When I started this blog last Fall, I wanted it to be a warehouse not only of my incoherent ramblings, but also of some of my favorite dessert recipes. You may remember the crepe recipe from a few months back (I need to learn how to tag things--as soon as I do, that'll make the recipe aspect a bit easier). It was very easy and very versatile. Crepes are, indeed, one of my favorite dessert options.
What you may not know is that my favorite dessert in the world, in THE WORLD, is Strawberry Shortcakes. I don't know if its because I still associate them with a cartoon I liked in my childhood, I don't know if it's because the name sounds so inherently wholesome, or if it's because the combination of fruit, cake, cream, coolness, and warmth is complete perfection. It could be all three.
Anyway, the last few weeks have been a bit draining emotionally as I work towards the next phase of my life. So, I decided to slow things down today and cook a bit. And, I decided to attempt my favorite dessert because baking in of itself is relaxing, and if it worked out, I'd have a delicious treat. Ain't nothing wrong with that. The dessert was an unabashed success on every level (except that I didn't have strawberries, just frozen raspberries--which was really more than adequate as a replacement):
I opted to make little individual shortcakes so that I wouldn't have to worry about my dessert getting soggy--if I were cooking for a large group (e.g. what I need to do on Thursday), I would have made one large shortcake.
Here's the recipe (from Better Homes and Gardens, 2002, probably THE BEST cookbook out there for any novice chef):
Strawberry (or in my case, Raspberry Shortcake...from here on out, just assume you can substitute fruits):
Ingredients:
6 Cups Sliced Strawberries
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Tsps Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Butter (1/2 cup=1 Stick, by the way)
1 Beaten Egg
2/3 Cup Milk
1 Cup Whipping Cream, whipped (recipe for that is below)
[This is somewhat consolidated--for the real deal, pick up the book]
1. Take your fruit and a 1/4 cup of your sugar and combine them, then put them aside.
2. Take your dry ingredients (flour, your remaining sugar, baking powder) and combine them. Let the butter soften, and add it to your dry mixture until crumbly.
3. In a separate bowl, combine your egg and milk. Then add that mixture to the flour mixture from step 2 until you get a slightly moist dough.
4. For your whipped cream: take 1 cup of whipping cream (not whole milk, not half and half or table cream--you need whipping cream), 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. In a chilled medium sized mixing bowl (just toss a bowl in the freezer at the start of the process), beat the three ingredients with an electric mixer on medium until soft peaks form. For me, that takes about 5 minutes.
5. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. For individual shortcakes, take heaping tablespoons of dough and put them in rounded spoonfuls on a baking sheet. Then flatten them a bit (not less than 3/4 of an inch). Bake 10 minutes, or until golden.
6. When the shortcakes are done, cut them in half so that you have a top and bottom. Put a heaping spoon of whipping cream between the top and bottom--then put a layer of your raspberry compote on top of that. Then repeat on top of the whole thing (this should be intuitive--if not, see the picture above to get a sense of what it should look like).
7. Enjoy, then brag to your friends and family about the delicious thing you just created. It's easy, fast, and so very tasty.
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1 comment:
Did you take that picture? It looks amazing. Yum.
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