July 4th upcoming! column-Strawberry Shortcake!

Hi again! Sorry about the comments thing--I know you're trying to comment but I'm not posting for some reason--pilot error, I'll get it soon. What thunderstorms we're having, brrr!rr! Got completely soaked today.

Make hot chocolate--heat a cup of milk in the microwave, add a square or two of (maybe chopped) semi-sweet or milk chocolate, stir until melted. REAL hot chocolate.

Newest column Wednesday I think. It so changes but right now I'm thinking popovers, maybe chocolate ones. Yum?

Hope you all are summering well. It's a wonderful time. So often flat-out too, so remember to breathe.
Gotta go. Lightning!! (Remember that song--Thunder! Lightning! The way you love me is frightening!!! Okay so I'm not getting on that show! But I like that song...)


I'm scooping myself here--thanks blog readers! Hope you enjoy this treat!!

Strawberry Shortcake or biscuit?
For traditionalists, there is no choice: it's the biscuit, crusty golden-brown under the sweet strawberries and whipped cream.
But the melding crowd weighs in: a soft cake becomes imbued with the delicious juice of the red strawberries.
Although I like both, I have perhaps more sympathy with those that like the softer cake--but we, my friends, are in the wrong.
According to the iconic Fannie Merritt Farmer, who wrote her famed cookbook in 1896, and my edition, updated impeccably in 1942 by Wilma Lord Perkins, strawberries and cream combined with a soft sponge cake are called "Strawberry Baskets."
Therefore, here is a recipe for the old traditional biscuit Strawberry Shortcake, much easier to make now than in earlier, more old fashioned days. Some in the past just poured cream over the biscuit and berries, and did not whip the cream as it was more difficult to keep cold. To make the cream cold enough to whip, the dedicated used their frozen pond ice from the winter, which was kept buried in layers of wood shavings in the cold house. Nor did our forebearers get shipments of luscious berries throughout the colder part of the year as we do from the Southern hemisphere and California. Strawberry Shortcake was an annual treat for the most part--sometimes the lucky had a very small fall crop--but strawberries were usually just in June.

Strawberry Shortcake

Biscuit
2 c. flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 t. baking powder
5 T. butter
1 egg
2/3 cup cream

Strawberries
16 oz.--1 lb.--strawberries (medium size container)
optional:
1 lemon, zest & juice or balsamic vinegar--few drops of the best
1/4 cup sugar

Cream
1 container heavy cream
1 T. sugar (or more--taste to see if you like it sweeter)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir lightly with a fork until combined. Make a well or hole in the middle of the mixture and break the egg into it and add the cream. Stir wet ingredients together gently and then stir into dry ingredients until just combined. Cut or use your fingers to make the butter into pea-sized pieces. Mix into ingredients in the bowl. Roll out on a floured counter and cut with a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass or cup. Bake on an ungreased cooking sheet at 350 degrees until golden brown. Pry one open and make sure they are done in the middle.

Cool the biscuits a few minutes so you don't curdle the whipped cream. Then cut the biscuits open while still warm and pile strawberries on and slather with whipped cream. Put the top back on if you wish.

Preparing the strawberries: wash and hull all strawberries and cut them into mouth-sized pieces. Add lots to each biscuit. If desired, you can sprinkle them with sugar and let them macerate--although I have never found this to make them very sweet. If the berries need sweetening, 'tis better to cut them into very small pieces, mash them and cover them with sugar. Don't let them sit too long or they might disflavor, but 15 min. of this is usually enough to sweeten any berries. When in doubt, taste and adjust. The gourmet may wish to try using lemon to flavor the berries or balsamic vinegar, which bring out the sweet taste of the berries by tart contrast (it's actually good.)

Whipping the cream: the neatest way to whip cream is to do it in a jar. Take the cold heavy cream and fill a regular, peanut butter size glass jar about three quarters full--you've got to leave room for the cream to expand as it whips--put the lid on tightly and shake it. Just make sure to keep your hands from warming the jar too much or you will make butter. Hold it firmly but coolly. When the cream starts to thicken, open the jar and put in the sugar. Shake 'till whipping consistency, then stir in vanilla.
Enjoy!