As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Fruit On Tuesday ~ Week 1 {Strawberry Shortcake}


Today, I am beginning my new summer recipe series Fruit On Tuesday



My first recipe series was born after a post-holiday meltdown. After I pulled myself together that frenzied Tuesday afternoon, restoring a bit of order to my home and making a tried-and-true soup for dinner, I hatched a plan to make soup for dinner--a different soup for dinner--every Tuesday that winter, and share the recipes with you. Thus began Soup On Tuesday.

Last summer, we had Salad On Tuesday. (And you can bet I'll be pulling out some of those recipes again this summer too!)  

This past winter, I made Bread On Tuesday.  Nothing like the aroma and taste of hot-from-the-oven bread.

In this Fruit On Tuesday series, I am going to challenge myself to use fruits in creative ways. Again I'll be sharing some old favorites as well as some brand new (to me) recipes. We'll be  using fruit to make everything from pie to salad, from sauce to salsa, from cake to chutney.  

Today's recipe is of the tried-and-true variety. We were blessed with oodles of strawberries in our garden this year! Strawberry shortcake is just one of the ways we used some of our bounty.  

My shortcake is not really cake-y. There is no shortening (is it really "shortcake" then?) and no eggs. It is more like a slightly sweetened, buttery biscuit, and I make them in individual portions.  



Makes 8.


Ingredients:
2 to 3 cups capped, sliced, and slightly sugared  (1/4 cup?) strawberries  
~
2 cups all purpose flour 
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 stick butter

2/3 cup milk or half-and-half
~
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar

Directions:
  1. Cap and slice strawberries.   Sprinkle a little sugar over them and stir.  Set aside while you prepare the shortcakes.   Preheat oven to 450° F.     
  2. For shortcakes, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt in medium bowl; mix well.  
  3. Cut cold butter into dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly.  
  4. Add milk; stir quickly with fork just until dough begins to hold together.  Turn onto floured surface, knead several times, and roll  to 1/2-inch thickness.
  5. Cut out 8 rounds with a large cutter (I use a drinking glass) and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 9 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, whip heavy cream and confectioner's sugar together until stiff peaks form.  
  7. Slice warm shortcake in half.  Fill with berries and sweetened whipped cream.  


Do you eat more fresh fruit during the summer months?  Do you find ways to use in-season fruits in your cooking?


(Links to all posts in Fruit on Tuesday can be found ~here~.)

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7 comments:

  1. Beautiful summer fare! I love that your creativity is still coming up with ways to keep us in the kitchen.. You reminded me that I need to check the archives for the summer salad recipes. Definitely a lot of those happening here right now.

    :) Debbie

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  2. As you know, one of us really, really loves strawberry shortcake. I promised that one a strawberry rhubarb custard pie tonight, but am pleased that he is giving me an extension. After being outside all day, I'm exhausted. We had the Hamburger Salad for supper tonight. It's so tasty and good. I'm looking forward to your new series.

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  3. I love your monthly series, Cheryl, and I do eat more summer fruit than any other. Although this winter I was seriously craving citrus!! Ate lots of oranges and grapefruits and clementines. Always have to have lemons for my water, too. I could really go an old fashioned shortcake lime yours. xo

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  4. Neat idea! I am going to check out your salad recipes. Tonight we had some really delicious strawberries (a rarity for some reason) and I sliced them on a salad along with blueberries and some chunks of pork. Sounds kinda weird but those strawberries were sooooo good.

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  5. I especially loved your salad series! Cheeseburger Salad was a huge hit here!

    We adore strawberries and peaches and like to use them fresh as much as possible. I usually make jam or can them as well. There is nothing like opening a jar of freestone peaches in January! Delicious!

    Deanna

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  6. Ahh......I love your series. I need to go back and reread them all. I love strawberry shortcake -- actually I usually just make a yellow cake and poke holes in it and pile it with strawberries and their juice. Another great thing with strawberries is to dip them in chocolate candy coating. It's so easy but it looks as if you worked really hard, plus it's delicious:)

    ReplyDelete

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