| Biscuits and Shortcakes as a Base for Fresh Berries and Cream (Recipes) |
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Late May might bring local strawberries for shortcake fans. (SHNS photo courtesy The Cincinnati Post.)
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By Joyce Rosencrans
Scripps Howard News Service I always look forward to shortcake season, and it's finally here. California strawberries are the ones to first be sliced, sugared and sloshed over hot, flaky biscuits in a bowl. Then come the luscious local strawberries, then quarter-size blueberries, red and black raspberries, blackberries and fresh, juicy peaches. This parade of fresh berries and fruit make fabulous biscuit shortcakes topped with dollops of softly whipped cream from May until September. If I'm ever short on berries, some green kiwi slices fill in nicely for a colorful shortcake duo. There may be arguments lingering in some households about the best base for shortcake. Is it to be sponge cake, pound cake or biscuits? I say biscuits, as do many Midwesterners and Southerners, though a lot can be done to modify biscuit dough for flattering fresh berries and peaches, each in their season. Just for shortcakes, I like to freeze a stick of real butter, then grate it over all-purpose or self-rising flour to make an ultra-rich biscuit. At the very least, I increase the amount of butter-flavored shortening a bit, or use part butter, part shortening. Generally, I prefer buttermilk biscuits, but it doesn't seem to matter for shortcakes; sweet milk is just fine, so baking powder would be the proper leavening instead of baking soda. Neither does one have to labor over rolling out and cutting perfectly round biscuits for shortcake. Just pat the dough into a square shape and slice through a couple times at right angles to quickly form square biscuits. Or pat the dough, at least a half-inch thick, in a square baking pan. After baking at a high oven temperature, usually 400 degrees or above, turn out the entire piece and split horizontally, stuff with fruit and cream, then add the top piece for a company-style, cake-plate presentation of shortcake. This works especially well when fresh peaches are available. For strawberry shortcake, I prefer a juicier presentation in individual bowls. And, while strawberries last, try enriching real whipping cream for cushioning the layers with a big spoonful of sour cream, a sprinkling of brown sugar and half-teaspoon of vanilla. Add all of this after the whipping cream is softly whipped. The sweet cream-sour cream combination is also good with fresh-peach shortcake. Long ago, I learned it's useless to predict the summer berry crops. It doesn't matter if strawberry plants are loaded with white bloom or even green and red berries. A string of rainy days can change all that. Even one strong rainstorm, not to mention hail, reduces fields full of strawberries to soggy red mush. Later in the summer, I try not to let my expectations rise when the hillsides are filled with white bloom on wild blackberry canes. It doesn't mean I'll be having many. Birds seem to beat me to those and to the domesticated red raspberries near the woods at my parents' home. Besides, picking berries from thorny canes in scrubby brush populated by mosquitoes is not much fun on hot summer days. I hated picking strawberries, too, when I was a kid because, if you notice, they're actually on the ground. My jeans always had muddy knees. And my Dad always had a really large berry patch to patrol for ripening strawberries. I came to detest the word describing those viney plants with runners -- everbearing. I was ever-bored. However, the rewards were great at suppertime because, while I was filling a bowl with red, sweet strawberries, my mother was in the kitchen patting out biscuit dough for shortcake. She made really "short" biscuits during the summer shortcake season, "short" meaning high in shortening and butter, thus the biscuits baked up extra tender and flaky. We never had those commercial sponge cake rounds or pound cake for strawberry shortcake. It had to be biscuits. I still feel the same for raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and sliced fresh peaches or nectarines. I even concocted a fresh apricot-Bing cherry shortcake stack once because we had both on hand, the surprise shipped by Seattle relatives one July when they could get the locally grown fruit at roadside stands at deep discounts. In fact, Washington State is shortcake heaven. Check out Pike Place Market in Seattle, close by Puget Sound. You'll find an array of cloudberries, dewberries, gooseberries, golden and red raspberries, golden Rainier cherries, red Bings and Lamberts and fresh apricots.
Shortcake for a Few Ingredients: 3 pints strawberries, rinsed, hulled (see note)
1/3 cup sugar (or to taste) Ingredients for Shortcakes: 2 cups all-purpose bleached flour, plus more for rolling biscuit dough
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar, divided use
1 stick (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter, frozen
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. half-and-half (cream)
1 egg white, lightly beaten Ingredients for Topping: 1 half-pint whipping cream
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. sour cream, or to taste Preparation: To prepare strawberries, crush 1 pint of the hulled berries with 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl, using a wire potato masher. Quarter the remaining berries lengthwise, or sliced crosswise, if preferred. Stir into the sweetened mashed berries and set aside while preparing the shortcakes (or up to 2 hours). Be sure berries are at room temperature when serving for most intense fruit flavor. For best-ever biscuit shortcakes: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, mix 2 cups flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Using large holes of a box grater, grate the frozen stick of butter into dry ingredients (this is a quick way to obtain a properly crumbly mixture with pea-size lumps). Using a fork, toss flour mixture with butter bits, then use a wire pastry blender to cut butter into flour mixture. In a large measuring cup, mix fork-beaten egg with half-and-half. Pour into flour mixture all at once. Toss with fork until large dough clumps form. Turn mixture onto a floured work surface and lightly knead just until it comes together. Pat dough into a rectangle 3/4-inch thick. Approximate size will be 9x6 inches. Flour a 2-3/4-inch biscuit cutter. Cut 6 biscuit rounds. Place an inch apart on a small, ungreased baking sheet. Brush biscuit tops with lightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until light golden brown. Place baking sheet on wire rack; cool shortcakes until just warm, maybe 5 minutes or so. Split each shortcake crosswise by hand. Place bottom of each in a shallow dessert bowl or soup plate. Spoon on a generous portion of strawberries, then top with whipped cream and cap off with a warm biscuit top. To prepare whipped cream, start beating at high speed while cream is very cold; when softly beaten, beat in brown sugar, vanilla, sour cream to taste. Note: This may seem like a lot of berries, but allow at least a cupful of sliced strawberries per biscuit for a juicy result. Besides, the berries have all the vitamins and food value, not the biscuits and cream. Serves: 6
Easy Sour Cream Drop Shortcakes Ingredients: 2 cups self-rising flour
3 Tbs. sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup milk
At least 6 cups sliced strawberries, sweetened
1 cup whipping cream, whipped with 1 Tbs. sugar
Preparation: Heat oven to 400. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. In medium mixing bowl, combine self-rising flour and sugar. In smaller bowl, combine melted butter, sour cream and milk. Whisk well, then pour over dry ingredients. Stir just until blended. Drop dough by large heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Split warm shortcakes, fill with berries and softly whipped cream. Serves: 8 to 10 shortcakes
Shortcake Sheetcake Recipe from Martha White (Nashville, TN flour producer). Ingredients: 2 cups self-rising flour
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter, frozen
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
8-10 cups sliced, sweetened strawberries
1 cup whipping cream, whipped with 1 Tbs. sugar Preparation: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease bottom of a 13x9-inch baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine self-rising flour and sugar. Using large holes of a box grater, put frozen-butter bits into the flour, stirring with a fork. Moosh through with fingertips to form a crumbly mixture. Add egg and milk; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spread batter evenly in baking pan. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Cut into squares; fill with berries and cream. Serves: 10
(Joyce Rosencrans is home editor of the Cincinnati Post.)
RESOURCES :
Totally Strawberries Cookbook
Model: 0890878951
Author: Helene Siegel and Karen Gillingham
(1999)
Celestial Arts
Berkeley, CA 94707
Phone: 510-559-1600
Fax: 510-559-1629
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