Don't forget to leave those comments, as many as you can for the big drawing on the 30th! (Comments taken until the 29th). I'm hitting the store tomorrow for the baking goodies that will be going in the box to be mailed to the winner!!
Moving right along!! Today's recipe is a summertime classic and a favorite of mine! Strawberry shortcake! I got my Cooking Light August 2010 magazine in the mail the other day and they had a Citrus Shortcake recipe that I just had to try. It is pretty rare for me to get a magazine and try a recipe within the next day! The Citrus flavor from the shortcake mixed with the strawberries was absolutely stunning! I really loved how the flavor's mingled together!! So without further ado......
The Cast:
9 inch square metal baking pan
couple of mixing bowls
whisk or whisk attachment for kitchen aid
Ingredients:
Citrus Shortcake
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon grated orange rind (about the rind of one medium size orange)
1 Tablespoon fresh orange juice
4.5 ounces all purpose flour (about 1 cup)
2 Tablespoons yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray
Strawberry
I prefer fresh strawberries and then I mascerate them with a little lemon juice and sugar to sweeten. However, for this recipe I ended up using pre-sweetened strawberries because I had a gallon leftover from work sitting in my freezer. They also work pretty well if you prefer to go that route.
Chantilly Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
First thing you are going to want to do is pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your 9 inch square metal pan with a nice thin coating of cooking spray and set aside.
Slice your strawberries and mascerate them with the lemon juice and sugar. After that step let them sit in the refridgerator so they get good and juicy!
For the shortcake you are going to start by creaming your butter and sugar together until thoroughly mixed and a little fluffy. After that you are going to add the eggs one at a time until they are completely incorporated. Next step is to add the orange rind and juice and mix well.
In a seperate bowl you are going to measure out all your dry ingredients, the AP Flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You are going to add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter alternating between the two and ending on flour. Also make sure you mix well after you incorporate both the flour and the buttermilk. Don't over mix! You just want to mix these until they are incorporated and there are no traces of flour! If you over mix it won't be delicate, it will be tough.
Once you are done mixing, scoop the batter into the prepared 9 inch metal pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The top will look a little golden and the edges will just start to come away from the pan, also when you push on the top it will have a little spring.
While the shortcake is baking this is a good time to make the Chantilly, pour the heavy whipping cream into a bowl, kitchen aid or otherwise and then whip it! Whip it good! It is a common misconception that you whip everything together at the same time. If you add the sugar and vanilla right before it becomes full on "whip cream" it makes for better flavor, better texture and not such a heavy "whip cream". So go ahead and add the vanilla and sugar right about when you see the cream is thickening up, I describe it as what whip cream would look like if you left it out for about 5 minutes. It's still a little runny, but sort of whip cream. After you add the vanilla and sugar just whip it until it comes right to that point of whip cream. Don't over whip it or you make as well make some butter and buttermilk out of that heavy whipping cream!
To serve let the shortcake cool and cut into 9 squares, I cut into thirds and then turned the pan and cut into thirds again. When you are ready to plate, you are going to take the square piece of cake, put it on its side and cut it in half so it will look kind of like a slice of bread. The shortcake is going to act like a hamburger bun of sorts. Put the bottom of the shortcake "bun" in the bowl/plate/what have you and then put strawberries on top of that and whip cream on top of the strawberries, top with the other half of the shortcake and presto! You have yourself a summery treat! '
I apologize for the quality of lighting in the picture, the sun was setting and it was hard to get a good picture.
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