The first strawberries of summer finally arrived after a later than normal end to the Northwest gloom. What better way to celebrate than with the first strawberry shortcake of the season. The recipe here calls for heavy cream, but I substituted Silk soy creamer in keeping with my general avoidance of dairy. This is another recipe that's fun to do with kids because the steps are fairly simple and the payoff for your kid is dessert. Wyatt and I tackled the shortcake while Robin prepared the rest of dinner.
Shortcake Recipe
3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbl sugar
1 1/2 Tbl baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or 1 1/4 cups soy creamer)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Procedure:
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix dry ingredients with a fork.
- Cut the butter into the dry mix with a fork until there are only small pieces remaining (you can also use a food processor).
- Combine cream, egg yolk, vanilla, and almond, mixing until the egg yolk is beaten into the liquid.
- Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour in the cream mixture.
- Mix your batter with a fork until the dough is evenly combined but still rough. Knead the whole mixture with your fork.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and let dough chill while oven comes to temperature.
- Place dough in 8-inch round baking pan, pushing it evenly out to the edges with a fork.
- Bake until the top is a medium golden brown, which should take approximately 20 minutes.
Allow shortcake to cool in pan and serve with strawberries and your favorite whipped topping.
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