I love strawberries; they’re one of my favorite fruits.
But since the hubby is allergic to them it makes investing in a carton a risky gamble.
In order to finish them all on my own, I have to get pretty
creative.
Since my hasty shopping at the farmer’s market resulted in not one but two cartons of fresh berries to finish off this week, I had to take drastic measures.
My smoothie attempt on Saturday was a bust (too sour; thanks a lot Greek yogurt) so Tuesday I decided to bake instead.
A particularly drool-inducing episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that featured an incredible looking strawberry shortcake served as my inspiration.
If I was an accomplished pastry chef, like so many of my
Facebook friends, I’d have been able to whip up something similar to the DDD one, from scratch.
But since I’m not (I’m actually a very lazy baker) I did the next best thing.
I used my iPhone to look up a Hungry Jack Shortcake Recipe.
How people ever cooked anything before smart phones is beyond me. ;)
I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, or the manpower to help me eat six servings of my favorite dessert with its own cartoon character, so I had to make a few adjustments.
First I halved the recipe best I could (stupid stupid math). Then I opted for an extra dose of butter in lieu of the shortening (which I guess means my version needs a new name – Strawberry Buttercake, Strawberry Shortlesscake?).
I'd like to dedicate this picture to Miss Paula Deen, who taught me how to cut butter.
I also went light on the sugar with the strawberry mixture, and most tragically I omitted the whipped topping altogether.
It would have been delicious, but it wasn’t worth the trip to the store. (Do these edits make it Diet Strawberry Shortlesscake? I say, "YES!")
All that said, I did my best working with what I had, which was a lot of strawberries, a little time on my hands, a half-used box of Hungry Jack (or a half-full box if you're an optimist) and a hankering for something sweet.
Though the dough itself didn’t look
promising (left), the baked results were better than expected (right).
The shortcake came out a little on the dry side, almost like
a scone, but it was still pretty delicious.
I think the whipped topping would have helped combat the
dryness, but I was pretty pleased with the results, especially considering the
substitutions. (A little sweetened milk or honey drizzled over top would be delicious if you wanted to eat them sans fruit.)
Now, for you accomplished bakers out there, I’d love some help.
Do you have any foolproof recipes I should check out?
Afterall, woman cannot live on strawberry shortcake alone.
Though she might try. She really might try. :)
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