(REVISED) Japanese Fruit Sandwich フルーツサンド (Strawberry Sando)

Description

This Japanese fruit sandwich, also called fruit sando or strawberry sando, is a Japanese sandwich made with fresh strawberries and other fruit, sliced white bread or milk bread (shokupan), and fresh whipped cream!

Ingredients

• 4 slices bread
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 1 ½ Tablespoons sugar - or to taste
• 14 strawberries - use 5 to 7 per sandwich

Equipment

• Hand mixer, stand mixer, or wisk

Prep Time

• 20 min

Chilling Time

• 20 min

Total Time

• 40 min

Servings

• 4

Instructions

1. Prep strawberries: Wash the strawberries or other fruit. Dry thoroughly and cut off the stems. For smaller fruits like strawberries, they can be left whole. For larger fruits, like mangoes, cut them into flat slices, around 3/4 inch thickness. Set aside.
2. Whip cream: Place sugar into a metal bowl and add the whipping cream. Using a hand-held or stand mixer, whip the mixture on medium-high speed until it forms stiff peaks, about 3-4 minutes. Alternatively, whisking the mixture by hand also works and should follow a similar procedure but may just take a bit longer.
3. Place strawberries: Spread the whipped cream on a slice of bread about ½ inch thick. Arrange the strawberries in an even layer on the cream, making sure that the center of each piece of fruit will fall in the middle of the cut lines for the sandwich. Here is a photo for reference.
4. Cover strawberries: Spread more whipped cream on top of the strawberries to fill in the gaps. Top with another slice of bread.
5. Wrap: (Optional) Tightly wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and let it set in the fridge. I recommend at least 20 minutes for easier slicing.
6. Remove crust and serve: Unwrap the sandwich and remove the crust with a sharp knife. Cut the sando in half or quarters while remembering the placement of your fruit design. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

1. Other fruit options: For best results, use fresh fruit that's in season and firm enough to hold its shape. Mangos, oranges, kiwis, blueberries, or peaches make great alternatives. Mix and match to your liking!
2. Make ahead - Fruit sandos can be made ahead up to two days in advance. Any longer and the bread may get soggy. Store in the fridge covered in plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Tips:

• Don't over whip the cream - it will get grainy.
• Use vibrant, colorful fruit that's firm enough to use in a sandwich. Soft or overly ripe fruit will make the sandwich soggy.
• Keep presentation in mind when arranging the fruit so that when sliced in half or quarters, it's aesthetically pleasing.

Recipe Website References

1. Brown Eyed Baker

I love how this website makes use of imagery. It sounds obvious, but I think letting the pictures take center stage and speak for themselves is a good way to entice people to click on the recipes.

2. The Woks of Life

I like how visually cohesive everything is—like how the warm colors in the header tie in with the warm tones used in most of their recipe images. I also appreciate how the creators are aware that many of the people visiting their site may be unfamiliar with traditional Chinese ingredients, so there's a whole tab dedicated to describing them. My only small nitpick is that I wish they listed out all the ingredients in a hyperlinked format at the beginning of the blog post so readers can quickly glance over and click whichever one is most relevant to them, instead of needing to scroll through the whole page.

3. The Kitchn

I like the layout of the recipes because the ingredients are displayed alongside the steps. This way, the readers don't have to scroll back and forth when they are cooking. A small suggestion to make this feature even better, however, is if the ingredients panel follows you when you scroll further down the list of directions because at a certain point they do disappear, and you have to manually navigate back up.

Non-Recipe Website References

1. Junges SchauSpielHaus Hamburg

I enjoy how a single page can still feel interesting. For instance, I like how when you scroll up, the images move like a flip book. It was just a nice extra touch that prevented something the site from feeling too static.

2. I-Studio

I like that while this website is minimal, it still pays a lot of attention to the little details and is very responsive. For instance, when you hover over different buttons, they will subtely move in place. This allows the page to come off as much more dynamic.

3. byjaciemota
I enjoy the playful, colorful design because it is very eye-catching. I also like this website's interactivity. Similar to the previous example, there are little animated actions that occur when you hover or click on parts of the page that make the user experience really satisfying.