Strawberry shortcakes is one of those recipes you just have to love. I mean, is there anything better than strawberries and whipped cream? Looking for a recipe, I turned to my favorite cookbook How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I feel like in the long past I had made strawberry shortcakes out of here before and was disappointed, but decided to give it another try. I wasn't even sure if my memory was correct! However,making strawberry shortcakes can be a lot of work. Especially when you want to make everything from scratch (which of course I did). It means making cream scones, then making homemade whipped cream and then putting it all together. So, one step at a time, here you go:
Cream Scones
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons
baking
powder
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cold
3 eggs
3/4 cup
heavy
cream
1/3 cup
blueberries
1 tablespoon water
Procedure:
1) Preheat the oven to 450.
2) Mix dry ingredients together in a food processor, reserving 1 Tbsp sugar. Cut butter into bits and pulse ingredients until
thoroughly blended.
3) Beat 2 eggs with cream, and blend
into dry ingredients with a few swift strokes. Use only a few more strokes to add blueberries.
4) Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead 10 times; no
more. If it is very sticky, add a little flour, but very little; don't worry if
it sticks a bit to your hands.
5) Press the dough into a 3/4 inch rectangle and cut into 2 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass. Place the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again; this recipe will produce 10-14 biscuits.
6) Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoonful of water and brush the top of each scone; sprinkle each with a little of the remaining sugar.
7) Bake 7-9 minutes, or until the scones are a beautiful golden
brown.
Strawberry Shortcakes
Notes: Makes 12 shortcakes, enough for 12 people
Time: About 40 minutes from scratch, less with already-made biscuits
Ingredients:
1 recipe cream scones (see above)
2 pints (1 quart) ripe strawberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups heavy cream, preferably not ultra-pasteurized
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Procedure:
1) Make the scones and bake them. Let them cool on a rack when they're done; you don't want to eat them hot.
2) Meanwhile, wash, hull, and slice the strawberries. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of sugar and let sit while you whip the cream.
3) Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks, then whip 1 minute more, incorporating the remaining sugar and the vanilla.
4) Split the scones and fill them with cream and strawberries. Serve immediately.
There you go. Homemade strawberry shortcakes. I didn't bother to hull the strawberries as I'm lazy and hulls don't bother me that much. And I made my scones way larger than the 2" round as I, forgetting that they would expand in the oven, thought 2" was way too small. This was also the point where I found out my cookie sheet wouldn't fit in the oven and I baked it on a 9 x 13 pan as that was all I had that was big enough and they expanded to fill up almost the whole thing. Oops. How I miss a full-size kitchen.
Speaking of missing a full-sized kitchen, I promised to tell you about the whipped-cream disaster. Well, this was when I was trying to whip the cream (alas, we got ultra-pasteurized which was not as quick to whip) on my tiny little countertop the unthinkable happened. Can you guess? Yes, I knocked the bowl over sending mostly whipped cream everywhere. On me. On the couch/chair of our kitchen table. On Scott (a little). On the counter. All over the floor. Did you know whipped cream spilled on the floor is really hard to clean up? And, once you do somehow manage to wipe it all off it leaves a nice fatty residue on the floor that is really really slippery? Well, now you do. Fortunately, there was a little left in the bowl so we had enough for Scott and I to have a serving. Argh!!
Strawberry Shortcakes
Notes: Makes 12 shortcakes, enough for 12 people
Time: About 40 minutes from scratch, less with already-made biscuits
Ingredients:
1 recipe cream scones (see above)
2 pints (1 quart) ripe strawberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups heavy cream, preferably not ultra-pasteurized
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Procedure:
1) Make the scones and bake them. Let them cool on a rack when they're done; you don't want to eat them hot.
2) Meanwhile, wash, hull, and slice the strawberries. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of sugar and let sit while you whip the cream.
3) Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks, then whip 1 minute more, incorporating the remaining sugar and the vanilla.
4) Split the scones and fill them with cream and strawberries. Serve immediately.
There you go. Homemade strawberry shortcakes. I didn't bother to hull the strawberries as I'm lazy and hulls don't bother me that much. And I made my scones way larger than the 2" round as I, forgetting that they would expand in the oven, thought 2" was way too small. This was also the point where I found out my cookie sheet wouldn't fit in the oven and I baked it on a 9 x 13 pan as that was all I had that was big enough and they expanded to fill up almost the whole thing. Oops. How I miss a full-size kitchen.
Speaking of missing a full-sized kitchen, I promised to tell you about the whipped-cream disaster. Well, this was when I was trying to whip the cream (alas, we got ultra-pasteurized which was not as quick to whip) on my tiny little countertop the unthinkable happened. Can you guess? Yes, I knocked the bowl over sending mostly whipped cream everywhere. On me. On the couch/chair of our kitchen table. On Scott (a little). On the counter. All over the floor. Did you know whipped cream spilled on the floor is really hard to clean up? And, once you do somehow manage to wipe it all off it leaves a nice fatty residue on the floor that is really really slippery? Well, now you do. Fortunately, there was a little left in the bowl so we had enough for Scott and I to have a serving. Argh!!
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| Strawberry shortcake. The little bit of yellow you see on the bottom is leftover mustard from the hot dogs. |
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