One of the foodie pages I follow on Facebook gave me the idea to serve strawberry shortcake for Easter, so I was happy to see that the Giant had a bogo sale on 1-lb boxes of berries. I picked them up on Friday, along with the vital wheat gluten I was going to need for my bread, forgetting the second most-important element of strawberry shortcake.
The whipped cream. Hence the obviously-canned variety festooning my biscuit. Thanks to Dad for bringing it over. :)
You're probably going to say that the most important part of something called "strawberry shortcake" is obviously the shortcake, but honestly, have you eaten berries on top of a biscuit without that crown of white? Or even a scoop of vanilla ice cream? A drizzle of cream? (Ok, I have, but it had pork belly on it instead.) Kinda doesn't cut it.
In any case, my shortcakes were pretty delicious. I used a fairly basic scone recipe and added cornmeal for extra texture and flavor. They turned out light and fluffy, and were the perfect whipped-cream-to-mouth vehicle.
Perfect Shortcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter cut into small pieces
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 6-cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, rub in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk, stirring just until mixed.
Divide (very sticky) dough into 6 balls and place one each into prepared muffin tin cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until browned on top. Remove from muffin tin and allow to cool on a wire rack until ready to use.
Using a serrated knife, split cakes horizontally. Top with chopped strawberries macerated with a little lemon juice and sugar (or any other fruit you might like) and lots of whipped cream or slightly melty vanilla ice cream.
Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.
