Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake

You can hardly beat strawberry shortcake for a delicious summer dessert.  It's truly a classic.  Fortunately, I'm not very good at leaving well enough alone.

The best thing about this particular strawberry shortcake is the balsamic vinegar that the strawberries are macerated in.  I know it sounds a little strange, but I promise you it is not.  Years ago I had a strawberry daiquiri that had balsamic vinegar in it and I still think about it.  There's something about the balsamic that just adds a touch of spice.  When you're eating it, you think to yourself "this is different, good different, and I'm not sure why".

I am fully aware that there is fierce debate out there about what the base of strawberry shortcake should consist of.  There are those firmly in the angel food cake camp and those staunchly in the biscuit camp.  I do love angel food cake, but for this particular application, I am convinced that the biscuit is the way to go.  Why?  Because the focus of this baby is the sweet, strawberry, balsamicy syrup that comes off the berries and soaks into the base.  I really think that the syrup would just overwhelm a delicate angel food cake.  You need the dense biscuit to soak up all that tangy goodness.  Plus, the cake would be too sweet.  Trust me.

Please prepare yourself for my biscuit rant....

The worst possible thing you can do to a biscuit is touch it.  Don't stir it, don't beat it, don't even look at it... OK, that's impossible but I'm completely serious when I tell you that the less you mess with a biscuit, the better it is.  I am adamant when making biscuit dough you should stir it as little as possible.  When you're done stirring it you should think that you need to stir it more.  It should be shaggy and have dry spots... on purpose.  You also shouldn't use a rolling pin on it.  Just don't.  Pat the dough out and fold it.  Then pat it and fold it a few more times.  That's how you get a flaky biscuit that you can pull apart and put butter on (or in this case whipped cream and strawberries).  If you mess with the biscuit dough too much you just end up with a hockey puck

I'm also a big advocate of fresh whipped cream.  I don't understand why people think whipped cream is so hard.  It's 2 ingredients... cream and sugar... then you whip it.  There's nothing hard about it.  I guess you could buy that stuff in the can that makes a funny noise when you dispense it.  I agree that it's pretty fun to squirt it directly into your mouth but homemade whipped cream tastes so much better.

Of course, that doesn't stop me from eating frozen cool whip out of the container with a spoon but that's another topic all together.

CA recently bought us one of those cream charger things that uses N2O cartridges to make whipped cream but I haven't used it yet.  I should use it because it would give me the taste benefits of fresh whipped cream and the fun benefits of squirting it into my mouth.  CA has used it with the CO2 chargers to make foams for some of his crazy cocktails but to tell you the truth the thing scares me.  I'm 100% sure that N2O has to do with science and science and I are not friends.  It scares me.  I think it's going to explode if I do something wrong and then I'll be dead and that would be bad.

So, we've got strawberries, biscuits and whipped cream.  Yep, that's all we need.

These are the perfect summer dessert and I promise you that you will love the balsamic.  It really elevates the dessert and makes it feel and taste so much more special.

Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake
6 servings

Ingredients
16 oz. Strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 T Sugar
2 T Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Cake Flour
1 1/2 T Sugar
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 T Shortening
1 T cold Butter
1/3 cup Buttermilk

1 pint Heavy Cream
2 T Sugar

Instructions
Combine the strawberries, 1 T of sugar and the balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour but not more than 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, cream of tartar, soda, powder and salt.   Cut in the shortening and butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Pat it into a round and fold it in half.  Repeat patting and folding 7 times.  Pat the dough to 1/2" thickness and cut into six 2 1/2" - 3" rounds.  Put each round on the prepared pan and bake for 12-13 minutes or until light golden brown.  Allow the biscuits to cool completely.

Add the heavy cream and 2 T of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

Split each biscuit in half.  Set aside the biscuit tops.  Divide the whipped cream evenly among the 6 biscuit bottoms.  Top each with 1/6 of the berries.  Spoon leftover berry liquid evenly on top of each shortcake.  Place the tops of the biscuits on top of the berries.

Enjoy!
Julie