Barefoot Contessa's Shortcake with
Fresh Strawberries and Home-made Whipped Cream

I am always in awe of how easily Barefoot Contessa's Ina Garten, and television chefs in general, handle sticky pastry dough, like shortcake, a dough that requires a good deal of flour on all rolling surfaces. Although sticky at first glance, this particular dough peels away from surfaces rather easily.

The key to creating a light and flaky shortcake bread is very cold ingredients- cold butter, cold cream, and cold eggs. The same can also be said for heavy whipping cream, used for making whipped cream. To assemble the strawberry shortcake, I sliced the shortcake in half to produce a top layer and a bottom layer, added home-made whipped cream, strawberries, and strawberry syrup, and placed the top layer of the shortcake over the strawberries.

Ingredients- yields 9 shortcakes Barefoot Contessa's Shortcake recipe * 2 cups all-purpose flour * 1 tablespoon sugar, plus extra for sprinkling * 1 tablespoon baking powder * 1 teaspoon salt * 12 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), diced * 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten * 1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled Egg wash * 1 extra-large egg * 2 teaspoons water Fresh Strawberries * 1 package fresh strawberries, washed, sliced 1/4" thick * 2 teaspoons sugar Home-made Whipped Cream * 1 cup heavy whipping cream * 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: 1) Preheat oven to 400F. 2) In large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. 3) Combine butter into flour mix until butter is pea-sized. 4) In small bowl, mix eggs and heavy cream. 5) Blend well into flour mixture. 6) Flour flat surface, rolling pin, and cutting tool. 7) Roll dough 3/4" thick, rectangle shape. 8) Cut rectangle into thirds width-wise. 9) Turn cutting board; cut rectangle length-wise into 9 squares. 10) Take 1 dough square and tuck sides underneath so as to form a ball. 11) Place ball of dough on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. 12) For egg wash: In small bowl, mix egg and water. 13) Brush eggwash onto tops of dough on cookie sheet. Sprinkle sugar. 14) Bake for 23 minutes. Allow to cool for 20 minutes. 15) For whipped cream: In large, clean bowl, whip together whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until firm peaks. 16) For fresh strawberries: In medium bowl, add strawberries, and stir in sugar. 17) Slice shortcake in half, horizontally, to produce top and bottom layer. 18) Place a spoonful of whipped cream on bottom layer. 19) Place two spoonfuls of strawberries onto whipped cream. 20) Drizzle strawberry syrup over strawberries. 21) Place top layer of shortcake over strawberries. 22) Enjoy.

 

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