TWD – Tender Shortcakes

Did I mention that I’ve never had a strawberry shortcake the REAL way? Its true! The only way I’ve ever had it was with those spongy, rather disgusting ‘angel food cake’ cups piled high with berries and whipped cream.

Boy have I been missing out!!

Shortcakes are really supposed to be made with a tender biscuit in place of that angel food mass which provides a COMPLETELY different texture, flavor, and structure to the shortcake.

Don’t be put off by the fact that I say ‘biscuit.’ It is nothing like the biscuit that you spoon sausage gravy on top of or the kind you eat with bacon and eggs. This is in a class of its own. Tender, soft and pillowy, sweet, crumbly. Sounds good?

Take it a step further: add juicy strawberries. Or raspberries. Or blackberries. Or peaches. Or sautéed cinnamon apples. Or sautéed brown sugar pineapples. Or any insane combination of anything that you deem necessary to satisfy your tummy. (I went with the traditional strawberries and my second variation was sautéed cinnamon apples. Obviously.)

And then, go for the jugular (are you ready for this?)… homemade sweetened whipped cream. Piled dangerously high. That’s right, I said it!!

Sweetened Whipped Cream Recipe:

2 cups cold heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, can be substituted for any extract or even rum or kahluah, if you’re boozy like that 😀 )

Directions:

In a large bowl (trust me, you’ll need it) whip cream starting on low speed using a hand-held mixer until you notice a bit of a textural change. Increase the speed bit by bit as the cream gains more and more substance and texture. On medium-high, whip the cream until ALMOST at desired consistency. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and whip until satisfied with texture and structure. DO NOT over-whip the cream as it will separate and taking it too far… it can turn into butter :O

Thank you to Cathy of The Tortefeasor for choosing this simple, delicious recipe. You can find the recipe for the shortcakes here. And check out the other bakers who baked along this week. I’m certain you’ll find some great inspiration there 🙂

Up next week: Raisin Swirl Bread.

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TWD – Applesauce Spice Bars

Ahh Fall. Brimming with promises of delicious, warm, and tantalizing scents, colors and flavors.

As soon as I read the recipe for these bars I was excited ecstatic! Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg… oh my head swirled with happy thoughts of (slightly) cooler weather and pretty Fall colors. I daydreamed of jumping into a pile of freshly raked leaves and coming home to these bars and the smell of my favorite mulled apple cider candle.

I had high hopes for these bars, I really truly did.

Once I put them in the oven, I nervously awaited the outcome. The air smelled DIVINE (but also hinted to me that I needed to add more spices next time) but for some reason the taste just didn’t match up to the scent. But I hadn’t written them off yet.

“I’ll let the flavors meld together for a day, that’ll do the trick!”

And I did, but they still fell short (maybe because I used Cruzan Rum rather than an apple based one?). Don’t get me wrong, they are good, just not what I expected. But that’s my opinion alone, as I’ve already heard great things about my cake-like bars.

Next time I’ll add more spices, use the apple rum suggested or maybe substitute some of the liquid for apple cider, bake them in a smaller pan for some height, add the nuts and raisins, and I will most definitely use a different glaze (or at least sub honey for the corn syrup).

Side note: brown gooey bars don’t exactly photograph too well (especially when you aren’t a professional photographer), so please forgive the shots of these.

If you want to try the recipe for yourself, Visit Karen over at Something Sweet By Karen.

Click here for more pics.