How to Make Fresh Whipped Cream (The Real Deal)

Okay - and I know this is going to sound weird - but I like whipping cream.  I mean, I like the process of whipping liquid, heavy cream into the stuff you put on ice cream and cobbler and pie and brownie sundaes and chewy chocolate cake, and sometimes jello.  If you eat jello.  That's what I'm talking about.  Why don't I just get the stuff in the can that squirts out like piped frosting?  Don't get me started.  And don't get me wrong, either; there is a time and a place for the whipped cream in a can, just as there is a time and a place for cool whip in the plastic container.  I ate that stuff on jello salads many times as a kid, and I'd do it again.  But there's nothing you can tell me that will convince me that there's any real substitute for freshly whipped cream, like the stuff on this strawberry shortcake below.

Strawberry shortcake (with shortbread and whipped cream)

I think the thing that really put fresh whipped cream on the map for me was when Herrell's was still selling ice cream in Harvard Square and I was eating hot fudge sundaes for dinner on a regular basis one summer a few years ago.  I still haven't had any hot fudge that has the same addictive quality as Herrell's hot fudge, and I'm losing hope that I ever will now that Herrell's in Harvard Square is no longer.  But the whipped cream!  Those kids behind the ice cream counter would spoon whipped cream onto the sundae straight out of a bowl.  And it was delicious!

For a while I had no idea why it was so good.  I don't think I had ever really had fresh whipped cream before, sad as that sounds ... and it sounds sad because it *was* sad - very, very sad.

Wild Blueberry Pie

Thank you, Dan Nystedt, for the blueberries for this pie, as well as the beeeau-tiful photos.  I should have more photographer friends.  Dan and Harriet (from the right-side photo) are friends from my church neighborhood group.  One week recently Dan mentioned that he had a big bunch of blueberries hiding in his freezer, just picked this summer near his parents' place in NH.  This little factoid stayed in my mind and kept popping up while I was attempting to prepare for a conference presentation ... I could see the pie coming together in a golden brown, buttery crust.  Then, the revelation of whipping up fresh mint cream as a garnish.  Next step: adding a few spices and some lemon zest and baking up, mere days after getting back from the conference in Canada.

I want to try this pie again, but I'm a little worried about using the blueberries from the grocery store after getting to use these amazing wild blueberries.

I will say that another thing I thought was fabulous about this pie was the addition of lemon zest and cinnamon (I used Elise Bauer's recipe for the filling).  You couldn't identify either of these ingredients in the pie, but they gave the berries a bright flavor.  

About the mint cream: I minced some mint leaves very finely (see the tiny flecks of mint in the cream in the top photo), added them to a small carton of whipping cream along with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and whipped it up with an electric hand mixer.  The cream already has a natural sweetness to it, so I try to add a minimal amount of sugar so it doesn't crowd out the rich flavor of the cream and the freshness of the mint.