And old pal from childhood, Chris Ellinger, agreed to offer up his secret recipe for strawberry shortcake. According to Chris: “There’s a hundred versions of strawberry shortcake. Some use those store bought sponge cakes, some use lady fingers, some just use regular cake. These are all WRONG! You are cheating yourself if you don’t make it proper! You can use a regular biscuit recipe with a little extra sugar added, but if you want an extra rich real south Georgia shortcake, the secret is hard boiled egg yolks!”
So, listen close to some real strawberry shortcake expertise –
Preheat your oven to 425 and sugar up your strawberries! Make sure to save some big’uns for the top!
Dry ingredients:
3 cups low-protein or all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup COLD butter
4 egg yolks, hard boiled
1 1/4 cup whipping cream
Cut your butter and yolks into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender (NOT a mixer!). Don’t mash it up too much, just a coarse blend. Add in the whipping cream and mix with a fork until all the dry is wet. Knead and fold it out on the counter – not too much! The more folds you have the more layers you’ll get! You can either do individuals with a biscuit cutter or you can put it in a greased cake pan. I like to brush the top with a little whipping cream or buttermilk before baking. Keep in oven until they are just turning gold on the edges – usually about 15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. If you made the cake pan size, remove from pan right away!
Whip up your cream with some sugar and a squirt of vanilla! Split your cake or biscuits in half and slop on some sugared berries. Whip cream and whole berries on top – Bingo.
(Thanks Chris!)
