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07/13/1999 Archived Entry: "Old-Fashioned Shortcake & Fruit Soup"

I’ve had so many requests for my shortcake recipe lately that I thought I’d put it in my diary. You can also find it in my cookbook Soup Suppers. Yes, “Soup Suppers” is a book of main course soup recipes, but there are also chapters on simple salads and appetizers to serve before the soup, and a chapter on desserts. The one thing I regret it doesn’t have is a chapter on dessert soups. Cold soups, yes; but not sweet ones. At the time I was writing the book, I saw that dessert soups were becoming fashionable – trend-spotter that I am – and wanted to include a few recipes. Somehow my editor didn’t see how they fit in. (She often doesn’t get my jokes either.) Following the Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake recipe, you’ll find a formula for an Eastern European Late Summer Fruit Soup. Thanks to my book editor, I guess I can now safely say that you got it here, exclusively on foodmaven.com.

Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
Serves 8


Shortcake is really a rich baking powder biscuit; in this case, a very rich drop biscuit with a high portion of butter and two egg yolks. You can’t get more old-fashioned than that. And, as they could only gild a lily in the good old days, I suggest you butter the biscuits, too. You haven't lived until you've eaten shortcake this way -- and, very important, straight from the oven. These would thrill everyone at a summer party.

1 quart strawberries
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
Kirschwasser or framboise liqueur to taste (optional)

For the shortcake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks

For the cream:
1 pint heavy cream
1 or 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Softened butter (optional)

To prepare the berries, wash, hull and either cut them in half or slice them. Toss with the sugar and optional kirschwasser. Do not let them stand more than several hours.

To make shortcakes, into a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and rub the dry ingredients with the butter between the fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse meal.

In a small bowl, with a fork, beat the milk and egg yolks together. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and, still with a fork, mix gingerly until the dough binds together.

Onto a lightly greased or non-stick baking sheet, drop the dough off a large spoon, dividing the dough into 8 neat but irregular mounds. Space the shortcakes at least 2 inches apart.

Bake in a preheated 425-degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits are tinged with brown.

While the shortcakes are in the oven, in a large bowl, whip the cream. When it is starting to mount, add a tablespoon or 2 of sugar and the optional vanilla. Whip just until the cream is thick but still loose enough to roll off a spoon.

To assemble: When the biscuits are done, let them cool a minute, then split them in half with a fork, as you would an English muffin. Butter the shortcakes lightly, if desired, placing the bottom of each biscuit on a serving plate.

Cover with the berries and some of their juice, then the top halves of the biscuits.

Spoon the whipped cream over each shortcake and top with a few more berries.

To prepare in advance: The berries must be macerated no more than a few hours, but the biscuits can be prepared and refrigerated on the baking sheet, covered with plastic, for 1 day. The cream should be whipped at the last moment.

Variation: Naturally, you can use any macerated or poached fruit, instead of strawberries.



Eastern European
Late Summer Fruit Soup
Makes about 5 quarts

This is one of my favorite summer refreshments. I drink it by the glassful, rather than sip it from a spoon, as one is supposed to. Served in a bowl, you may want to garnish it with a nice dollop of sour cream. (It couldn’t hurt.) Served in a glass to be drunk, the dollop is awkward without a spoon to stir it in or eat it up.

I got this recipe years ago from one of New York’s many Polish coffee shops; one that is now closed. The Polish coffee shop is a unique New York restaurant genre, an everyman’s restaurant that serves both American diner/coffee shop food – big breakfasts with hash brown potatoes, sandwiches, salad platters, burgers, etc. – plus Eastern European specialties, among them pierogi, which are dumplings stuffed with either mashed potatoes, pot cheese, or braised sauerkraut; kielbasa platters, stuffed cabbage, and a large selection of hearty soups, such as mushroom barley, borscht, and potato. In the summer, they always have some kind of fruit soup.


1 pint ripe strawberries, hulled
5 medium MacIntosh apples, cored
5 medium ripe peaches, pitted
5 large ripe plums (any kind, but preferably soft, juicy and dark),
pitted
1/2 pint blueberries
1 to 1 1/2 pounds assorted grapes
1 pound pitted prunes
1/4 pound dark raisins

Cut all the large fruit into small pieces, then, in a 8- to 10-quart pot (not aluminum), combine all the fruit with 10 cups of water.

Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer steadily, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, or until the fruit has disintegrated.

Press all the fruit through a coarse sieve, a chinois (cone-shaped sieve), a food mill, or puree it in small batches in a food processor. The puree will be very thick, just pourable.

Chill very well. Serve in bowls or mugs, with or without a dollop or swirl of heavy cream, sour cream or yogurt.

Can be kept refrigerated for up to a week.