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When it comes to ice cream, I tend to be a creature of habit: coffee Häagen-Dazs at the bodega, whatever variation of “espresso chip” is on offer at the scoops shop. So I was surprised by my own impulses at a specialty grocery store recently, when I grabbed a pint of Red Flag, sweet cream rippled with strawberry jam and graham crackers, from the New York creamery Caffè Panna. But that swirl of strawberry called to me. It’s April, after all, and the fruit is about to get really good.

Good enough for Jerrelle Guy’s beloved strawberry spoon cake — but if you can’t get your hands on the fresh stuff, you can still indulge your own strawberry impulses with frozen and thawed fruit. (Another great use for frozen strawberries? Zaynab Issa’s strawberry lassi, which is creamy, refreshing and tangy.) When served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Jerrelle’s simple cake delightfully resembles that pint of Red Flag. If you make any dessert this season, let it be this one, for it requires only the berries, butter, brown sugar, flour, milk, salt and baking powder.

Here’s a great litmus test for a must-bake cake: Search “one sitting” in the recipe comments. “I ate half in one sitting,” wrote a commenter. “I managed, barely, not to eat this all in one sitting,” wrote another. “My family inhaled this in one sitting!” wrote another. Yeah, that good.

Jerrelle has the strawberry beat covered with her strawberry drop biscuits, in case you’re of the mind that cake is not a breakfast food. But these are no more complicated. There’s no rolling nor cutting, and they come together in one bowl with about the same number of ingredients.

Or make some seasonal muffins, squarely in the middle. Lidey Heuck’s strawberry-rhubarb muffins are spring in the palm of your hand, sweet and tangy. To account for the berries’ wateriness when baked, she macerates them and the rhubarb first, then drains the liquid before mixing them into the batter.

Recipe: Strawberry Spoon Cake

This unfussy cake with a top layer of jammy strawberries is so gooey, it’s best to serve the whole thing with a spoon. The batter comes together quickly with minimal effort, using basic pantry ingredients and a small handful of berries — frozen or fresh. If you’re using frozen, be sure to defrost them in the microwave first. Extract as much juice as possible from the fruit by macerating and mashing it so that it lends the cake additional moisture while baking. Add a dash of freshly ground cardamom or ground ginger on top before baking it off, if you like, or some ribbons of fresh basil once it’s hot out of the oven. Whatever embellishments you decide on, burrowing warm spoonfuls of this cake beside scoops of vanilla ice cream is the most important thing.

By Jerrelle Guy

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 30 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

1/2 cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for greasing

5 ounces/145 grams frozen and thawed or fresh, hulled strawberries (about 1 cup)

2/3 cup/150 grams packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup/120 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch (square or round) baking dish with butter. Set aside.

2. Using your hands or the back of a fork, mash the berries to release all their juices, and stir in 1/3 cup of the brown sugar. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, remaining 1/3 cup brown sugar, milk and salt, then add the flour and baking powder and continue whisking just until the batter is smooth. Transfer the batter (it’s not much) to the greased baking dish, and spread evenly into corners.

4. Spoon the strawberries and all their juices over the top of the cake batter. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or just when a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before spooning into bowls. Serve warm with ice cream.

Recipe: Strawberry Drop Biscuits

Somewhat of a cross between a muffin top and a biscuit, these sweet breakfast treats are foolproof and easy: No rolling or cutting is required, and everything is mixed in a single bowl. They bake up craggy and crunchy on the outside but are tender once you break them open. The heavy cream adds richness, and the additional water creates just the right amount of steam while baking to keep the biscuits light and fluffy. Salted butter works nicely here, but if you’re using unsalted butter, just add 1/4 teaspoon or so of fine salt to the dry ingredients. If you don’t have strawberries, feel free to swap in the same amount of fresh blueberries, raspberries or diced stone fruit.

By Jerrelle Guy

Yield: 6 biscuits

Total time: 30 minutes

1 1/2 cups/190 grams all-purpose flour

1/4 cup/50 grams granulated sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons/85 grams cold salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 medium strawberries, cut into small 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch pieces (about 2/3 cup/100 grams), or whole blueberries, raspberries or other diced stone fruit

6 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more if needed

1/4 cup/30 grams unsifted confectioners’ sugar

1. Arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Set aside.

2. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl. Toss the pieces of butter into the flour mixture to coat. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the flour until the mixture is mealy and small pieces of pea-size butter remain.

3. Add the diced strawberries and toss with a fork to combine. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add 4 tablespoons of the heavy cream and 1/4 cup water. Continue tossing with the fork until the dough is just evenly damp and shaggy, being careful not to overwork the dough too much. Add 1 to 3 teaspoons more water, as needed, if the dough is still too dry to work with.

4. Drop 6 mounds of dough (each a generous 1/3 cup) onto the baking sheet, leaving at least 1 1/2 inches of space between each mound and gently padding any stray bits of dough back into place as you work. Lightly brush the tops with 1 tablespoon heavy cream and bake until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.

5. Add the confectioners’ sugar to a small bowl, and whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon heavy cream, adding more if needed to make a thick icing that is just thin enough to drizzle. Spoon over the warm biscuits; serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Strawberry Lassi

Strawberry lassi is a popular variation of lassi, the yogurt-based blended beverage with origins in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. This refreshing drink is made with frozen strawberries instead of ice to add flavor while keeping it cool. Sugar is the traditional sweetener in lassi, but the maple syrup here adds a subtle earthiness and dissolves quickly while blending. South Asian dahi (yogurt) is ideal for achieving the drink’s characteristic tart creaminess, but plain whole-milk yogurt will also work well. (Greek yogurt and skyr can be too thick for lassi.)

By Zaynab Issa

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt, preferably South Asian dahi

2 to 3 tablespoons maple syrup, depending on desired sweetness

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, such as Diamond Crystal

4 green cardamom pods, cracked open, seeds only (see Tip)

1 1/2 cups/about 8 ounces frozen whole strawberries

Preparation:

1. Add yogurt, maple syrup, salt, cardamom and strawberries to a blender. Blend, gradually increasing the speed, until smooth. For a thinner consistency, blend in 1 tablespoon of water at a time.

2. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.

Tip:

You can also substitute 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom for the cardamom seeds.

Recipe: Strawberry-Rhubarb Muffins

While rhubarb works wonderfully in baked goods, baking strawberries into scones or muffins can be a little bit more of a challenge. Although delightfully sweet and fragrant when fresh, baked strawberries have a tendency to become watery and bland. This recipe solves that problem by macerating the diced rhubarb and strawberries with sugar before folding them into the muffin batter.

Doing so not only draws out excess moisture from the strawberries but also gets a head start on breaking down the fibrous rhubarb. This recipe calls for an ample amount of sugar, which balances the tartness of the rhubarb and helps create wonderfully browned and chewy muffin tops.

Finally, the cornmeal in this recipe adds great texture and gives the muffins a rustic finish. Opt for medium-grind or stone-ground cornmeal, if you can find it, but fine cornmeal works well, too.

By Lidey Heuck

Yield: 12 muffins

Total time: 40 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray (optional)

1 cup small-diced fresh strawberries (about 6 ounces/170 grams)

1 cup small-diced fresh rhubarb (about 4 ounces/113 grams)

1 1/4 cups/250 grams granulated sugar

8 tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and slightly cooled

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup/227 grams sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups/192 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 cup/60 grams medium-grind or fine cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon Demerara or turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Preparation:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. (If not using a nonstick pan, spray the exposed metal with nonstick cooking spray.)

2. Combine the strawberries and rhubarb in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; toss and set aside. Place the rest of the sugar (1 cup plus 3 tablespoons), along with the melted butter and eggs, in a large bowl. Whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds, until the yolks are pale and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Add the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest, and whisk just until smooth.

3. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. (Be careful not to overmix.)

4. Transfer the fruit mixture to a strainer set over a bowl or the sink. Toss with a spoon, allowing any excess liquid to drain. (The amount will vary depending on the ripeness of the berries.) Discard the liquid and add the fruit to the batter, folding it in until just combined.

5. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. (The cups will be very full and slightly heaping.) Sprinkle the tops with the Demerara sugar and bake for 18 to 23 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the muffins spring back when lightly pressed.

6. Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

The muffin tops may spread into one another slightly as they bake; simply cut the tops apart with a paring knife when the muffins come out of the oven and immediately run the knife very gently under the edges of the muffin tops to release them from the pan, being careful not to separate them from the bottoms.

This article originally appeared in .