Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Little Something Sweet

I got a newsletter from Redenta's Garden (one of my local garden centers).

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Saturday April 6

10:00 am - Canning with the Farm Girls
Come learn how to can and preserve your own food
 in The Farm Girls Canning Demo
Workshop. They will take you
through the necessary steps on canning,
along with canning terminology.
This is a demo workshop,
not a hands on learning class.
 
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My friend, Cindy, and I already had plans to make jalapeno jelly that day, we decided this might be fun so we attended the demo and walked around the beautiful garden.  Then we headed back to her house to whip up a bit of jelly. 

Ready for me to add my label.

I blogged about our jelly making adventures (here).   On Saturday, we picked up a few tips from The Farm Girls (loved these women!). I haven't opened a new jar of jelly so I can't tell you if letting the mixture sit for 30 minutes helped the sugar soak into the bits of pepper.  We also took their advice and bought ripe strawberries, sliced, and packed them away in the freezer - later on this month we plan to make strawberry jam.

 
I did save a few of the ripe strawberries for Mr. J&C and myself.  We had a wonderful dessert on Sunday - Strawberry Shortcake.  After breakfast I washed, sliced, and added 2 tablespoons of sugar to the berries.  Covered them with plastic wrap and stuck them in the fridge.


Late in the afternoon, I used a cup of biscuit mix (use what you have on hand or just make from scratch enough dough for two biscuits), added 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and cut a heaping tablespoon of butter into the mixture.  I added about 1/2 cup of heavy cream and mixed everything (had to add a tablespoon or two more cream).  Then I wet my hands and divided the mixture in half.  Shaped two biscuits, excuse me, shortbread cakes.  Cooked for 20 minutes in a 425F.  I didn't preheat the oven.

Not quite biscuits, not quite cakes - flash a little too bright.
I let the shortcake cool for almost an hour.  Then I poured 1/4 cup whipping cream, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and a little sugar into mixing bowl.  Whipped the mixture for a few minutes, and (finally) assembled our dessert. 


I could have used a ripe peach (or two) or blackberries, blueberries, or cherries - I just used what I had on hand and it was delicious.  We enjoyed our sweet treat while watching the Texas Rangers - they won! - baseball is back.  Life is good.


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2 comments:

Mary said...

Oh wow strawberry shortcake already.......I must plan to knock off a few pounds soon so I can indulge when the local fruits are ready - always the best tasting! Biscuits look yummy.

Hope all is well - Mary X

HolleyGarden said...

Oh, that strawberry shortcake look so good! Yum! I can't believe it's almost canning time again! Smart of you to go ahead and buy strawberries while they're available.