Sky-High Biscuits and Strawberry Nut Shortcakes

I've never made biscuits successfully. The ones I used for this strawberry shortcake recipe in the spring were pretty great, but, technically, they were shortcakes, not biscuits. I don't know if I can legitimately say that I have now made biscuits successfully, because although these were really good, any experienced biscuit-maker would tell you that they aren't, technically, biscuits. Strictly speaking, according to my Southern grandmother (not Eleanor) and also every Southern cook I've ever met, a biscuit has only four ingredients (flour, baking powder, butter, and milk, I think). This particular recipe has way more than that, including two types of flour, egg, sugar, and cream of tartar, which, I'm happy to report, is completely optional, as I couldn't find any (though Judson did try to purchase a bottle of tartar sauce when I asked him to check at the grocery store near his office).

The biscuit recipe is in pristine condition and dated 1983, so I think it's a safe bet Eleanor never made these. Scornful of all things Southern, I was surprised to find this recipe in the box at all-- maybe the whole wheat flour convinced her they would be worth making, or maybe she, like me, just needed a vehicle for her strawberry shortcakes.

Anyway, I've been wanting to make this recipe for strawberry nut shortcake before the summer ended, but I kept finding excuses-- until I found the most perfect and beautiful wee little 'woodland strawberries' at the fruit stand last weekend. They were so round and perfect they looked like wild strawberries, and I knew they'd be perfect for this recipe. But since the shortcake recipe calls for 'biscuit mix,' which doesn't exist over here in the land where biscuits are cookies, I had no choice but to make mine from scratch. Luckily, the box came to my rescue on that front as well. Incidentally, the only other key ingredient for this recipe that I couldn't find was 'whipped topping,' which is ironic because the recipe comes on the back of the lid to a container of Dover Farms Whipped Dairy Topping. Definitely not complaining, though, as homemade whipped cream beats out the stuff in the tub any day of the week, so I ended up with a completely from-scratch dessert that was surprisingly easy to put together. Plus, in Scotland there's a dessert called cranachan that's basically just crumbled cookies, mashed raspberries, and whisky-infused whipped cream... which gave me the idea of adding just a dash of whisky to the whipped cream in this recipe. We did not regret that decision. If you're not a whisky drinker but you have some bourbon on hand, put a capful in your whipped cream-- it will change your life.

If you're dying for one last summertime dessert before the autumn sets in and you live in a place where you can still get decent strawberries, make this. You won't regret it. Bonus points if you make the biscuits from scratch-- plus, you'll have leftover biscuits that go GREAT with clotted cream and jam.

Seriously, though-- these two recipes are super easy. The biscuits come together in no time, and keep for three days at room temperature. The actual strawberry shortcakes are super simple-- sliced strawberries, a dash of sugar, and a cloud of whipped cream and you're good to go. But if you're in a real hurry, you could even skip the biscuits and just have strawberries and cream. No one would mind, I promise.

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five. These strawberry shortcakes are delicious, and somehow so much more than the sum of their (amazing) parts. Make these quick and enjoy the Indian Summer we seem to all be experiencing.

The recipe:

Sky-High Biscuits

the directions:

Preheat oven to 232C/450F.
Combine flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Work quickly to avoid mixture getting soft.
Add egg and milk, stirring quickly just until mixture comes together.
Flour your countertop and knead very gently and quickly.
Pat gently to 1” thickness.
Cut into 1-2” biscuits and place on a cookie sheet about 1” apart.
Bake 12-15 minutes until crisp and golden.

Yields 10 biscuits

the ingredients:

1 c flour
½ c whole wheat flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
3 oz butter
½ egg, beaten
½ c milk

the recipe:

Strawberry Nut Shortcake

the directions:

Sprinkle strawberries with sugar and set aside.
Whip cream with vanilla and brown sugar until fluffy.
Split each biscuit, and scoop strawberries on top of the bottom half of the biscuit.
Add whipped cream sprinkle of nuts, and the top of the biscuit.
Serve immediately and enjoy immensely.

Yields 4 strawberry shortcakes

the ingredients:

2 c strawberries, sliced
2 tbsp sugar, or less if your strawberries are particularly sweet
1 c whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 biscuits (recipe above)
½ c pecans

Sunny Morn Sandwich + Bonus Treat!

Well, it's taken me almost six months, but I've realised something unexpected about the recipes from the box. For the most part, the recipes I've made so far are either completely the same as recipes today, with no substitutes necessary, or they are like the 'Bonus Treat' recipe we had for breakfast this weekend, where 2/3 of the ingredients are substitutes because the original either no longer exists or I can't purchase it here in Scotland. Obviously, I knew that I'd have a lot of substitutions, alterations, and tweaks to make to the recipes in the box, but I assumed incorrectly that most recipes would have one (or maybe two at most) substitutions. I wasn't anticipating recipes like this one that required so many substitutions I lost count. But the alterations are the fun part-- I've been brainstorming ways to adapt the salad recipes I keep finding for weeks because I can't get my hands on Ranch or Blue Cheese or French dressing.*

So when I found these two recipes in the box-- one of which is really just 'marmalade on toast,' of course I thought I was in for an easy ride with no substitutions at all. But then I read them both a little closer and realised 'bonus treat' was indeed going to require some ingenuity. Plus, then I remembered that San Francisco was responsible for starting an entire artisan toast movement a couple of years ago, and so I decided these recipes were going to be awesome. And I was right.

When my dad was visiting a few weeks ago, he tried to explain 'date bread' to me. He claimed it was a squishy, dark bread that you had to squeeze out of a container almost like a thick paste-- and based on the picture that accompanies this recipe for 'bonus treat,' I think that must be exactly what the recipe called for. However, as it's no longer the 1960s (much though Donald Trump wishes it was), I can't buy that kind of bread so I used Soreen to make this. If you're in the UK, you probably already know the wonders of Soreen, and I totally recommend this recipe. If you're not over here and have never heard of Soreen, it's a 'fruited malt loaf' made with raisins and malt extract. It's a thick, super dense, dark and chewy loaf of bread with a rich, fruity flavour. Obviously, it's delicious. Since it's made with malt, though, it's full of sugar so probably not an everyday kind of breakfast food. Evidently other flavours besides grape/raisin exist, but this is the only type I've ever seen since moving here. Usually Soreen is eaten with a smear of warmed butter, but for our purposes we had it with cream cheese and plum butter, instead of the currant jelly that the recipe called for. No currant jelly around here, so I used Polish plum butter, which is my current favourite condiment and I put it on everything.

So in the interest of not boring you with two different toast recipes this week, here I present them to you together. Next time you're brainstorming something new to accompany your weekend brunch, give one of these a try-- you won't regret it.

*Grocery stores here do sell something called 'French dressing,' but it's a vinaigrette-type thing, not the red stuff like in the US. I'm not complaining, as the Scottish version is not only less suspect looking than the American stuff, but also more similar to what actual salad dressing tastes like in France. So the fact remains: American-style salad dressings are just not to be had over here.

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five for the 'bonus treat,' 4 spoons out of five for the 'Sunny Morn Sandwich,' partly because it wasn't a sandwich and partly because it's just an incredibly stupid thing to write an entire recipe explaining.

The recipe:

Sunny Morn Sandwich

the directions:

Spread cream cheese on toast.
poon marmalade in a circle in the middle of toast to look like the sun.
Eat it with a cup of hot coffee and a crossword puzzle.

the ingredients:

Slice of your favourite bread, toasted to your preferred degree of brown
Cream Cheese
Marmalade (coarse shred is obviously best, but I'll forgive you for using the fine-shredded stuff)

THE RECIPE:

Bonus Treat

THE DIRECTIONS:

Slice a thick piece of bread.
Spread it with cream cheese.
Add jam and enjoy.

THE INGREDIENTS:

Malt loaf or other date/raisin bread
Cream cheese
Polish plum butter, currant jam, or similar

Deviled Ham Quiche

This recipe, if you live anywhere but the American South, is going to be another recipe-within-a-recipe situation. For that reason alone, I am pretty sure that Eleanor cut this one out of Better Homes & Gardens for the cookie recipes adjacent to it, not the quiche. But I've found other quiche recipes in the box before, and my mom had to learn how to make my favourite meal somewhere, so maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, if you're one of those poor souls who doesn't like quiche, I dare you to try this one and not change your mind.

Hear me out before you give up-- I know it sounds weird, but deviled ham is ridiculously good. Sure, it's one of those foods you don't want to admit to liking (like anchovies, or prunes, or those Hostess cakes with the white curlicue of frosting), but also like those foods, when you've got a hankering for it, there's not much else that will suffice. I'll always associate deviled ham with Christmas time at my (other) grandmother's house, where it came to us in styrofoam containers, served with butter crackers and purchased in large quantities from a local restaurant known for making it. We called it ham salad, but I'd wager, having now made deviled ham, that it's exactly the same thing. Anyway, homemade deviled ham on Club crackers is a delicious snack that I haven't had in years, but upon finding this recipe in the box, I knew it was time to attempt to make it myself. Unlike the kind I've had in the US that usually comes with bits of sweet pickle minced into it, the recipe I used for this was fairly basic-- just ham, a wee bit of cream cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard to hold it together, and a whole bunch of herbs and spices to flavour it really well.

If you somehow have access to either pre-made deviled ham or ham salad, it would definitely make this recipe easier, but I can't vouch for texture or taste as I made mine myself because deviled ham, at least in Scotland, is not something you can buy in a can at the grocery store.

If you're still doubting whether this recipe is good, think of it this way: it's basically an open-faced ham and egg sandwich, with some cheese thrown in for good measure. Seriously, how could you go wrong? Serve this with a peach-topped arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette and you've got my favourite summer dinner on a plate. Plus, this quiche reheats like a charm, so you can fight over the last piece, even if it takes you three more days to finish the whole thing.

Some tips:

• If you can't access pre-made deviled ham and can't be bothered to make it yourself, you could just dice up some thick-cut pre-cooked ham into this and it would be fine, though slightly less tasty.

• The extra moisture from the deviled ham means that the interior of this quiche takes awhile to set-- so you'll definitely want to pre-bake your crust to make sure it stays nice and dry, and to keep it from getting soggy.

• This makes a great brunch (ham, eggs, and cheese? What's not to love?), but it works just as well for lunch or dinner, too.

THE VERDICT:

5 spoons out of five. I wasn't kidding when I said we fought over the last piece.

THE RECIPE:

Deviled Ham Quiche

the directions:

Preheat oven to 218C/425F.
Spread deviled ham in pre-baked pie shell.
Sprinkle on cheese and onion.
Beat eggs lightly, then add cream or milk, salt, and nutmeg.
Pour into pie shell and sprinkle with paprika.
Bake 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 150C/300F and bake 30-40 minutes longer or until just set in the middle.
If crust begins to brown too much, wrap edges in foil.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

the ingredients:

9” pie shell, pre-baked until lightly golden (from this recipe, or store-bought)
9 oz deviled ham (from this recipe, or store-bought)
1 c Swiss or sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 c onion, chopped finely
3 eggs
1 ½ c mik or cream
¾ tsp salt
Sprinkle of nutmeg
Sprinkle of paprika