Strawberry Shortcake

I’m just not cool enough to go so long between posts.  If I was a blogebrity and went a month without blogging, maybe there would be people faithfully checking in every day, begging me to come back because, Oh!  Their dinner plans depend on me!  But no.  Definitely not that cool.  Have you even missed me?  I don’t know.  But hey, I’ve missed me, so here goes.

First off, where have I been, you ask?  The answer is vacation (heavenly), power outage (not so much), guests (fun), aaaannd….lazy.  Yep.  At least I’m honest.

Vacation was great.  We did, in fact, go wherever we wanted and do whatever we wanted and stay out as late as we wanted (which was, sadly, really not that late) and make as much noise as we wanted and sleep without the constant hum of a baby monitor and get a tan and eat our own food.  We did a LOT of eating – two mega buffets and several other restaurants and 32 dollars worth of gourmet candy, which, I admit, maybe my eyes were a little bigger than my stomach on that one.  Considering about 60% of it is still sitting in the kitchen, growing chocolate mold and calling my name right now, actually, be right back.

I haven’t cooked much of note since we got back, sadly.  I’ve made a lot of recipes that I’ve already posted (this, this, this, and this [which I would like to say, tastes sooo good and my picture is sooo gross.  I've gotta get on that.]).  We’ve went out to eat several times due to the steaming hot heat in our powerless, heat-wave-stricken house.  But most importantly (and most excusably, I think), I’ve also had a lot of Saltine crackers for dinner – because we have another bun in the oven!

A rather large-seeming bun, I might add.

People, it is summer.  Suh-mer.  And it's hot.  At least here in Virginia, where 80 degrees would feel cool and you can’t stand to be outside between the hours of 7 in the morning to 10 at night, I don’t want to eat a lot of heavy, sticky deserts.  I DO want to eat a lot of homemade strawberry short-cake.  And now that I’ve had it once, I will never buy a store-bought angel food cake ever, ever again.  Neither will you.

Strawberry Short Cake

Adapted slightly from Bride & Groom Cookbook by Pirie and Clark
Note: I halved this recipe, but I now have no idea why.

For the strawberries

• 3 cups ripe strawberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup orange juice

For the shortcakes

• 2 cups flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp heavy cream, divided

For the whipped cream

• Do this.  Do NOT do what I did and cop out and use cool whip because you're too tired and lazy to make homemade whipped cream.  It will be way too sweet and it will disappoint you.  

Rinse, dry, stem, and quarter the strawberries.  Put them in a bowl, sprinkle them with sugar and pour on the orange juice. Let chill for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Drain when finished.

For the shortcakes, combine dry ingredients in a bowl with a fork.  Using a fork, clean fingers, or a pastry knife, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is broken down into fairly even pieces, the largest being about the size of a pea.  Pour in the cup of cream, then mix with a spoon or electric mixer just until the dough starts to come together.  The dough will be sticky in spots.  On a floured, cool work surface, dust the dough with flour and roll into a rectangle about 5 by 8 inches and about 1 inch thick.  Cut into 6 squares (or random shapes in my case, because who the heck can actually roll dough into a perfect rectangle?), and place them 2 inches apart onto a greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops with the 1 Tbsp cream.  Bake in a 375-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until risen and golden on top.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Make the whipped cream.

To serve, cut the biscuits in half length-wise.  Sprinkle one half with strawberries, add whipped cream, and either: top with the other biscuit half OR add strawberries and whipped cream to the other half and gorge.  Fight for the leftovers.

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

Recently we had some very dear friends come visit. They stayed in our house with their sweet boy and we just hung out for a couple of days. After they left, I told Jeremy how much I appreciated that they took me at my word when I said "Make yourself at home," because they did. They ate what they wanted, used up the hot water when they showered, and allowed themselves to become completely comfortable. I loved it. I love that they just joined in our family and willingly gave and took. I loved it because that comfort in our home is based on a mutual comfort in our relationship. She's the kind of friend where you pick up right where you left off, you say what you need to, love each other despite seeing our worst (we were roommates - I mean, come on). It's what I wish there was more of in our world and our community. I don't like over-politeness. If I say, "Help yourself," I mean it. If we say, "We got it this time," just say thank you. If you say, "We'll do the dishes since you cooked," ok. If you need a ride, I'll come get you, and it's not a big deal. It's what we do for each other.

I'm not always good at this, but I want to be. I love having friends you are possibly-just-a-little-too-comfortable with. I love not feeling like you have to tiptoe or over-exude with each other. I think that's the kind of relationship Jesus had in mind.

I guess maybe it's a variable thing. Maybe not all relationships need to be quite so comfortable. Maybe you have to reach a point of trust first. But I don't know. Maybe we'd reach a point of trust a lot faster if we stopped painting on the fake. Anyway, I'm grateful for those friends.

The day after they left was my husband's birthday party. He loves ice-cream cake, but man is it pricey. I still owe him an ice-cream cake cupcake from Dairy Queen, but for the big party I make this every year:

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

~12 Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches

~1 jar chocolate sauce

~1 jar caramel sauce

~1 large tub cool whip, thawed

~1 small tub frozen sliced strawberries (thawed before making the cake)

~sprinkles

In a 9 x 13 baking dish lay a layer of 6 sandwiches. Spread half the jar of caramel sauce evenly on top. Next, spread half the jar of chocolate. Dump the strawberries into a strainer and drain any excess liquid (this step is only necessary if you, like me, could only find frozen strawberries in liquid with sugar added). Layer all the strawberries on top of the chocolate layer. Spread half the tub of Cool Whip on top. Another layer of sandwiches, then the sauces, then the rest of the Cool Whip. Top with sprinkles and freeze until ready to serve.

A couple tips:

Work fast - ice cream melts! Leave the sandwiches you aren't using in the freezer until you are ready. I generally make this the day of the party. Once the cake gets rock-frozen, the strawberries get really hard. So if you can make it a couple hours before serving, the temperature and texture will be perfect. But don't worry - no one will complain about the leftovers, even if the strawberries harden.

Also, this is a "springboard recipe" - make it how you want it. Use butterscotch syrup or only chocolate. Leave out the strawberries if you don't want them. Try different flavors of ice cream sandwiches. Shave candy bar on top instead of sprinkles. Just be sure to enjoy!