Summertime Fruit Cones

End of May/early June bridge. The strawberries came in. The patch I planted three years ago is now mature, producing about a pint a day for two weeks. The kids — Tommy on FaceTime, Quoy in person — would say the strawberries are the best thing ever, but I think the strawberries are merely a thing. The thing about strawberries is they are perfect for two weeks and then they're gone, and the perfection is the brevity, and the brevity is the lesson.

Made strawberry shortcake Saturday. Buttermilk biscuits split open, fresh strawberries macerated with sugar for an hour, whipped cream from local Jersey cream a friend at the Tahlequah farmers market sells. Hannah ate two. I ate two. We sat on the porch in the cool of the evening and ate them and the porch smelled like strawberry and night-blooming honeysuckle and the dogs slept at our feet.

I scheduled the rotator cuff surgery. August twenty-second. Eight to ten week recovery. I'll be off welding for at least six weeks, off heavy lifting for ten. The cohort fall semester starts the first week of September — I'll teach but with a sling for the first month, and I'll need a teaching assistant for the demonstrations. The cultural center director, Linda Walkingstick, said she'd arrange one. I told Hannah Sunday morning. She said: good. She said: are you scared. I said: a little. She said: I am too. I said: it's minor. She said: it's not minor. They're going to cut your shoulder. I said: yes. She said: I love you. I said: I love you. She said: don't fall down before August. I said: I'll try.

Tommy turned five in late May. Kai sent video of the party. Tommy in a paper crown. Tommy blowing out candles. Tommy in an enormous serious posture I recognized from Kai at five — the serious five-year-old who is trying to be a serious six-year-old. Hannah and I FaceTimed Sunday and Tommy showed us a present he'd gotten — a wooden tool set. He said: I make things. I said: like Pawpaw. He said: like Pawpaw. He said it in Cherokee — edutsi, "father's brother's son" or something close, the family terms get complicated — and the word was right. He held up a tiny wooden hammer. He said: this make house. I said: yes. He said: come visit. I said: I will.

The shortcake we had Saturday was perfect, and I won’t try to replicate it exactly here — perfection doesn’t reproduce well. But the spirit of it does: fresh fruit, something cool and sweet, eaten outside before the season turns. These fruit cones carry that same spirit into something lighter, something Tommy could hold in one hand with his little wooden hammer in the other. Make them while the strawberries last. That’s the whole instruction.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 waffle cones or sugar cones
1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fresh mint leaves, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Macerate the fruit. In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Sprinkle with the granulated sugar and lemon juice, then toss gently to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10–15 minutes, stirring once, until the fruit releases its juices and the sugar dissolves.
Whip the cream. In a chilled bowl, beat the heavy cream with a hand mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, then continue beating until medium-firm peaks hold. Do not over-whip.
Pipe or spoon the cream. Place a small dollop of whipped cream in the bottom of each waffle cone to anchor the fruit. This keeps the cone from getting soggy too quickly.
Fill the cones. Using a slotted spoon, divide the macerated fruit evenly among the six cones, allowing some of the juice to drizzle in. Mound the fruit slightly above the rim of each cone.
Top and serve. Finish each cone with a generous spoonful of whipped cream. Garnish with a small mint leaf if desired. Serve immediately, outside if you can manage it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Summertime Fruit Cones — For the Two Good Weeks