It's been pretty cold here in NYC the last few weeks. I realize that winter in the Northeast is often like that, but the other day I was longing for a warmer time. You see, last spring a friend asked me to guest-post on her blog... and I whipped up a tutorial on
Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake. I came across these photos the other day, and they made me think of summer... and since I'd never shared them on my blog before, I thought I'd do so now!
To make this delicious dessert, you'll need the following ingredients:
I bet you have most of these items in your pantry already, which makes this recipe a great addition to your book. You'll begin by adding your dry ingredients to a large bowl, starting with flour...
Sugar...
Baking powder...
And salt.
Next, you'll need shortening (although this can be replaced with butter if you prefer).
Using a pastry mixer, blend the ingredients...
You should continue mixing until the dough has the consistency of peas or oatmeal... like this:
Once everything is incorporated, in a separate container beat an egg...
And add that, along with some cream, to the dry ingredients.
As you work, you should be careful not to over-mix the dough. Once things start coming together (and pulling from the sides of the bowl), you can stop.
At this point, you should turn your dough onto a flour-covered work surface.
( You're probably wondering about that shaker in the photo above. A friend shared this trick: fill a shaker with flour, and use it to dust your surfaces when baking. Isn't that a great tip?)But back to the dough! Once you've rolled it out to your desired consistency, cut out your biscuits. You can use a cookie cutter, but depending on what size you want your shortcake, you can also use a glass or mug!
Once the biscuits are cut out, just lay them on a baking sheet and toss them in the oven for a bit.
While they're baking, I would recommend you take a moment to hull and slice your strawberries. If they're fresh, you can sometimes get away with serving them plain- though I often prefer to sprinkle a little sugar over them, just to taste.
When the biscuits are slightly golden on top, you can remove them from the oven and set them on a rack to cool slightly.
I prefer not to let the biscuits cool too much (because I'm usually pretty anxious to eat dessert). Whenever you're ready to eat, slice your biscuit and place it inside a bowl.
I sometimes butter my biscuit, depending on what mood I'm in... you can't go wrong with extra butter!
Then you should add as many berries between your biscuit slices as possible.
And while that looks pretty good, you're not done yet! Go ahead an add a dollop of whip cream on top! (I didn't have any pre-made in the fridge, so I used an immersion blender to whip up some heavy cream.) Doesn't that look just perfect?
This is such an easy, yet scrumptious dessert! I think it's especially fun if you lay everything out in a self-serve style, so that your family/dinner guests can make their own version of this tasty treat for themselves.
If you'd like to try this baking this, here's the recipe:
Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup light cream
Mix ingredients and bake at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
Yum- doesn't that make you want to head to the beach or out to a picnic? Looking back at these pictures sure did something to alleviate my winter blues- thanks for stopping by!
So I whipped out my camera (of course)...
Not only because I like taking photos in the snow...
But I like to take photos of the billboards hanging in Times Square every now and then.
I imagine that someday, I can look back on these photos and remember what was fashionable/going on while I lived in NYC.
I know it seems silly...
But I like looking at old photos of Times Square from the 1950's and 1960's...
And now, when I'm old, I'll have my own cache of snapshots to reminisce over someday!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great weekend!
