Truly Short Shortcake

The redeeming thing about these (and the plum gratin before it) was that I was able to eat these in one of my favorite summer ways: the biscuit split open, with a layer of plain Greek yogurt on each half, and fruit (or fruit puree) scooped over the top. Like a strawberry shortcake with yogurt instead of cream, and more mash to the fruit. Otherwise, this biscuit was a little disappointing. The texture was nice and biscuity, but I like my other biscuit recipe better, and this lacked flavor even with me using buttermilk. The problem is I just keep trucking along, hoping to find alternates when I have things I am already perfectly happy with. So the chances of making this again are slim, but this is not a blog about perfection, just about archiving. Trying. Experimenting. Being. 

Note: I only made the cake part, not the berries. Also, the recipe says this makes 12, but what a mighty small 12 those would be. I made six more substantial sized scones by cutting a round of the dough into six triangles.

From Mark Bittman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/dining/the-minimalist-truly-short-shortcake.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 C. cake flour or all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

4 tsp. baking powder

4 T. cold butter

7/8 C. milk (low fat is ok)

6 C. cleaned and sliced strawberries

Sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the strawberries with 1 cup sugar. 

2. Mix remaining sugar with flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into bits, and either pulse it a few times quickly in the processor with the dry ingredients or take a little of the dry ingredients, rub a bit of butter into them with your fingers and drop back in the bowl. All the butter should be thoroughly blended.

3. Slowly add the milk to the bowl, stirring it in with a large spoon until the mixture forms a ball. The mixture should be sticky; use a little more or less milk if necessary. 

4. Drop mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet, one heaping tablespoon per cake. 

5. Bake about 10 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown. (Keep an eye on them; once browning starts, it goes quickly.) Let cool a bit; top with strawberries and their juices and the whipped cream.