Sunday, June 10, 2012

Strawberry Shortcake


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It's happening.

Le Petit Ogre is heading to Paris, to eat all the croissants, pains au chocolats, macarons et éclairs au chocolat in the city. Everything I adore will be at my finger tips. Pastries, cheese, wine, fashion, art... love. All this, in one city. It must be one magical city. It must be.

What else could have inspired Hemingway's honest style of writing, or Monet's beautiful brush strokes, or even Remy's ability to create a ratatouille so delicious, it brings nostalgic memories. I mean New York was just like the movies, it was just like Sinatra, Jay-Z and Alicia describe it. So hopefully Paris will be the same...

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Now as much as I would love to celebrate the news by attempting to make croissants, I came across this irresistible strawberry shortcake recipe that I just had to try. What intrigued me about the recipe was the use of hard-cooked yolk for the biscuit dough. Unlike raw yolk, hard-cooked yolk doesn't absorb into the dough and instead floats freely with the flour.  This creates a delicate, crumbly texture when baked and is simply delightful to eat.

Enjoy!

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Strawberry Shortcake
Makes 6 shortcakes (and 2 not so big ones...)
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp tsp baking powder
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 2 hard boiled egg yolks, pushed through a small mesh sieve
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
  • 2 tbsp of unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 1/2 pints of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
  • 1 tbsp of sugar (for strawberries)
whipping cream
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  1. Sift together the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the baking powder into a bowl. Add the chilled butter pieces and work the butter into the flour mix with a pastry cutter or fork until you reach the consistency of course crumbs. Add the sieved hard-boiled egg yolks and the cream; gently mix until the dough just come together. strawberryshortcake1.jpg
  2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and gently kneed to make a smooth dough. Roll out the dough to make a 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick round. using a lightly floured 2 1/2 inch-round cookie cutter, cut out 6 shortcakes or until all the dough is used. Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle with the reserved tbsp of sugar. Place the shortcake on a plate lined with waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. strawberryshortcake4.jpg
  3. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Transfer the chilled shortcakes to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake on the center rack of the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. 
  4. While the shortcakes cool, prepare the fruit filling and whipped cream. Place strawberries in a bowl and add the sugar. Gently stir and set aside. 
  5. Whip the cream and sugar together in a medium bowl until the cream begins to thicken. 
  6. Using a serrated knife, cut the shortcakes in half lengthwise. Place the bottom halves on 6 plates and generously spoon the macerated fruit and juices over them. Top with a heaping dollop of the whipped cream. Top with the top halves of the shortcake. 
Recipe from James Beard at Food52.com


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