Apologies for my long absence, but Murphy's Law has been working overtime in my household. We finally fixed our computer problem: Vista is incompatible with The Shield Deluxe Antivirus Program. Just when I thought I could return to blogging, my shoulder flared up. A car accident in 1979 left me with damaged vertebrae and a susceptibility to repetitive stress injury from computer usage. Since I've played hookey from physical therapy since November, I have no one to blame but myself. Now that I'm back in PT twice a week, I have limited time for the computer. I have yet to look into my bulging folder of recipes that need to be posted. I thought, instead, I would let Martha Stewart usher in my comeback with this timely recipe, made today, using strawberries. As is typical of MS's recipes, there is no guidance on how the texture of this cookie is supposed to be. I'm assuming, from the title, the cookie should have the texture of a shortcake. If that is so, then her baking time of 24-25 minutes is way off. But her photo (see top photo) is much prettier than my cookies. If you only bake the cookies till the dough is done, they won't brown on the bottom like the top photo. If you let the cookies brown like the top photo, I fear they will be terribly overdone inside. You can certainly check the original recipe on Martha's website; I've printed my smaller (1/3) recipe below, to which (amazingly) no changes were made except for the baking time and method of incorporating the butter into the dough. (It is just so much easier to grate frozen butter into a dough instead of cutting it in with knives or a pastry cutter.)What to watch out for: Don't overdo the strawberries. Too many will make the dough soggy. This cookie is not a good keeper, so plan on eating them all the day they're made, or freeze them. Somehow, I don't think this will be problem once you taste them. I ate eleven cookies very easily, without even thinking about it -- they are small and really delicious.
Strawberry Shortcake CookiesAdapted 1/3 Recipe from marthastewart.com
Rating: 8 out of 10
INGREDIENTS: Scant 2/3 cup diced strawberries (1/4" dice)
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. + 2 Tbsp 1 tsp. sugar, divided use
2/3 cup chilled flour (I used Ultra-Grain, which is 30% whole wheat)
2/3 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. coarse salt (I used Kosher)
2 Tbsp. frozen butter
3-1/2 Tbsp. chilled heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling (any coarse sugar crystals will work)
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small dish or bowl, combine strawberries, lemon juice and 2 tsp. sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 2 Tbsp. 1 tsp. sugar. Grate butter through a microplane coarse grater (which is a fine grater, actually) over flour and then mix with your hands until it resembles coarse crumbs. Quickly stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberries and their juices. Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon,drop dough onto prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until dough is cooked (about 10 minutes) for a very soft but delicious cookie. Or, you may prefer to bake them till they're golden brown, probably 15-18 minutes, in which case I have no idea what they will be like, but I do hope you will let me know. In any event, good luck! Yield: 13 cookies
