflictions. (4) I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death. (5) I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings. (6) Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy. (7) Lukewarm souls shall become fervent. (8) Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection. (9) I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored. 10) I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts. (11) Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart. (12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment."
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