Shelve the shells! Easy shortcake key to summer desserts
It's hard to beat fresh fruit for summer desserts. Even this dedicated chocoholic advocates stashing heavy cake and cookie recipes away until fall and embracing the luscious bounty available at local farmers markets.
Few desserts showcase fresh fruit better than classic shortcake: a simple biscuit topped with gently sweetened fruit and a light whipped cream garnish. Easy, elegant and delightful.
Somewhere along the way this wonderfully balanced dessert devolved into a shockingly sweet disaster. As evidence, look no further than the grocer's fresh fruit display and find the commercial baking industry's answer to shortcake - dessert shells.
Similar to a Twinkie in texture and color, these preformed shells offer sponge cakelike consistency and dominating sugar notes.
The demur biscuit, on the other hand, offers the perfect pairing for fresh fruit desserts. Its buttery, almost savory, edge allows fruits' natural flavors to take center stage. Sugar plays a muted role, added only to provide a hint of softness and enhance browning during baking.
You may wonder why the biscuit part of this dessert is called "short." The notion derives from the basic biscuit recipe, which starts by cutting butter into flour. This process prevents tough gluten strands from developing during mixing, keeping the dough short and tender.
Pulling out a standard biscuit recipe I began looking for ways to cut down the prep time. While I couldn't skip coating the flour with butter, perhaps two stages of the biscuit making process could condensed. Heavy whipping cream boasts both liquid structure and high butter fat content. My shortcut stirs cream directly into the flour and sugar biscuit mixture. One tablespoon of baking powder generously lifts and lightens the texture.
Sidestepping the time-consuming process of cutting butter into the flour means you can be baking fresh shortcakes in less than five minutes. No kidding. Now on your next shopping trip, skip the shells and load up on the fruit.
Annie Overboe, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, lives in Villa Park. Send questions to Baking Secrets, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or e-mail food@dailyherald.com. Questions will not be responded to personally.
Shortcut Shortcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2½ tablespoons sugar
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and sugar. Pour in 1 cup heavy cream and gently stir with fork just until dough clumps form. Using scrapper, gently turn any remaining dry flour mixture to the top. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon heavy cream over dough. Press dough together gently with hands. Do not over mix or knead the dough.
Turn onto table and form into 6-inch long log. Gently smooth top and sides. Cut into 8 slices. Place biscuits on baking sheet and gently press into rounded shapes, about 1 inch high. Brush tops with 1 tablespoon cream. Bake 18-20 minutes until biscuits are light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes on rack. Split warm biscuits in half, horizontally. Fill or top with fresh fruit and top with whipped cream.
Serves eight.
Baker's hint: Biscuits are best served the same day as baked. Store cooled biscuits tightly wrapped.
@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 244 calories, 13 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 29 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein, 46 mg cholesterol, 13 mg sodium.