We once shared the making of Rhubarb-Strawberry Short Cake. Today’s recipe is for just the strawberries. When Liane was a child and we were visiting Orlando, Florida in winter, we used to drop down to Plant City. There was a roadside stand there where we used to get delicious and humongous servings of Strawberry Short Cake. We remember the experience to this day. So, since ‘tis the season for strawberries from our own fields, let’s enjoy!
Strawberry Short Cake
Ingredients
- 6 cups of strawberries in halves (or quarters, if overly large)
- ¼ cup of granulated sugar for the strawberries and another ¼ cup for the shortcake
- 4 teaspoons of baking soda and ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- ¾ cup of cold butter (preferably unsalted), cut into cubes
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 1 ½ cup of 35% (whipping) cream
- 2 tablespoons of additional sugar (for the whipped cream)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 3 or 4 tablespoons of icing or confectioner’s sugar for sprinkling
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 400F
- Mix the strawberries and the sugar together in a bowl, cover and refrigerate
- Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda together in another bowl
- Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients (get yourself a pastry cutter)
- Pour in the buttermilk and fold it into the dry ingredients and butter mixture
- Get the dough to the point where you can place it on a surface dusted with flour
- With your hands and a rolling pin dusted with flour, flatten into a 1 inch slab
- Turn it over and flatten it again till you get to about ¾ of an inch thick
- Use a biscuit cutter or a handy glass that is about 3 inches across to cut rounds
- Place the rounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
- Brush the tops with some buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar
- Bake for 15 or 20 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown
- Make up some whipped cream (cream, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of sugar)
Now comes the fun part. Once the biscuits have cooled just a bit, slice them in half. Pull out your strawberries and heap them on the biscuit halves. Slather with whipped cream and sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve right away with dark coffee or Earl Gray Tea or perhaps an impertinent little cold rosé. All the best from pcormier@ranaprocess.com.
