Strawberry Shortcake

Normally on this blog, I create my own recipes out of thin air, or modify a recipe so much that it’s definitely my own, but on Sunday, we had some very impromptu company, and I needed some dessert in a hurry! I had some heavy cream left over from the Chai Ice Cream with Shortbread Cookies (recipe coming soon) that I’d made a few days earlier, and I had some fresh berries in my fridge, so strawberry shortcake seemed like an easy idea. I did a bit of googling, and an easy looking recipe from Alton Brown came up.

Our friends Ben and Emily came to visit after spending a weekend at a farm sanctuary upstate, and we had a lovely BBQ of grilled vegetables & tempeh and macaroni salad. They told us about the nice animals they met and about how relaxing their weekend was, and Emily and I talked about how we wanted to learn how to can things.

When it was time for dessert, I threw the heavy cream in my stand mixer with a tiny bit of sugar and some vanilla, though it got a little flat because we waited a several minutes to serve it – Charlie was introducing Ben and Emily to our “pet worms” that eat our veggie scraps (read: our vermicompost). We’re very excitable about these things.

Anyway, it was delicious nonetheless, and Alton’s recipe (baked in a less hot oven, with maple sugar instead of coarse sugar) turned out awesome, and it’s made out of ingredients that most people keep in the house, so it’s great for short notice situations. I’ll definitely use it again.

(And if you’re wondering where to get maple sugar, this is where I got mine while we were visiting friends in the area, and it’s delicious. You can also get it in bulk at some co-ops, but this is a pretty great price, and they’ll ship it to you, but they were very nice and in a very scenic little area if you’re ever nearby!)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup half and half (I used a combination of milk and heavy cream here, since I didn’t have half and half – just wing it!)
Melted butter to brush shortcakes
Maple sugar for topping (you can use a coarse sugar if you don’t have this)
Strawberries
Whipped cream

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with maple sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

Cool and eat with berries and whipped cream.

Stovetop-Free Strawberry Pie

This was one of the flavors that we offered for the pie-eating contest, and as I mentioned in the Blueberry Crumb entry, I had a lot of trouble finding a recipe that didn’t pre-cook the blueberries into glop.For the strawberry recipes I perused, [I'd never made blueberry or strawberry pie before] I found that the recipes mostly wanted me to do the same: cook the berries down into glop, often with some sort of gelatin. Ew.

The other recipes were more like tarts, with a custardy layer and the berries never going near the oven, and that wasn’t what I wanted either. I decided to employ the same technique that I’d used with the blueberries, using cornstarch to thicken the mixture in the crust, figuring that it would be close enough… and it was.

This was another that we forgot to get a glamour shot of, but luckily, our buddy Jordan Cooper snapped this awesome post-contest carnage photo. Some said it looked strangely like a strawberry Pop-Tart® when cut into, but they assured me that the flavor was much, much better.

Ingredients

1 Pastry for double-crust pie (I used Charlie’s Consistent Win Pie Crust)

1/2 cup white sugar (taste your berries to see how sweet they are – you may need a little more or less)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon
3 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the strawberries, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cornstarch over the berries, mixing it thoroughly.

Roll out half the pie dough for the bottom crust, lining the pan with it. Heap the strawberries into the bottom crust. You want the strawberries to mound up and out of the crust, as they’re going to cook down some and you don’t want your pie crust to sink.

Place the top crust over the mound. Seal the crust at the seam with a fork, then trim away the excess. Brush an egg wash (one beaten egg and one tablespoon water) over the top crust if desired, and cut four vents at least two inches long in the top crust.

Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil to prevent the edges of the crust burning. Bake for 45 minutes, removing the foil about 15 minutes before removing the pies from the oven. The pies are done when the filling begins to bubble and the crust becomes flaky and brown.

All Over Your Face 2009

Yesterday, we held the first annual “All Over Your Face” hands-free pie-eating contest and BBQ. I mention this here because, well, it’s ridiculous, and because over the next few days, you’re going to see a lot of recipes related to the contest. The “competition sized pies” were seven inches and each had a double crust. They came in blueberry, strawberry, apple, peach, and lime (for our friend, Jack, who “does not eat of the cooked fruit” – you may remember zir from the Mocha Pillow Cookies recipe). There also obviously had to be plenty of pies just for eating, too.

The thing is, though, that Charlie and I baked all the pies from scratch. We figured it would be cheaper, more delicious, more fun, and so on and so forth. Over the course of seven days, despite my recent back problems (two herniated discs), we managed to make twenty 7″ pies and five full sized pies. We had a little help here and there, but mostly, Charlie made the crusts and I made the fillings. That includes peeling about six pounds of apples, hulling four pounds of strawberries, peeling nine pounds of peaches, and zesting and juicing ten limes.

We also made macaroni salad, gluten-free pasta salad, mini cupcakes, a watermelon keg, and a cucumber tomato salad, so, there will be recipes galore related to this contest.

For now, please enjoy a few pictures of the contest. Charlie’s going to make a video as soon as everyone sends in their footage.

The winning pie.

That’s my partner, Charlie. He almost edged out Mike for third place, but Mike took it.

Fortunato is looking up in awe at Joseph, who won the contest, seated to his left.

Our first, second, and third place winners, after the awards ceremony. Joseph, Micah, and our local Councilman, Mike.

These photos, I believe, were taken by our lovely friend, Gina R Snape.

Strawberry Swirl Cupcakes

The strawberries were bought the same day as the blueberries, so they were on their way out as well. These photographed a little weird, but they taste like strawberry shortcake in one convenient little cupcake. Perhaps next time I’ll be able to make them prettier.

The ratio wasn’t *quite* right here. I ended up with a little bit more strawberry goop than cupcake batter, but if you make full sized cupcakes or a cake, this might work out (I made mini muffin size for all but the extra batter).

Ingredients

Strawberry Goop:
1 bucket of strawberries
1 tablespoon of white sugar

Cupcakes:
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease or line your muffin tins.

Prepare the strawberry goo. Toss your washed, hulled, and sliced strawberries into a food processor until there aren’t any big chunks. Throw in the tablespoon of sugar, then blend one more time. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Quick version: Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, then spoon the strawberry goo on top.

Elaborate version: Scoop a little bit of batter into the cup, then a little bit of strawberry goo. Swirl around with the utensil of your choice, then top with a little more of the batter, smoothing evenly to hide all of the strawberry goo. Using a frosting bag (or, a ziploc bag with the corner cut off), pipe a swirl of strawberry onto the batter.

For mini cupcakes, bake about 12-15 minutes. For full sized cupcakes, bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.