Be sure to head over to The Virtual Kitchen on Wednesday for a strawberry festival. Looks very promising.
In honor of their special event, I'm reposting my favorite Strawberry Shortcake, because I believe mine to be the best, of course.
Strawberry Shortcake
I love anything with strawberries, but my own Strawberry Shortcake is on my Top Ten Desserts list. I know that most people don't care much what goes into their Strawberry Shortcake, but I have an exact group of ingredients. Sorry, no variations -- I'm fairly rigid on this. I make it the way my mom did. I like biscuit-type shortcake and my one odd ingredient that most people don't use is vanilla pudding. It goes between the bottom layer of biscuit and the strawberries. I have assembled my favorite recipes here, and they are from a variety of places, but I use these exact recipes each time I make it.
The shortcake recipe can be made into 6 squares, but what I usually do is use a round biscuit cutter and the recipe makes more that way. Adjust your strawberry quantity to fit the number of biscuits -- you'll need the larger quantity of strawberries if you make smaller, round biscuits. You can use a package of cook and serve vanilla pudding and it's still very good. You can also use Splenda in the shortcakes, strawberries and whipping cream and use a package of sugar-free pudding -- it's a great recipe for diabetics.
Strawberry Shortcake
serves 6 - 8
Shortcake
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ t salt
1 T baking powder
5 T sugar, divided
½ cup butter, frozen (or really cold)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup cold half-and-half
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and 3 Tbs. sugar in a medium bowl. Grate 2 Tbs. of the butter on the coarse holes of a box grater into dry ingredients; toss to coat. Repeat grating and tossing with remaining butter. Combine egg and half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with a fork to form large clumps. Lightly press clumps into a ball; add a teaspoon more half-and-half to the bowl if dough won't come together.
Turn dough onto work surface; press into an 8-by-4- to 5-inch rectangle. Cut into 6 squares, placing them 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.) Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
(I usually use biscuit cutters to cut round shortcakes.)
Vanilla Pudding
1/3 c. sugar
2 T. plus 1-1/2 t. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
2 c. whole milk
2 t. vanilla
Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt, in a heavy saucepan. Stir in 1/3 c. milk to make a runny paste. Whisk in the rest of the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring (with spoon) constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Reduce heat to low, stirring briskly, bringing to simmer, then cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour pudding into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto pudding. Chill until completely cold.
NOTE: Lowfat milk can be used, but pudding will not be as thick. Taste is the same.
serves 6 - 8
3-5 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 - 1/2 c. sugar (depending upon how sweet berries are)
Shortcakes (recipe below)
Vanilla Pudding (recipe below)
1 pint whipping cream
1 T. sugar
Place sliced strawberries in a large bowl, sprinkle with sugar. Stir; cover and let sit at room temperature for several hours. When ready to serve, whip cream and 1 T. sugar until soft peaks form. Take one shortcake and split horizontally and place in a bowl. Spoon several spoonfuls of vanilla pudding on top of bottom half of biscuit. Top with several spoonfuls of strawberries and juice. Top with other biscuit half. Top with several spoonfuls of whipping cream. Yum!
1/4 - 1/2 c. sugar (depending upon how sweet berries are)
Shortcakes (recipe below)
Vanilla Pudding (recipe below)
1 pint whipping cream
1 T. sugar
Place sliced strawberries in a large bowl, sprinkle with sugar. Stir; cover and let sit at room temperature for several hours. When ready to serve, whip cream and 1 T. sugar until soft peaks form. Take one shortcake and split horizontally and place in a bowl. Spoon several spoonfuls of vanilla pudding on top of bottom half of biscuit. Top with several spoonfuls of strawberries and juice. Top with other biscuit half. Top with several spoonfuls of whipping cream. Yum!
Shortcake
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ t salt
1 T baking powder
5 T sugar, divided
½ cup butter, frozen (or really cold)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup cold half-and-half
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and 3 Tbs. sugar in a medium bowl. Grate 2 Tbs. of the butter on the coarse holes of a box grater into dry ingredients; toss to coat. Repeat grating and tossing with remaining butter. Combine egg and half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with a fork to form large clumps. Lightly press clumps into a ball; add a teaspoon more half-and-half to the bowl if dough won't come together.
Turn dough onto work surface; press into an 8-by-4- to 5-inch rectangle. Cut into 6 squares, placing them 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.) Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
(I usually use biscuit cutters to cut round shortcakes.)
Vanilla Pudding
1/3 c. sugar
2 T. plus 1-1/2 t. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
2 c. whole milk
2 t. vanilla
Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt, in a heavy saucepan. Stir in 1/3 c. milk to make a runny paste. Whisk in the rest of the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring (with spoon) constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Reduce heat to low, stirring briskly, bringing to simmer, then cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour pudding into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto pudding. Chill until completely cold.
NOTE: Lowfat milk can be used, but pudding will not be as thick. Taste is the same.
1 comment:
That looks so wonderful! What is is about strawberries that just want whipped cream or pudding and shortcake! ?
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