Strawberry Shortcake

[TrishCT]

My mother-in-law brought over a significant quantity of freshly picked starwberries the other day. So flavorful, a real treat. Decided to make strawberry shortcake so I asked my family if they wanted biscuits or cake with it... and we were evenly divided 2 and 2. Made a mental note to self: In the future don't ask...just make what you @@#$&@ want!

The August issue of Cook's Illustrated (Bought while on a trip, don't usually get it) had a recipe for "Tall, Fluffy Biscuits" so I gave them a whirl. All I can say is "WOW!" What an excellent recipe!! These biscuits are wonderful with perfect flavor and soft, soft, soft texture. My homemade biscuits usually taste like sawdust.....no more... I will NEVER need to travel to the Loveless Cafe in Tennessee for soft fluffy biscuits again!

Served the strawberries on biscuits with freshly whipped heavy cream. After making them I didn't feel like cooking anymore so I bought an Entemann's pound cake (and some vanilla ice cream) for the cake lovers. How do you all make your shortcake?

[Gifted Gourmet]

All American Strawberry Shortcake via Epicurious

Have to admit that the recipe is marvelous! and if you happen to find luscious, succulent strawberries, you will be most pleased with the final result!

[andiesenji]

Sounds wonderful either way.

I like biscuits as well as pound cake, or sponge cake home made lady fingers, or even madeleines under strawberries or any other berry.

I have to confess that sometimes I am very lazy (or tired from doing a lot of other stuff) and simply break up some palmiers (Costco has them in packages of 25) and spoon the berries over the pastry. Nice crunch too.

[Jaymes]

I'm with the others that say anything's great, if the berries are.

My grandmother, who owned a southern comfort food restaurant, always made a special, slightly sweet biscuit recipe for her shortcakes. And hers were my very fave.

But I also like homemade poundcake. That's probably second best.

Third best fave is probably to skip the shortcake altogether and just go with the berries and sweetened Mexican crema.

Of course strawberry pie is pretty darn tasty as well.

Edited June 30, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[chromedome]

Being a Downeaster, I'm a biscuit man all the way.

Having said that, fresh strawberries are of course a perfect accompaniment to any ol' pieces of angel food, white cake, genoise, sponge cake, or similar substance you happen to have lying around. It's just not strawberry shortcake, is all.

[NulloModo]

Hmm, I have always thought angel food cake was the perfect match for strawberry shortcake, but I never thought about a nice big fluffy biscuit...

[chefpeon]

It just goes to show you how "regional" and individual taste preferences are!

Just the other day at work, we were having a debate about cornbread. One side loved the

tall fluffy sweet cornbread, and the other camp loved the crunchy dense unsweetened skillet

cornbread. Moral to the story.....there's no wrong, and no right. Just find out what they like...

then make it. But even then, it's not that simple!

[NulloModo]

It just goes to show you how "regional" and individual taste preferences are!

Just the other day at work, we were having a debate about cornbread. One side loved the

tall fluffy sweet cornbread, and the other camp loved the crunchy dense unsweetened skillet

cornbread. Moral to the story.....there's no wrong, and no right. Just find out what they like...

then make it. But even then, it's not that simple!

Ah, but there is a perfect blend of sweet and savory in cornbread, even as a dessert:

Take a slice of the nice dense non-sweet bread, slice it open face style, big pat of butter on each half, let it melt under something hot for a bit, then drizzle it all with maple syrup. Perfect dessert to end any southern cooking meal.

[Jaymes]

It just goes to show you how "regional" and individual taste preferences are!

Just the other day at work, we were having a debate about cornbread. One side loved the

tall fluffy sweet cornbread, and the other camp loved the crunchy dense unsweetened skillet

cornbread. Moral to the story.....there's no wrong, and no right. Just find out what they like...

then make it. But even then, it's not that simple!

 

Ah, but there is a perfect blend of sweet and savory in cornbread, even as a dessert:

Or breakfast.

Take a nice big hunk o' cornbread, crumble it into a bowl, sprinkle with a little sugar, and add cold milk. Cornbread cereal. Double yum.

[ruthcooks]

I've always used biscuits, or a sweetened biscuit dough baked in a round cake pan and split, but this week I've been enjoying a new treat: warmed vanilla bread pudding with strawberries and whipped cream. Yum. Made the pudding and sweetened the berries with Whey\Low.

[sparrowgrass]

I use pie crust. Roll out a big batch, cut a 4 inch circle for each serving, then cut the rest into stars or moons. Sprinkle them all with some sugar--that turbinado with the big crystals works well. Bake til barely browned on the edges.

Put the berries, sliced and sweetened on the the circle, decorate with the stars and moons and some nice whipped cream.

MMMMM. WANT SOME NOW!!

[TrishCT]

I use pie crust. Roll out a big batch, cut a 4 inch circle for each serving, then cut the rest into stars or moons. Sprinkle them all with some sugar--that turbinado with the big crystals works well. Bake til barely browned on the edges.

Put the berries, sliced and sweetened on the the circle, decorate with the stars and moons and some nice whipped cream.

MMMMM. WANT SOME NOW!!

Sparrow, that sounds very nice and very pretty. too. It reminds me of a recipe a dear late friend gave me for Strawberry Cream Pie Torte. It calls for 3 round layers of pie crust layered with strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.

[KatieM]

Where I'm from (originally East Central Illinois), strawberry shortcake was always made with biscuits. Sometimes individual, sometimes baked in a 9 x 13 and cut into squares. ALWAYS served with homemade vanilla ice cream, fresh picked berries (from the backyard) and freshly whipped cream. Man, we need a drooling smiley! That is the stuff of my childhood and dreams. The biscuits were a perfect slightly salty foil for the sweet and tart of the berries and cream.

When I moved to Baltimore, I was so confused when I got my first order for "Strawberry Shortcake" for a baby shower (to be decorated). I was like, "You want me to make a biscuit in the shape of a cake?" I soon discovered that she meant sponge cake! So I pulled out my old hot milk sponge cake recipe, and filled the layers with whipped cream (with a small addition of strawberry puree), nice ripe berries, and iced the whole thing with whipped cream. Got rave reviews. Guess that's what strawberry shortcake is out here. I think it's definitely a regional thing.

Of course, NONE of these descriptions sound bad! I'd eat any one of them right now!

[Wendy DeBord]

I think people in my area (Chicago burbs) think of strawberry shortcake as they see it regularly in the grocery stores.....you know those packages of yellow cake stacked right by the fresh strawberries.

I like a biscuit myself. In my recipe I use flavored sugar. It's like: the zest of 2 oranges and lemons to 1 1/2 c. reg. sugar, I put it in the cusinart to blend. The sweet citrus undertones are auesome.......when you taste or smell the biscuits you can't quite tell what the flavor is........it's just sweetened fruit.

Today (first day of the Month) I begin running a strawberry shortcake as one of my monthly dessert specials. But for the first time in my life I'm not going to use biscuits. I just don't have the time to bake them off daily and waste quantities of work. So I'm taking the liberty of doing my own thing, I hope it will be well recieved. I'm going to make individual poundcakes, layer with pastry cream, whipped cream and s. berries, sb sauce.

I'm still debating this morning whether I should use a sponge cake or a pound cake.........I'm leaning toward the pound cake and using pastry cream to give this a little more texture and interest.

[claire797]

I grew up eating strawberry shortcake with those pre-packaged mini spongecakes. My mother would put each spongecake in a bowl, cover it with sugar soaked strawberries and then douse the whole thing with Cool Whip. I grew up thinking that was how strawberry shortcake was supposed to be -- spongy. I never liked it much.

The bad image I had of strawberry shortcake ended in 1999 when a friend in CT served it this way:

Huge, split buttermilk biscuit

A little butter

Sprinkling of sugar

Fresh whipped cream with a little more sugar

Good strawberries

And that's the way I make it now, only I throw in blueberries. I do use angel food on occassion -- usually when I'm trying to keep dessert light, but I definitely prefer biscuits.

Wendy, I love the idea of putting orange zest in the biscuits. I'm going to give it a whirl next time.

[andiesenji]

I was planning on strawberry shortcake for dessert this evening after my neighbors and I have our communal cookout. I have a large basket full of strawberries from the garden that needed to be used up.

However I also had a lot of egg whites because I used a bunch of yolks making lemon curd (14- 1/2 pint jars).

So I made schaum torte - big meringues baked till tan, I put them into a dehydrator to keep them crisp. I will split them and fill the middle with strawberries and cream then put the cap back on for the presentation.

Edited July 5, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[Susan G]

My western NY family makes it with a sweet biscuit, the usual strawberries and sugar, and then tops it with maple syrup, not whipped cream. I guess if you live in a place where all the maple trees are tapped each spring, you use what you have on hand!

[artisanbaker]

there seems to be a little disagreement about this in my native south.

i don't really mind either, but i do think that my favorite dessert ever was some macerated strawberries in 1/3 whipped (frothy) heavy cream. the berries were fraises des bois that had been picked just a couple hours before.

i understand customer satisfaction and innovation and all that jazz but K.I.S.S.!

[artisanbaker]

ps i'd just like to emphasize the importance of true butterfat (cream) as opposed to whipped wtf ???????? COOL WHIP???????????

regards

[Wendy DeBord]

Meringues, fruit and whipped cream = pavlovas, to me.

Anyone make blueberry shortcakes? I have a small group tomarrow for lunch that requested this. I can't say that I do much with blueberries.........and I thinking it needs some sort of contrasting component to wake it up. What do you like with blueberries?

I'm expanding on my sb shortcakes making them a little closer to a napoleon. I love pistachios with strawberries so I'm going to play with a pistachio pastry cream layer on top caramelized with sugar, layers of pound cake, sb.'s and sb sauce, whipped cream.......... and see if anyone else likes it.

[browniebaker]

Anyone make blueberry shortcakes? I have a small group tomarrow for lunch that requested this. I can't say that I do much with blueberries.........and I thinking it needs some sort of contrasting component to wake it up. What do you like with blueberries?

I make blueberry shortcakes: biscuits topped with the fresh blueberry pie-filling that Rose Levy Beranbaum uses for the fresh open-faced blueberry pie in The Pie and Pastry Bible. The filling is 3 cups fresh whole blueberries stirred into a glaze made on the stovetop using one cup blueberries, water, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

I find the filling tasty enough without need for adding anything to "wake it up." The lemon juice in it is key.

But maybe for color contrast one could sprinkle on a few red raspberries.

Also, a scattering of butter-roasted pecans would be delicious.

[LaurieA-B]

Anyone make blueberry shortcakes? I have a small group tomarrow for lunch that requested this. I can't say that I do much with blueberries.........and I thinking it needs some sort of contrasting component to wake it up. What do you like with blueberries?

Blueberries and lemon are definitely delicious. Maybe lemon zest in the biscuit, or in the whipped cream? This weekend I'm planning to try the blueberry-cream cheese tarts from The Last Course. The filling is pastry cream made with cream cheese, lightened with whipped cream. Perhaps in a shortcake you could use some combination of cream cheese, creme fraiche, and/or whipped cream to give a slightly tart edge.

[andiesenji]

Meringues, fruit and whipped cream = pavlovas, to me.

Schaum torte or schaumtorten is similar to pavlova in that both are baked meringues. However schaum torte is the classic Austrian dessert and is split into layers. Since it is difficult to cut with a knife, one uses a multipronged tool to make punctures all around the circumference of the schaum torte and lift the layer off. I can manage a 3 layer torten but have seen as many as 5. Very tricky. The filling has to be light enough to not make the meringue collapse but still have enough fruit to flavor it. It is a spectacular persentation when done correctly. They can be made as individual servings but the classic is a large meringue baked on a sheet pan. Now I only do two layers as it is much easier.

[TrishCT]

Anyone make blueberry shortcakes? I have a small group tomarrow for lunch that requested this. I can't say that I do much with blueberries.........and I thinking it needs some sort of contrasting component to wake it up. What do you like with blueberries?

I make blueberry shortcakes: biscuits topped with the fresh blueberry pie-filling that Rose Levy Beranbaum uses for the fresh open-faced blueberry pie in The Pie and Pastry Bible. The filling is 3 cups fresh whole blueberries stirred into a glaze made on the stovetop using one cup blueberries, water, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

I find the filling tasty enough without need for adding anything to "wake it up." The lemon juice in it is key.

But maybe for color contrast one could sprinkle on a few red raspberries.

Also, a scattering of butter-roasted pecans would be delicious.

A variation of this same idea is to make a sauce on the stove with half the fresh blueberries...then at the end stir in the other half of the blueberries...that way not all the blueberriers are cooked.

This is the blueberry filling I use for things not being baked.

A little fresh fresh lemon juice and zest keeps it fresh.

[Samaki]

Lime also works well with blueberries, and cinnamon.

FWIW strawberry shortcake to me is definitely hot, flaky biscuits, lightly buttered, topped with sliced, lighlty sugared strawberries, and softl whipped cream. Mmmmmmm.