Don't you just love 3-day weekends? The Friday before is usually a shorter one because everyone is itching to leave work and get the weekend started...then Sunday comes and wait - You don't have to go back to work tomorrow...You have a whole other day to relax! And then you slide back into the work week, but it's only 4 days...Ahhhh...
We kept this 4th of July pretty quiet and went out to Winchester on Friday to hang at Laura & Jon's. They hosted a BBQ on Saturday and we headed back home on Sunday after a delicious breakfast of homemade waffles. On Monday, while Frank played golf with the boys, the ladies hung at the pool where the boys eventually joined up with us. We relaxed that afternoon at a BBQ back at Greg & Eugenia's. We weren't even too concerned with catching fireworks this year, so just spent the evening of the 4th at home watching some of the National fireworks from TV along with local fireworks that could be seen slightly above the neighborhood tree line.
I haven't posted any magazine recipes lately and recently tried a dessert from the June/July 2009 Food Network magazine to bring to Greg & Eugenia's BBQ and figured I would share it with you:
Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes For the Shortcakes:1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces milk chocolate, roughly chopped
2 large eggs (I just used one and then used egg whites to brush on top of the cakes)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the toppings:1 quart strawberries (I used blueberries, too)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the shortcakes: Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until sandy. Add the chocolate. Whisk 1 egg, the cream and vanilla in a glass measuring cup; stir into the flour mixture with a fork to make a shaggy dough (there will be some dry bits). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; pat flat until 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 6 rounds with a knife or cookie cutter, using the scraps for the last cake.
2. Place the rounds on the baking sheet; freeze for 20 minutes. (I don't have room in my freezer for a baking sheet so just stuck these in the fridge for about 20 minutes - I think the idea is just that you want them cool so they're easier to handle.) Beat the remaining egg; brush onto the cakes and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until firm, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
3. Meanwhile, make the toppings: Toss half of the strawberries with half of the sugar in a bowl; set aside. Place the other half of each in a saucepan; cook over medium-low heat, mashing with a fork to make a thick puree, about 10 minutes. Cool completely. Whip the cream with a mixer until medium peaks form; swirl in the strawberry puree.
4. Split the shortcakes in half. Layer some of the strawberry cream and reserved fruit on the bottoms; cover with the shortcake tops. Finish with more strawberry cream and the remaining berries.
I thought these turned out pretty good. The original recipe only makes 6 shortcakes, but I used a mini cookie cutter to make bite-size cakes. I lowered the oven temp to 375 and only baked them for about 15 minutes but I should have taken them out a few minutes sooner because some of them were a little too over-done. To make the dessert 4th of July festive, I also topped with blueberries. A few of the reviews mention the dough being too sticky and adding more flour to the dough, but all you really need to do is put some on your hands while you handle the dough and you'll be fine. One of the reviews also mentions it being time consuming, but it's really quite simple.
The dry ingredients:
The mini shortcakes getting ready to go in the oven:
The finished product:
Oh, and I thought you might get a kick out of this picture - The boys were shooting pellet guns at Greg's:
