Brittany’s Baking Stories: Calm in Chaos
February: Strawberry Balsamic Shortcakes
Baking is definitely a labor of love and I had to use strawberries for love month. I knew making biscuits was going to be tricky, but I powered through. I decided to make this on Superbowl Sunday evening. Remind me not to bake on that day again. There was too much going on. But the evening was my only free time. I don’t have that many photos of the baking process because my toddler needed a more targeted distraction so I let him have my phone. I was able to snag a few though.
They came out pretty good. I think I made them too big because I was supposed to get 6 biscuits. I didn’t have a proper biscuit cutter so I used a glass, but that mouth might have been too big. I think the bigger ones need to be baked a little longer.
Cutting the strawberries into “coins” or circles took less time than I thought. I’m not confident I mixed the dough right. It was a little more crumbly than I was expecting it to be. But mixing and kneading the dough was calming. It was easiest to tune everything out then. The balsamic glaze didn’t thicken; I think that was a combination of leaving it on the heat after turning off the stove and not boiling it at a high enough temperature. The glaze was still tasty though.
I may have started to slightly over whip the whipped cream, but it still tasted good.
And here’s the final result:
It was fun to assemble. I only assembled mine as I was ready to eat. So any extra biscuits, glaze, strawberries, and cream were stored separately. This is the perfect dessert if you love slightly sweet desserts. It was light and sweet like a kiss on the forehead. You could eat a nice dinner and have the shortcake and not feel overly full.
For writing advice: When the world gets chaotic, find a calm corner and write. Even if everything doesn’t go according to the outline, it could still turn out pretty good. Or if you don’t outline, even if it doesn’t go exactly as you envisioned in your head, it could still turn out pretty good.
You can find this recipe in Jerrelle Guy’s cookbook, Black Girl Baking. Her recipe is also on Epicurious so if any baker friends or anyone interested in trying want to make it, check it out: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/strawberry-balsamic-shortcakes-with-olive-oil-buttermilk-biscuits.
Until next month, happy writing and happy baking!
