It is heating up fast. The weather is going crazy. One hour, it is hot with blazing sun, another it is cloudy with a cold breeze. Can you believe that a thunderstorm was hitting us last night? It was like it’s December all over again. But no presents and no more Holidays.
Eventually, summer will be rolling out. With the hot weather, one would want an easy breezy cool dessert while making use of the fresh seasonal fruit at their peak of flavor. STRAWBERRIES.

When you wake up to this. Or what I would like to call: I slept so early, I woke up before dawn, we have a rental so I went and waited, not in line, but for the fresh pot of coffee at Starbucks and got us all some knefe. And now I’m enjoying it while I get sun that I rarely get. Enjoy your morning! #Lebanon #breakfast #seasweet #Starbucks #coffee

A photo posted by Hisham Assaad (@hisham_ad) on May 10, 2015 at 9:44pm PDT

Yesterday, I have experienced driving for a whole day. I drove before and during the morning traffic. I woke up at 6:30 so easily (only because I have slept since 6 pm the night before. I rushed out, since we have a rented car, and drove to Starbucks before the morning traffic and I was the first and only costumer there. Still, I had to wait for the machine to brew the first pot of coffee to get my cup, because I don’t have any beans at home. Then, I passed by a well-known local sweets shop, SeaSweet, and grabbed the family Knefe, the delicious baked cheese pastry stuffed in a special sesame bread (kaak) and drizzled with scented syrup. After that time comes the morning traffic. I had to grab a few things I intended to get during my day off from work. It had been a productive day, a fruitful one, which I’ll be announcing all about it later.

As for now, and after long drives (I feel you all, those who drive all day in the blazing sun, long distances, and on the Lebanese roads, I hear you all) what a better way than having this dessert waiting for you to assemble it in a few seconds? It is great to prepare ahead of time and refrigerate until serving time. You can even prepare it fresh and at the spur of the moment since it doesn’t take a lot of time. I prepared it while we were having our big Sunday lunch.

Roasted Strawberries on Labneh Cheesecake Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup Labneh
• 700g strawberries, halved
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup crumbed biscuits (optional)

Procedure

• Mix the strawberries with the sugar and roast in a medium heated oven on a lined roasting sheet until they’re soft and had expelled their juices, then cool and store in a jar
• Whip the cream and sugar until light and puffy, then add the labneh and whip until incorporated. Store in a container and cool until serving time
• To assemble, divide the cream into 4 small bowls. Top with the strawberry pieces and their sauce and the crumbled biscuits if you like. Serve immediately