As James Beard learned from his mother, the key to
a better, more tender shortcake is egg yolks. This doesn’t sound so strange,
until you learn the yolks are from hard-boiled eggs. Crumbly cooked yolk dissolves into the crumb, adding richness without weighing down or gumming up the dough the way raw yolks would.
So, yes, there’s one extra step: You have to boil a
few eggs. But it’s well worth it: This means the recipe is more forgiving than
mixing in egg the usual way. Plus, you get a little pre-shortcake snack out of
it.
For some reason, in his twenty-plus cookbooks,
James Beard never published his mother’s shortcake recipe himself. Lucky for us,
he shared it with his friend Larry Forgione one night as the two
were relaxing at Beard’s townhouse. As Forgione tells it, Beard believed “there
can be no dessert better, only fancier.”
Serves 6
BISCUITS
2 cups (250g) all-purpose
flour
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon (65g)
sugar
1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon
baking powder
6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted
butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
2 hard-boiled egg yolks, pushed
through a small mesh sieve
¾ cup (180ml) heavy cream,
chilled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter,
melted
STRAWBERRIES
3 pints (1kg) fresh strawberries,
washed, hulled, and halved or quartered, depending on size
2 tablespoons sugar
WHIPPED CREAM
1 cup (240ml) heavy
cream
1 tablespoon
sugar
1 To make the biscuits, sift
together the flour, ¼ cup (50g) of the sugar, and the baking powder into a bowl.
Add the chilled butter pieces and, using your fingertips, work the butter into
the flour mix until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs. Add the sieved
hard-boiled egg yolks and the cream; gently mix until the dough just comes
together.
2 Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and
gently knead to make a smooth dough (about two or three turns). Pat down the
dough to make a 1-inch (2.5cm) thick round. Using a lightly floured 2½-inch
(6.5cm) round cookie cutter, cut out shortcakes. Brush the tops with the melted
butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Place the
shortcakes on a plate lined with waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for
an hour.
3 Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line a baking
sheet with parchment paper.
4 Transfer the chilled shortcakes to the prepared
baking sheet. Bake on the center rack of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until
golden and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
5 Meanwhile, prepare the strawberries
and whipped cream. Put the strawberries in a glass bowl and add the
sugar. Gently stir and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
6 Whip the cream and sugar together in a bowl until the
cream just begins to thicken.
7 Using a fork or serrated knife, cut the shortcakes in
half lengthwise. Place the bottom halves on dessert plates and generously spoon
the macerated fruit and juices over them. Top with a heaping dollop of lightly
whipped sweetened cream. Top with the top halves of the shortcakes and
serve.
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