TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY

Hey, y'all!

This blog carnival, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, is hosted by Lisa and her sister Lana. They have a lot of people link up and share tips, recipes and product reviews...anything kitchen related. It is a lot of fun. Hope y'all will join us.

I'm putting up one of my current faves....and an EASY summertime favorite.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Now before you turn away, I need you to know this is HOMEMADE Strawberry shortcake.

It is not one of those tiny, yellow cakes with a dent in the top.

I do NOT use Cool Whip.

The strawberries are fresh and free from the packaged red "goo" that is sold in the produce section.

So please read on. This is not hard AT ALL. Each step, in and of itself, doesn't take long, but you do have to plan ahead a bit.

First, you need.......

THE CAKE

Shortcake is basically a sweetened biscuit with eggs. It is not overly sweet...not as sweet as a regular cake...and a bit dense. You can drop the batter to make individual cakes or bake in a round pan like I do.

ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 375. Grease and flour an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, powder and salt. Using pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and eggs. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon into flour. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; invert onto serving platter

While that is going, you may turn your attention to....

THE STRAWBERRIES

Wash some strawberries. Above, I have about 10-12 berries. The stems are removed. After washing, I sliced them. You can also quarter if you want the berries chunkier. Add about 1/2 cup or so of sugar and stir to coat. Leave them on your counter for about 1 hour or so, stirring every 15 minutes, more or less. The sugar draws out moisture, much as salt does, and will naturally glaze the fruit. It is not as thick as the gloppy goop you can get in the store, but it is a lot better.

OK...the cake is baked and the strawberries have a nice juice....time to assemble.

Uh-oh....forgot the cream.

WHIPPING CREAM

Yes, my friend. The real deal. Cool Whip should NOT be considered for several reasons...the least of which is....yuck. You are making HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE! Don't ruin it with something like Cool Whip.

Get a carton of whipping cream or heavy cream (they are the same, despite the label.)

Pour some into a bowl. (Unlike egg whites, you don't have to worry about oil residue on the bowl. If it is hot outside, I suggest you chill the bowl (glass is best) and beaters, else you will be standing there a long time...otherwise, it should take you about 2 minutes, tops.)

When you sweeten whipped cream, I suggest you use powdered sugar so your cream won't have a grainy texture. For this, though, you really need to NOT sweeten it.*

*Note...I didn't say, "You DON'T need to sweeten it."

I said, "You really NEED TO NOT sweeten it."

The berries are sweet. The cake is slightly sweet. Sweetened whipped cream is too much.

I know, I know....not everyone likes real cream...you probably don't like real butter either, but you need to get over that.....real is best. :)

OK....NOW it's time to assemble.....

I cut the cake into pie-shaped pieces. I then split the piece horizontally. (A yummy secret is to take some extra juice and let it soak into the bottom piece of cake.) Top with a few berries and small dollop of whipped cream. Top with the top half of cake, more berries and more whipped cream. This would be pretty garnished with a fresh, sliced berry (still together at the top stem) or a sprig of mint.

If you are like me, you could do without all this and just put your face into the bowl of cream....but I digress.

I sure hope you enjoy this!