Excerpt from the Market Newsletter originally published on 16 June, 2010. View the full newsletter for all the photos and links.
Cooking, and reading about cooking
Who can think of anything but strawberry shortcakes when strawberry season opens? And why make do with those stale spongecake cup things when you can make real shortcakes?
Here's the recipe my mom always used.
Strawberry shortcakes
1 quart strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
Mix strawberries and sugar; let stand 1 hour. (If you need to save time, stop here and just spoon the strawberries generously over good vanilla ice cream. Everyone will say "oooh" and you won't even have to turn on the oven.)
1/3 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
Preheat oven to 450. Use a pastry blender or two table knives to cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until just blended. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently smooth into a ball and knead 20-25 times. Roll out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a floured 3-inch round cutter (or other shapes as desired, adjusting baking times). Place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, abotu 10-12 minutes. Split crosswise while hot. Butter them if desired; fill and top with strawberries and top with sweetened whipped cream: For 1 cup of whipped cream, beat 1/2 cup whipping (heavy) cream with 1 Tbsp. granulated or powdered sugar in a chilled bowl until stiff.
From: Betty Crocker's cookbook (40th anniversary edition). Prentice Hall, c1991.
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A slightly different way to do the berries:
10 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
Crush 3 cups strawberries with a potato masher. Add remaining berries. Sprinkle with sugars and add vinegar. Stir until all berries are coated. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hr.
From: Cooking pleasures, June-July, 2000.
