welcome to strawberry land, people

This dessert, while also my sister's first birthday cake, is also the namesake for one of my childhood entertainments: Strawberry Shortcake! She was just so cute with her big floppy hat and freckles. How strange is it that we had a cartoon character borne of a fruity dessert? And get a load of the other characters: Huckleberry Pie, Rainbow Sherbet, Crepes Suzette, Seaberry Delight?! (That last one was from season 2; apparently they were pulling out all the stops at that point.)

Strawberry Shortcake Cartoon *The World of Strawberry Shortcake*


Ah, I recall fondly the faintly dusty strawberry scent of my Strawberry Shortcake doll's hair, as I tucked her into her white plastic gazebo... Oh! Where was I?

Sorry, no photos of the complete dish survived my work group potluck. That, and I forgot my camera. 

Strawberry "Sconey" Shortcake
Hah. Sorry about the corny alliteration. Sounds like Shortcake's streetwise cousin from across the pond, no?

1 batch of my favorite scone recipe*, adding 1/3 C sliced strawberries and 1 t lemon zest

2 C sliced strawberries

1/3 C granulated sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1 C whipping cream, plus more for serving

1 T amaretto liquor or 1 1/2 t Grand Marnier

1/3 to 1/2 C powdered sugar

*As an alternative, you can make the Strawberry Shortcake recipe on the Bisquick box! That's how my mom made this dessert, and I always loved it.

Step One: Slice your strawberries, put them in a bowl or container and toss with granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set aside and refrigerate for 2+ hours.

Step Two: Bake and cool the scones.

Step Two: Whip the whipping cream and liquor on high (in the bowl of a mixer or by hand), adding powdered sugar until it's the right amount of sweet for you. Adjust liquor/sugar as desired.

To serve: Place scones in individual dishes, drizzle with 1-2 T liquid whipping cream, top with 1/3- 1/2 C strawberries and juice, and add a dollop of whipped cream. 

Add vanilla ice cream, if this doesn't offer you enough varieties of sweetened dairy yet. 

Yield: 6 generous servings

chocolate sugar cookies, revisited

This is a post-script from last week's "no substitute" post. Upon further inspection, I've decided to leave a modified recipe from what I originally saw as a failed attempt:

The original recipe featured huge, dense, crackly, larger-than-life chocolate cookies. I rediscovered it in a mid-week stress-hormonal craze and could not wait to sink my teeth into those chewy dark chocolate babies!

Low and behold, due to my various ingredient substitutions--go figure--the outcome was a thinner, crispier version and I was terribly disappointed.

I've reconsidered my first verdict, however. The flavor in these sugar cookies is so satisfying and will of course improve with a good Dutch-process cocoa. I've been sharing them with friends all weekend, and everyone agrees that they're darn tasty. They would be fabulous over ice cream or as the cookie for an ice cream sandwich. Here's the recipe. See for yourself.


Chocolate Sugar Cookies
(adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 to 3/4 c unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 c vegetable shortening -- for flatter, crispy cookies, use SmartBalance shortening or butter
1 large egg
1 1/2 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375^o. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together (by hand or mixer), until fluffy and pale. Mix in the shortening. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix until creamy. Gradually add the flour until just combined.

Drop the cookies (in the size of your choosing, but the recipe calls for huge ice cream scoop-sized portions) on baking sheets and bake until edges are firm, 18 to 20 minutes. (It actually didn't take quite that long for me.)

Cool and serve as desired.

Yield 12-16 large cookies.

no substitute

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


Our lesson: DO NOT use SmartBalance shortening substitute!! (Sorry, SmartBalance people.)

Damn, those cookies in the magazine looked so tantalizingly chewy and rich! Admittedly, I also did not properly let the butter arrive at room temperature before trying to cream it with the sugar. God, I hate wasting all those ingredients! The picture doesn't do my version justice: These were a hard and somewhat gritty disappointment.

No recipe, since I have NO idea if these are any good. Better luck next time!

Postscript: Once I recovered from the shock of the crisp texture of these, I realized they aren't all that bad.

Baked with the substitute fat (SmartBalance), these have a texture akin to ginger snaps, and would actually--as my deskmate Debra pointed out--be great for ice cream sandwiches or just crumbled over vanilla or mint ice cream!