My Little Corner of Culinary Basics

Cook's Illustrated:
The Best Strawberry Shortcake



By the editors of Cook's Illustrated

These days, most strawberry shortcake amounts to little more than sweetened, cut berries strewn over a dry, flavorless, store-bought disc of sponge cake and topped with a spurt of aerosol-can whipped cream. What a disappointment when compared to the bright flavor and enticing textural contrast to be had from pairing ripe, saucy berries with a rich, slightly sweet, tender-crisp biscuit--capped with cool, freshly whipped cream. In this week's column, we investigate the best way to treat the berries, the components of the ideal biscuit shortcake, and even the keys to perfect whipped cream.


The Essential Elements

When it comes to the strawberries for shortcake, fresh flavor is essential, but so is a consistency that will help unite the berries with the cake. Heating the berries to achieve that consistency compromised their fresh flavor, and frozen berries didn't even approach the flavor of fresh. Plain sliced berries, however, tended to slide right off the shortcake base, and we didn't like the jamlike look of a true berry purée. We solved this problem by slicing most of the fruit, lightly mashing the remainder, and then mixing the two. The thick purée unified the slices and anchored the fruit to the biscuit. No more sloppy cascade of berries.

We turned next to the shortcake. Four different recipes for sweetened biscuits proved our preference for the one that called for both egg and half-and-half, which gave it a distinct richness and a fine, almost cakelike texture. We experimented with a number of ingredient variables and found that neither cake flour nor buttermilk nor milk nor heavy cream improved the shortcake. In terms of technique, however, we found that using frozen butter (grated into the flour on the large holes of a box grater) was a better hedge than chilling to prevent the butter from warming up too much as it was cut into the flour. Hand-forming the dough into biscuits overworked it and gave the shortcakes a rougher look than we wanted, but that didn't necessarily mean using a rolling pin. All we had to do was hand-pat the dough to a thickness of 3/4 inch on a floured surface and stamp out perfect rounds with a 2-3/4-inch biscuit cutter. A simple egg-white glaze and a sprinkling of sugar just before baking gave the shortcakes a finished, professional look no packaged shortcake could match.

Last came the whipped cream. Though most heavy cream products are ultrapasteurized, our tasters agreed that pasteurized organic heavy cream was superior for its peerless sweet cream flavor. Regardless of which




cream, though, many cooks overwhip, which dramatically degrades the final texture. We found it preferable, especially when using pasteurized cream, to stop the handheld electric mixer while the whipped cream is a little too loose and finish it to the ideal texture with just a few strokes with a whisk.

Quick Tip: Slicing Strawberries Easily

The egg slicer is an oft-used tool in the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen. Both faster and easier than making cut after cut with a paring knife, the egg slicer makes quick work of processing hulled strawberries into perfectly neat, even slices.


Rich and Tender Shortcakes with Strawberries and Whipped Cream
Made the old-fashioned way

Serves six

After cutting six perfect rounds of dough, you can reknead the scraps and cut one or two more rounds, although these shortcakes will be a little tougher and less attractive than the first six.

If you prefer to make the shortcake dough in the food processor, pulse the dry ingredients to combine them, then add cold butter that has been cut into 1/2-inch pieces and continue to pulse until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal flecked with pea-sized bits of butter. Pour the mixture into a bowl; stir in the egg and half-and-half with a rubber spatula until the mixture comes together. Continue with step 4 of the recipe instructions.

Topping

  • 3 pints strawberries, hulled; 1 pint crushed lightly with potato masher or fork, 2 pints sliced
  • 6 tablespoons sugar

    Shortcakes

  • 2 cups all-purpose bleached flour, plus more for work surface and biscuit cutter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, frozen
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon half-and-half
  • 1 egg white, lightly beaten

    1. Mix crushed and sliced berries with sugar in medium bowl; set aside while preparing biscuits (for up to 2 hours).

    2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using large holes of box grater, grate butter into dry ingredients. Toss butter with flour to coat. Use a pastry cutter to finish cutting butter into flour, or scoop up coated butter with both hands, then quickly rub butter into dry ingredients with your fingertips until most of butter pieces are the size of split peas.

    3. Mix beaten egg with half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with fork until large clumps form. Turn mixture onto floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.

    4. Pat dough into a 9-by-6-inch rectangle, 3/4-inch thick. Flour a 2-3/4-inch biscuit cutter; cut 6 dough rounds. Place them 1 inch apart on small baking sheet; brush dough tops with egg white and sprinkle with remaining sugar. (Dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.) Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place baking sheet on wire rack; cool cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.

    5. Split each cake crosswise; spoon a portion of berries and then a dollop of whipped cream over each cake bottom. Cap with cake top; serve immediately.


    Perfect Whipped Cream

    Makes about 2 cups

    If using pasteurized cream, safeguard against overwhipping by slightly underwhipping with the handheld mixer, then hand whipping with a whisk for a few strokes to finish. Whipping times will be longer for ultrapasteurized cream.

  • 1 cup (1/2 pint) chilled heavy cream, preferably pasteurized or pasteurized organic
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1. Chill a nonreactive, deep, 1- to 1-1/2-quart bowl and the beaters for a handheld mixer in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.

    2. Add cream, sugar, and vanilla to chilled bowl; beat on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave a trail, about 30 seconds more. Increase speed to high; continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume, about 20 seconds for soft peaks or about 30 seconds for stiff peaks. If necessary, finish beating by hand to adjust consistency. Serve. (Cream can be transferred to a fine sieve or a strainer set over a measuring cup and refrigerated for up to 8 hours.)

    Reprinted with permission from Cook's Illustrated magazine. For a trial issue of Cooks call 800-526-8442. Selected articles and recipes, as well as subscription information, are available online at www.cooksillustrated.com .
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