NiftyFifty

My summer vacation started last Tuesday and I’ve barely done anything. Besides the human interaction last Tuesday for two tests I haven’t been out of my house since then. Well I was yesterday but that didn’t count since it was Father’s Day. I’ve basically been sitting in front of my computer, playing Pokémon and Facebook stalking people because I obviously have no life.

This – me being anti-social – wouldn’t be a problem because I would just bake something and that would entertain me for the day, especially if I were to make bread, which I wanted to do all last week. However, due to the cosmic forces that hate me, my oven stopped working. Well the “glow plug” or whatever starts the flame initially just died. The broiler works fine but the bake setting on the oven doesn’t work. It really wasn’t the best time for it to break either as I had just finished cutting the biscuits out.

I had bought strawberries at the store anticipating making a 9″ tart using this recipe but instead decided to make strawberry shortcake as a) I was too lazy to deal with tart dough and b) I had 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream left over from some scones. After finally finding a recipe I liked and that didn’t use that much flour (I had about 2 1/2 cups left) I whipped the biscuits up really fast and sliced the strawberries to get all syrupy and delicious while I made everything else.

As I go to put the biscuits in the oven the oven doesn’t turn on. Great. I quickly forced my brother to drive me over to my grandmother’s house and I would just use her oven. She wasn’t there so I just used a spare key she gave my dad. They cooked, I ate some of her food, my brother watched tv, and all was good again.

Strawberry Shortcake Sliders adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes approximately 36 mini strawberry shortcake sliders.

Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter (if using salted, skip the salt in dry ingredients), cut into small cubes and chilled (freezer for 15 minutes or longer)
7/8 cup (that’s one cup minus 2 tablespoons) heavy whipping cream*
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberries
2 baskets of fresh strawberries, rinsed, stems removed and discarded, sliced (1/8″ to 1/4″ thick)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder for the biscuits. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a fork or a pastry cutter, or pulse in a food processor until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas.

2 Use a fork to whisk together the cream, egg, and vanilla in a small bowl. Make a well in the large bowl of the flour mixture and pour the cream mixture into the center of it. Use a fork to mix until the dough is evenly moistened. The dough mixture should look shaggy. Knead the dough with your hands 8 turns or so to create a ball.

3 Lightly flour a smooth surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat or roll out until it is between 1/4 and 1/2-inch thick. Use a 1 1/2-inch diameter biscuit cutter (or a juice glass) to cut out round biscuit shapes from the dough. (It helps to dip the biscuit cutter in some flour before each cut, so that the dough doesn’t stick to the form.) Place rounds on a baking sheet, space about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart from each other. Chill for 10 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.

4 Heat oven to 425°F. Bake biscuits on middle rack for 12 minutes, or until risen and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool.

5 While the biscuits are baking, prepare the strawberries and whipped cream. Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle sugar over them. Gently mix so that the sugar coats most of the strawberries. Let sit until the sugar dissolves and the strawberries release their moisture.

6 To make the whipped cream, make sure you are starting with cream that is very cold. It helps to chill the bowl first too. Use a hand mixer (you can make whipped cream in a blender, but watch out; it’s easy to over-whip the cream in a blender) to whip the cream until it just begins to firm up. Sprinkle the sugar and vanilla over the cream. Continue to whip until it is thick and holds its shape. Cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled until it’s time to assemble the mini strawberry shortcakes.

7 When the biscuits have cooled to room temperature, gently break them apart, separating the tops from the bottoms. Place a strawberry slice or two on each bottom, and place a dollop of whipped cream on top of the strawberries. Then place the top biscuit piece on top of the whipped cream. Voilá! You have your slider. Alternatively, you can serve them without the top.

* I didn’t have enough cream for both the biscuits and the whipped cream so I substituted 1/3 cup butter and 3/4 cup milk for it. What I didn’t realize was that the recipe called for 7/8 cup cream and not 1 cup. Don’t do this and end up with a wet dough and just go buy more cream.