The Annual Strawberry Shortcake Entry: Strawberry Shortcake
One of the advantages of paying to post my blog on Go-Daddy.com is the use of their Statistics tool. My followers are minimal but I still love to sneak a look at how many hits I get during the week. I can also see year-to-year statistic: my 2010 readership is up! But what really blows my mind is that the highest number of entry views happened during the summer months in 2009 when I wasn't adding any new posts. What does that mean? Apparently I get more traffic when I don't write anything.
Or it could be strawberries. The highest viewed entry was "Short Shorts: Strawberry Shortcake." So not being one to buck a trend, here comes another strawberry post. We'll just see who shows up. And just a footnote to those of you who have been paying attention: on Bravo's Top Chef Masters Susan Feniger was told to "pack your knives" and go home. I didn't catch that particular episode, so I don't know what her indiscretion was but there are now just the three egos: Marcus Samuelson, Susor Lee, and Rick Noonan.
Back to strawberries. Rumor was that Picha Farms in Puyallup was berry close to selling the red, juicy ones. A quick trip past the fields last Saturday proved fruitless, so to speak, but just a week later we returned home with stained hands and red spotted clothes—the marks of a successful trip. Now comes the baking, the slicing, the jamming, and the shortcaking.
Anyways, here's my latest attempt at flaky, tender shortcakes; although you can always fall back on store-bought pound cake. So if my numbers go up, we'll know it's the strawberries and squeeze in a rhubarb/strawberry pie: hmm, how about a custardy one?
Strawberry Shortcake (Alton Brown)
• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup half and half, cream, buttermilk, or a combination
• Melted butter to brush on and sprinkly sugar for the tops
Heat oven 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Cool and eat with berries, ice cream and/or whipped cream. Yields 8 biscuits.
And because this blog is truly just an excuse to pass along my ongoing favorite music; here's one from the Subdudes I've played so many times it's drilled itself into my brain.
Or it could be strawberries. The highest viewed entry was "Short Shorts: Strawberry Shortcake." So not being one to buck a trend, here comes another strawberry post. We'll just see who shows up. And just a footnote to those of you who have been paying attention: on Bravo's Top Chef Masters Susan Feniger was told to "pack your knives" and go home. I didn't catch that particular episode, so I don't know what her indiscretion was but there are now just the three egos: Marcus Samuelson, Susor Lee, and Rick Noonan.
Back to strawberries. Rumor was that Picha Farms in Puyallup was berry close to selling the red, juicy ones. A quick trip past the fields last Saturday proved fruitless, so to speak, but just a week later we returned home with stained hands and red spotted clothes—the marks of a successful trip. Now comes the baking, the slicing, the jamming, and the shortcaking.
Anyways, here's my latest attempt at flaky, tender shortcakes; although you can always fall back on store-bought pound cake. So if my numbers go up, we'll know it's the strawberries and squeeze in a rhubarb/strawberry pie: hmm, how about a custardy one?
Strawberry Shortcake (Alton Brown)
• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup half and half, cream, buttermilk, or a combination
• Melted butter to brush on and sprinkly sugar for the tops
Heat oven 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Cool and eat with berries, ice cream and/or whipped cream. Yields 8 biscuits.
And because this blog is truly just an excuse to pass along my ongoing favorite music; here's one from the Subdudes I've played so many times it's drilled itself into my brain.
P.S. Another Top Chef Masters update: since I checked in last, Marcus Samuelson won this year's contest.
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