Giant Strawberry Shortcake
This is a great dessert for a party, picnic or barbecue. Instead of making a bunch of individual shortcakes, make one really big one. It makes quite an impression.
When ready to serve it, just cut into slices, like cake or pie. I often serve this shortcake with ice cream on the side. Feel free to switch up which fruits you use. I used kiwi fruit with the strawberries, but you can add different fruits. Peaches would go well with the strawberries or blueberries. Just have fun and use fruit combinations you like. We made it with strawberries and blueberries in class yesterday.
For the 4th of July, you could use a combination of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
Giant Strawberry Shortcake
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1/2 t. lemon juice
2 c. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 stick cold butter plus 1 T. softened
1/2 c. plus 1 T. sugar
1 qt. strawberries, sliced thin
2 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thin or use other fruit like blueberries or blackberries
1/4 c. nuts, toasted, I left the nuts whole
whipped cream, optional
In small bowl combine egg, milk and lemon juice and set aside. In larger bowl combine the flour, brown sugar and baking powder. Cut in cold butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Add egg mixture and stir until mixture forms into a soft dough. Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface about 10 times. On greased baking sheet pat dough into a 15×6-inch oval. Sprinkle dough with the 1 tablespoon of sugar and dot with the softened butter. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden. Place on wire rack to cool. Toss the berries with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Allow to stand 30 minutes. Split the shortcake lengthwise and remove the top. Spoon over the half the berries and replace top of shortcake. Combine the kiwi with the remaining berries.Spoon over the remaining fruit and sprinkle with the nuts. Dot with whipped cream, if desired. Cut in wedges to serve. Serves 8.
Note: you can bake shortcake day ahead and prep the fruit day ahead, keeping it chilled and just assemble when ready to serve.
Cream Scones
I must admit that for me, the difference between a scone and a biscuit is sometimes hard to see. Both use the same ingredients, for the most part. They can be rolled and cut out the same way, too. I often say that scones are like biscuits, but with more stuff in them. Scones are often sweeter, too.
This recipe is a tough call for me. I was given the recipe by a friend a long time ago. She called them Cream Scones. I could easily see calling them Cream Biscuits, instead. Whatever you call them, these little gems are tender, flaky and super easy to make. You can make variations with all sorts add ins. I recently made some with mini chocolate chips and orange zest. They also are great for shortcakes!!
Cream Scones
2 c. flour
1 T. sugar
½ t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1 c. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add cream to form soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured board until dough sticks together. Roll to ½ – ¾ –inch thickness and cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter. Re-roll scraps and continue cutting, handling dough as little as possible.* Place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Makes 8-10.
* Instead of rolling them out and cutting into rounds, I pressed the dough into an 8-inch square. I cut the square into 4 smaller squares. I then cut and “x” across each of the four squares, making 4 triangles (16 in all). Bake as directed above.
Here is the cut out version made in class last week
Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
I am not sure why I never combined ladyfingers with strawberries before. Using them together in this dish made a wonderful dessert- that was also very easy. It was something between a trifle and a shortcake so I called it both!
I want to just say something about ladyfingers. There are two types I see in stores around here, soft or crisp. The soft ones are smaller and cake-like and found in bakeries in grocery stores. Like sponge cake. The other ladyfingers are crisp and larger. I find the crispy type at Italian stores and sometimes at specialty grocery stores. The ladyfingers you want for this recipe are the larger, crisp ladyfingers.
I was happy with how it came out. The ladyfingers were soft, not mushy. They actually were kind of fluffy. The flavors blended so nicely. Great summer dessert. Light and refreshing, but a little rich, too. I made vanilla pudding, but make life easier and just use store bought or instant from a box- if you prefer.
Here is the recipe. Enjoy!!
Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
1½ – 2 pounds strawberries, washed, stemmed and sliced
½ c. sugar
24 ladyfingers
1 recipe vanilla pudding- recipe follows
¾ c. Hazelnut chocolate spread
Whipped cream or whipped topping
Combine strawberries with the sugar and set aside. Make the pudding, if you haven’t already. You can use premade pudding. You’ll need 2-3 cups of pudding. I had some leftover from the recipe I made. In a 9×9-inch baking dish, place one layer of the cookies. You might have to trim them a little to fit. I had 2 rows of 6 cookies, but I had to break off a little for the second row to fit. Spoon over half of the strawberries, with some of the liquid in the bowl. Spread a layer of pudding over the berries. For the next layer, spread some of the hazelnut spread over each lady finger before putting it in the pan. When you put them in the pan, place them with the spread on the under side. Add another layer of the pudding, then top with the rest of the strawberries. Cover and place in fridge until ready to serve. You can do all this up to 2 days ahead. Before serving, remove cover and top with whipped cream or any whipped topping you like. Serves 6-8.
Vanilla Pudding
1 c. sugar
½ c. cornstarch
½ t. salt
3 ¾ c. half and half
1 T. vanilla- or a little more
2 T. butter
Combine dry ingredients in a medium saucepan. Whisk in half and half and vanilla until well mixed. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to bubble and get thickened. Mixture will get pretty thick. Turn down heat to keep it from scorching. As soon as pudding is thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted. Place pudding in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use. Makes about 4 cups.
Mini Strawberry Shortcakes
These little shortcakes are as cute as they are tasty. You can have all the components ready, then just assemble when ready to serve.
Fun to serve at parties, picnics and cook outs. Because these are small, they work well with other desserts on larger dessert trays.
I made the shortcake base with a scone recipe, and used a small ice cream scoop to put the batter on the baking sheet. They ended up looking like little sandwich buns.
I split them, and filled with sweetened strawberries. I replaced the top and added chocolate ganache and whipping cream to finish them off.
The scone is tender and not too sweet. Satisfying and light at the same time.
Mini Strawberry Shortcakes
The shortcakes
2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
½ t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1 1/4 c. heavy cream or 1 cup half and half
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add cream to form soft dough. Stir mixture until it just holds together. Using an ice cream scoop place batter on baking sheet a couple of inches apart. You should get about a dozen. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Makes about 12. Cool on rack until ready to use.
The berries
2 lbs. strawberries, sliced thin
1/2 c. sugar, or to taste
Combine berries and sugar in medium bowl and place in fridge until ready to use. Berries should be in the sugar for at least a couple of hours and can even be prepped a day ahead to allow the juices to come out of the berries.
The ganache
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips or 6 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream.
Combine both in double boiler or in microwave and heat until mixture is just warm enough to melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth.
The whipped cream – use whipped cream, sweetened or unsweetened according to your taste.
Assembly: Slice the caps off the tops of the shortcakes. Place a generous spoonful of the sliced berries on the bottoms of the shortcakes and spoon some of the strawberry liquid over them as well. Place the tops of the shortcakes back on and spoon on a dollop of the chocolate ganache. I let me get to room temperature so it didn’t drip down exactly as I had planned. Top with some whipped cream and serve. Makes about 12.
