With the recent boom of strawberries in our home, one thing that I decided I had to make this year with the bounty was Strawberry Shortcake. I know that Andy has always been a fan, and while my interest comes and goes, this year I was going to make them, because it just sounded like a good thing to do. I sliced some strawberries and put them in a bowl with a small sprinkling of sugar. This sugar would coax out the strawberry juices and give us a delightfully sweet syrup to douse the shortcakes with. Just ten minutes was all it took for the juices to flow and the sugar to be completely dissolved. Then I had to whip some cream. Fresh only will do- and I was delighted to actually find cream that had not been ultra-pasteurized. It’s hard to find around here- and often times the organic cream is completely sold out, so I have to make do with the ultra-pasteurized. It still whips up, but it’s missing a depth of flavor that real cream has.
Then I needed to find a shortcake to make. I flipped through book after book looking for the perfect one, and just wasn’t finding it. Then my eye landed on Baking by Dorie Greenspan, and I just knew she would have a recipe for me. She did, but as I read it through, I wondered how good these shortcakes could really be? There wasn’t much to them, and the idea of just patting together to dough sounded strange to me. But Dorie has never steered me wrong before, so I decided to give them a try.
The dough came together incredibly fast. Flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, butter and whipping cream are combined JUST until the come together. Then I took the dough and literally pulled off fist-sized balls, smoothed them up and then flattened them on my baking sheet to about 1-inch thickness. I did decide to brush the tops with milk and sprinkle them lightly with cinnamon sugar to add a little something to their appearance. Twenty minutes in a 425ºF oven and I had 12 perfect looking shortcakes. But how would they taste?
Like the best shortcake you’ve ever had. The shortcakes I’ve always had before have been very, very similar to a biscuit. Lightly sweet, tender, but unmistakeably related to a biscuit. For the first time I discovered where shortcakes get their name- from their cousin the shortbread. Oh yes, these shortcakes were like a cross between a biscuit and a shortbread. They were delicious. They were slightly sweet, buttery, and they were the perfect thing to ladle some strawberries and cream over. As it happened, I discovered later on that these shortcakes are also delicious eaten straight up- even two days later. I will never make another kind of shortcake again- unless I make chocolate shortcakes, but even then, Dorie has a recipe for a chocolate version, and I suspect it’s equally delicious.
If you’ve never been a fan of Strawberry Shortcake because of the biscuity shortcake- try this one, you won’t be disappointed. If you would like to see a great visual of the shortcakes being made, I found this demonstration over at The Tortefeasor. She also made a peach variation that looks positively scrumptious.
Tender Shortcakes
from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Makes about 10 shortcakes (I made 12)
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat. (Note: I did not line my baking sheets at all and I had no trouble with sticking. The shortcakes slid right off the pan.)
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces in between – and that’s just right. (I used a pastry blender.)
Pour the cream over the dry ingredients and toss and gently turn the ingredients with a fork until you’ve got a very soft dough. When the dough comes together, you’ll probably still have dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl – just use a spatula or your hands to mix and knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. Don’t overdo it; it’s better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. Even with all the flour mixed in, the dough will be soft and sticky.
Spoon out about 1/3 cup of dough for each shortcake onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the mounts of dough. Pat each mound down until is is between 3/4 and 1 inch high. (The shortcakes can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake with out defrosting – just add at least 5 more minutes to the oven time.)
Optional: Before baking, brush the tops of the shortcakes lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar to add a little crunch and sweetness to the exterior. I used cinnamon sugar- I think turbinado or raw sugar would be very pretty as well.
If you have more dough, repeat, cooling the baking sheet first.
Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back at the midway point, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a bit when prodded. Pull the sheet from the oven and transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack.