At least it's sunny out.
At least my prayer flag is blowing in said windchill.
At least there's Winterberry Shortcake.
I saw this on Food Network Canada; it looked interesting, so I made it. The perfect use for frozen berries since it is months away for good fresh berries. I only made a quarter of the recipe (full recipe serves 8), but it made 4 servings for us. The math is just off somewhere......
If you are thinking of making this: GO FREEZE SOME BUTTAH, I'll just go put mine on the balcony outside for a minute, that should do it!
Nutmeg Biscuits:
We want to cut the frozen butter into the flour mixture, which smells amazing. But first, preheat the oven to 400* F. Chef Michael suggests grating the frozen butter then working it into the flour by hand. ...I used my food processor. Next, add the milk & 1 TBS of whisked egg. Pulse or stir until it just comes together & turn the dough onto a floured surface.
Honing in on my OCD, we are going to roll from the center out, then give the dough the a 1/4 turn & repeat, repeat, repeat (just like we did for the tortillas). We're going for a Grands Biscuit effect: keep rolling the dough until 1/4" thick, then fold it in half, and then half again. You should have a long rectangle-ish piece about 1" thick. Cut with floured cookies cutters, or a juice glass. Fold the remaining dough together and press until it's 1" thick; keep doing this until you run out of dough.
Place shortcakes on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush with remaining whisked egg (mine were in the oven for 5 mins. before I remembered this. Whoopsie!) & sprinkle with coarse sugar. I used silvery sugar sprinkles. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just golden brown on top and bottom.
Strawberries & Syrup:
Thaw the berries (I nuked mine on defrost until the juices started running). Gently press and strain the berries' juice into a small sauce pan, set berries aside. Add jam of choice to the saucepan (I used wild blueberry) & bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once nice and bubbly, turn down to low, stir, stir, stir and cook another 5 minutes until a jam-like consistency. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the thawed berries. Chill until ready to use.
Shortcake Assembly Line:
Split the biscuits in half, they should just pull apart, and top with the berry syrup.
Yeah. I used canned whipped cream. I wasn't buying whipping cream; I only needed 1/4 cup since I hacked down the recipe. If you feel like whipping your own cream, by all means, go for it.
Winterberry Shortcake, adapted from Chef Michael's Kitchen
2-4 servings
Nutmeg Biscuits
1 cup flour
2 TBS sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup frozen butter
1/4 cup plus 1 TBS milk
1 egg whisked, divided
2 TBS coarse sugar
Preheat oven to 400*F. Mix flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Grate frozen butter into flour mixture, stir and mix with hands until combined....or use food processor. Add milk and 1 TBS of whisked egg, pulse or stir until everything just starts to come together. Turn onto a floured surface, roll out to 1" thick, cut biscuits, and arrange on a parchment lined pan. Brush with remaining egg and top with coarse sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bottom. Set aside to cool.
Strawberries & Syrup
3/4 pound frozen strawberries
1/4 of berry jam
Strain thawed berries; add their juice into a small saucepan. Set berries aside, add jam to saucepan. Cook juice & jam over medium heat until simmering, turn to low, stirring constantly for another 5 minutes until jam-like consistency. Remove from heat, add hawed berries. Chill until ready to use.
Shortcakes
Nutmeg Biscuits
Strawberries & Syrup
Whipped Cream
Top nutmeg biscuits with cooled strawberries & syrup and whipped cream.
Beautiful!
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