Well, sort of. When I was growing up, my Grandmother made the most amazing strawberry shortcake. Her shortcakes were sweet, but not overly so. Somewhat dense, but still fairly light. She made a syrup which sort of tied the whole thing together. It too was sweet, but not sickly sweet. No whipped cream was ever served with it, partially because it wasn't needed and partially because my Grandparents were notoriously thrifty and refused to spend money on it.
Unfortunately, my Grandmother is long gone, as are my parents and all my aunts and uncles. No one in my generation was ever entrusted with the recipe, so, like so many others. it's passed into the vague, misty realm of the fond distant memory.
Oh HELL NO!!! Not on my watch!!! I've taken up the task of recreating it, and I believe I'm nearly there. I've nailed the syrup, and am very nearly there with the short cakes.
This morning, I was staring at the refrigerator and the cabinets looking for something for breakfast when I had an idea.
Strawberry pan-shortcake! (or is that short-pancake?)
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just a stack of flapjacks with strawberries on it. But it isn't, not really.
Ingredients:
For the berries:
1 pint fresh strawberries.
2TB sugar.
For the pancakes:
2 cups CAKE flour. (yes, it matters)
1 and 1/2 cups milk.
1 egg
2TB melted butter
2TB sugar
1TB baking Powder
1/2tsp salt
For the syrup:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1TB cornstarch
1/2 stick butter
1tsp Vanilla extract
Dash salt
First, you slice the strawberries thin and sprinkle them with sugar. Pretty standard stuff.
Nest make the syrup by combining the sugar,salt,butter and all but 3TB of the water in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and let it roll for 1 minute. Then remove from heat. Mix the cornstarch with the reserved 3TB water and slowly stir into the sugar mixture. Return to the heat and bring to a boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, let cool for 5 minutes then stir in the vanilla extract. Mixture should be the consistency of heavy syrup. Set aside.
For the pancakes, sift your flour, salt and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl. Then, in another bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together until it thickens and lightens in color, about a minute or 2. Then whisk in the melted butter. You should end up with something the consistency of homemade mayonnaise, because, that's essentially what it is. Then whisk in the milk. Then add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, mixing ONLY ENOUGH TO COMBINE. There may be a few little lumps, but that's ok. Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Now, depending on how long your Strawberries have been macerating, you'll have a good amount of sugary liquid in the bowl. You can drain it off and add it to the syrup mixture for a nice hint of strawberry flavor.
The rest is pretty simple. Cook your pancakes in the usual manner. Then layer each pancake with strawberries and drizzle with syrup. Makes for an awesome weekend brunch or a fun dessert. You could do silver dollar pancakes for small individual servings for dessert.
I'll post the recipe for the shortcakes in another post as soon as I've dialed it in.
Unfortunately, my Grandmother is long gone, as are my parents and all my aunts and uncles. No one in my generation was ever entrusted with the recipe, so, like so many others. it's passed into the vague, misty realm of the fond distant memory.
Oh HELL NO!!! Not on my watch!!! I've taken up the task of recreating it, and I believe I'm nearly there. I've nailed the syrup, and am very nearly there with the short cakes.
This morning, I was staring at the refrigerator and the cabinets looking for something for breakfast when I had an idea.
Strawberry pan-shortcake! (or is that short-pancake?)
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just a stack of flapjacks with strawberries on it. But it isn't, not really.
Ingredients:
For the berries:
1 pint fresh strawberries.
2TB sugar.
For the pancakes:
2 cups CAKE flour. (yes, it matters)
1 and 1/2 cups milk.
1 egg
2TB melted butter
2TB sugar
1TB baking Powder
1/2tsp salt
For the syrup:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1TB cornstarch
1/2 stick butter
1tsp Vanilla extract
Dash salt
First, you slice the strawberries thin and sprinkle them with sugar. Pretty standard stuff.
Nest make the syrup by combining the sugar,salt,butter and all but 3TB of the water in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and let it roll for 1 minute. Then remove from heat. Mix the cornstarch with the reserved 3TB water and slowly stir into the sugar mixture. Return to the heat and bring to a boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, let cool for 5 minutes then stir in the vanilla extract. Mixture should be the consistency of heavy syrup. Set aside.
For the pancakes, sift your flour, salt and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl. Then, in another bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together until it thickens and lightens in color, about a minute or 2. Then whisk in the melted butter. You should end up with something the consistency of homemade mayonnaise, because, that's essentially what it is. Then whisk in the milk. Then add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, mixing ONLY ENOUGH TO COMBINE. There may be a few little lumps, but that's ok. Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Now, depending on how long your Strawberries have been macerating, you'll have a good amount of sugary liquid in the bowl. You can drain it off and add it to the syrup mixture for a nice hint of strawberry flavor.
The rest is pretty simple. Cook your pancakes in the usual manner. Then layer each pancake with strawberries and drizzle with syrup. Makes for an awesome weekend brunch or a fun dessert. You could do silver dollar pancakes for small individual servings for dessert.
I'll post the recipe for the shortcakes in another post as soon as I've dialed it in.
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