I thought strawberry shortcake would be an all-American dessert. In the New York countryside strawberries would come into season nearly the same time as corn. In 2008 my friend Kristen and I spent a morning picking strawberries at a nearby farm. They were delicious and it was difficult not to eat them as we were picking. We confessed this to the farmer but he didn't charge us for it, probably because we had picked enough to fill a large basket. Only after we paid did we begin to worry about the massive quantity of fruit. We shouldn't have worried because my roommate, Chris, was a very large, very hungry man. He was of Swedish decent and looked every bit like one of those vikings that you find on the cover of romance novels. He had long, blond hair and spoke in such a low growl that he was somewhat unintelligible. It was futile to carry on a phone conversation with him because all you would hear was the sound of an idling engine. He consumed over a hundred strawberries in less than an hour.
To my great shock, SB didn't know what I was serving him for dessert. He had avoided strawberries as a child because he thought they looked too much like his nemesis, the tomato. He did not understand how difficult it is to make a good shortcake, one that is light and fragile instead of dry or dense. He didn't know how truly American this dessert is, how it is associated with lemonade and sweet corn and fireworks. All he knew was that it tasted good, but it was enough.
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Strawberry Shortcakes for two
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
very, very small pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter in small pieces
½ cups cold heavy cream
Preheat the (toaster)oven to 425°F (205°C). Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet, to go in the middle rack of the oven.
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and pinch it together with the flour until you break the butter up into small flakes. You do not want to overwork the flour and butter or your shortcakes will be hard instead of light. Pour the cream into the ingredients and mix gently with a fork just until it is blended. You may have to knead with your hands (gently). The dough should be sticky.
Divide the dough into who portions and place on the baking sheet so that the shortcakes are more than three inches apart and about an inch high. Bake for about 20 minutes when they are lightly golden and puffy. They will be fragile so carefully transfer them to the cooling rack.
Whip 350ml or so of cream until it is light and fluffy. You may add some sugar or vanilla to the cream but I prefer it plain.
Wash a container of strawberries and slice them. You may sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar on them to release some juices that you can drizzle over the top of your shortcakes.
Use a serrated knife and carefully cut the shortcakes in half horizontally. Don't worry too much if they break because you can hide it with the whipped cream. Put some whipped cream and then strawberries on half of the shortcake and then place the other half on top.
To my great shock, SB didn't know what I was serving him for dessert. He had avoided strawberries as a child because he thought they looked too much like his nemesis, the tomato. He did not understand how difficult it is to make a good shortcake, one that is light and fragile instead of dry or dense. He didn't know how truly American this dessert is, how it is associated with lemonade and sweet corn and fireworks. All he knew was that it tasted good, but it was enough.
Strawberry Shortcakes for two
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
very, very small pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter in small pieces
½ cups cold heavy cream
Preheat the (toaster)oven to 425°F (205°C). Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet, to go in the middle rack of the oven.
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and pinch it together with the flour until you break the butter up into small flakes. You do not want to overwork the flour and butter or your shortcakes will be hard instead of light. Pour the cream into the ingredients and mix gently with a fork just until it is blended. You may have to knead with your hands (gently). The dough should be sticky.
Divide the dough into who portions and place on the baking sheet so that the shortcakes are more than three inches apart and about an inch high. Bake for about 20 minutes when they are lightly golden and puffy. They will be fragile so carefully transfer them to the cooling rack.
Whip 350ml or so of cream until it is light and fluffy. You may add some sugar or vanilla to the cream but I prefer it plain.
Wash a container of strawberries and slice them. You may sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar on them to release some juices that you can drizzle over the top of your shortcakes.
Use a serrated knife and carefully cut the shortcakes in half horizontally. Don't worry too much if they break because you can hide it with the whipped cream. Put some whipped cream and then strawberries on half of the shortcake and then place the other half on top.
Comments
I find it's too hot and humid to cut cold butter into flour. The butter always melts.
It's even worse if I try to do it with my hands, though the two-knife trick isn't great either.
I've even tried it with the air con totally blasting, to no avail. Maybe I'll try it in front of an open fridge door?
This last time I forgot to place the bowl but I keep the flour in the freezer anyway (ever since I found some weevils). It came out fine. the biggest risk is overworking it.
Pie crust is not forgiving at all. I'm abashed to say that both of us -- me and my professional chef husband -- use frozen pastry at home, either filo or normal pie crust.
My family is a pie family and I am one of only two who can turn out a good pie crust. It ensures that they will always have to love me. My father picks huckleberries in Montana once per year and freezes them until I come to visit so I can make him pies.