Mayonnaise Biscuits & Strawberry Shortcake

Spring is synonymous with strawberry shortcake, and it's super easy to prepare, especially with farm market stands filled with fresh berries and these VERY easy and tasty three-ingredient biscuits.  The secret ingredient is mayonnaise, which is simply a combination of egg yolks, oil, lemon juice and vinegar. It yields a very moist muffin. This vintage recipe is from a collection of Amish recipes I purchased a few years ago.

I love three ingredient recipes, but unfortunately I had none of the three in my house. While I could have made mayonnaise, I was lazy so ran to the corner bodega. They didn't have self-rising flour so I made my own (by adding 1 1/2 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt to the all-purpose flour) and didn't want to get a large container of milk for just a half cup (so I just added some water to half and half).

The naked biscuits below. Delicious on their own, they're even better as a base for macerated strawberries.

Mix up the batter, which takes literally minutes and requires only low tech equipment -- a bowl and whisk (or spoon or fork).

Spoon into greased muffin tins.

Bake for about ten minutes. (I baked for about 14 minutes, until the tops turned golden brown.

Inside, the biscuits are light and fluffy.

To prepare the strawberries, just slice and add some sugar to coat. Let stand until the sugar crystals melt and then mash about half of the berries with a fork to release their juices.

Split the muffins and spoon the berry mixture on top.  You can add whipped cream (if you happen to have any).

I followed this recipe exactly (after adjusting for the missing ingredients), and my batter yielded seven (not eight) biscuits.
Be generous with the sugar over the berries.

Crisscross Strawberry Pie

There are two kinds of strawberry pies: the type where the strawberries are placed uncooked (or just barely cooked) into a baked pie crust (here's one example), and the type I made here, where the strawberries are baked along with the crust.This latter pie is best for strawberries that aren't at their peak (or, if like me, you find yourself with a a lot of supermarket strawberries that look beautiful but lack the flavor of farmer's market strawberries).

Begin by hulling the strawberries. There's actually a kitchen tool for just this purpose, but eschewing single-use kitchen items, I don't have one, so I just sliced off the tops.

If the strawberries are large, either halve or quarter them. If small, you can leave them whole. Below are the sliced berries and the other filling ingredients -- flour, sugar and nutmeg -- assembled and ready to go. Combine the berries and the flour mixture in a bowl, and carefully coat the berries.

 Make your favorite double pie crust. Line a pie pan with the bottom crust and pour the filling in.

Roll out the top crust, and cut long strips for the crisscross top.

Weave the top pieces together, in an over-under method. I realized too late that I neglected to photograph this step. Place the pie on a large hotel pan or cookie sheet, which you've lined with parchment or aluminum foil -- the filling will bubble over.

Bake, cool, slice and enjoy!

Production notes: I used a homemade pie crust (recipe posted below) and an 8-inch glass pie plate. I also forgot to dot with butter - it was delicious nonetheless.

Pie Crust
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 stick of cold butter, cut into small pieces
6 T. cold Crisco, cut into pieces
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3 - 6 T. cold water

Place dry ingredients in a food processor and whirl to blend.  Add butter and Crisco and process until it resembles cornmeal. Transfer to a round bowl, and add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time. Blend with a fork.  When it holds together, transfer to a lightly floured surface and form a large ball. Divide in half and either roll out between two sheets of plastic wrap, or refrigerate until it's a bit firmer and then roll out.

Strawberry Pie

The sweet, fragrant strawberries just now appearing in our local farmer's market inspired me to bake a strawberry pie on Monday night.  About halfway through, I realized why the pie seemed so familiar -- I had made this very pie in my c. 1971 high school home economics class (and, I recall, we passed the whole thing to some lucky boys waiting outside the first-floor classroom window).

There are two kinds of strawberry pies, the kind where you put the fruit between two crusts and bake, and this kind where the fruit is mixed with a cooked syrup and chilled.

This is a no-bake pie (though you do need to bake the crust), as the filling is cooked, placed in a prebaked crust and refrigerated until set.  It's a great way to showcase fruit at its peak.

Start by mixing some water, sugar, cornstarch and some of the berries in a saucepan.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is clear. Cool, stir in the remaining berries and pour into the pie shell. Refrigerate until it's set.

Production notes: I followed the recipe exactly and used an 8-inch pie plate. I didn't save any berries for garnish, as I had eaten so many during the pie-making that I had none left.

Strawberry Lura Cake

On the eve of strawberry season in the northeast and, in the never-ending quest to find yet another way to showcase this fruit, allow me to introduce Strawberry Lura Cake.  I've never heard of this cake (and apparently either has Google -- not one mention!), but I assure you that this is both a unique and delicious summer dessert.

Strawberry Lura Cake is basically a strawberry upside down cake, albeit an unusual one.  Unlike traditional versions, the fruit here transforms into a jam-like topping -- a delicious buttery topping with a depth of flavor that is greater than the sum of its ingredients.

This would be a lovely addition to a Memorial Day picnic. Start by crushing fresh strawberries. I did this by (gloved) hand, but you can also use a pastry blender or whatever you want to crush them.

Melt some butter in a cake pan, mix in brown sugar and add the crushed berries.  Then, turn your attention to the cake.

This is one of those cakes that call for separating eggs, adding the yolks to the batter and then beating the whites until stiff in a separate bowl before folding them in.

Pour the batter over the strawberry-butter-brown sugar mixture and place in the oven.

Let the cake cool in the pan for at least ten minutes, maybe longer.  Run a butter knife around the edge and turn out onto a cake plate.

The bottom of the cake becomes the top.

Plate it on a perfectly flat cake plate -- not one like I used.

Production notes:  I followed this exactly, except for saving crushed berries for decoration (because I couldn't image crushed berries being very decorative).
The instructions at the very end were typed incorrectly, so here's what you do:
Melt butter in shallow pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan). Add brown sugar and crushed strawberries.  Pour cake batter OVER this mixture and bake.