Anyone who knows Cooper McBean outside the realm of “rockstar” knows that he is one bad-ass pie maker. What you might not know, is that he and his genius mother have a trick. A most amazing trick, a trick that has changed my life. Frozen butter. I know, right now you’re thinking “everyone knows about frozen butter and a food processor”. Nuh-uh, this trick is frozen butter and a cheese grater, and it’s fucking genius. I don’t want to say it’s the key to making good biscuits or good pie, but it IS the key to not wanting to stab yourself if you are the kind of person who (like me) isn’t really a baker, and gets enormously frustrated trying to make “cornmeal” out of butter and flour.  So, before we go too far, put a stick of butter in the freezer. If you are reading and this and thinking “aww hell I need them now” that’s fine, you’re just going to have to suffer the traditional cutting the butter in.

A traditional shortcake, or shortbread, is basically just a slightly sweet biscuit.  They are incredibly forgiving and flexible as long as you get the butter part right.  You can use a lot of liquid and make what is considered a “drop biscuit”, or you can keep them as dry as possible and roll them or pat them out.  You can cook them in the oven, on the stove or in a campfire. They are old school bread based on immediate need and meant to be cooked in any circumstances.  So, even though it’s easier with frozen butter and a cheese grater, a sifter and a baking sheet, you can basically make it work with whatever  you’ve got, and if you’re stirring and everything is getting dry and frustrating, add more liquid! It will be fine.

At this time of year California is well into a good strawberry season, but for the rest of the country you are just beginning to see the first ones. The first strawberries of the year are usually a little hard, a little white,  and a little… well… bland.  But! It’s not the strawberry’s fault, or the farmer’s fault, it’s just the way of the early spring berry, and there is an age old way of combating this problem: the tiniest bit of sugar. With the smallest bit, you can turn hard juiceless berries into amazing juicy awesome berries.  Contrary to what you might think, the sugar isn’t meant to sweeten them, it’s meant to draw out it’s own juices and coat them with themselves,  just like a nice bowl of freshly cut summer strawberries . With this method, you really don’t have to wait to have amazing Strawberry Shortcake.

Equipment:

• cheese grater
• sifter
• baking sheet
• biscuit cutter or can with both ends removed
• hand mixer

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 a decent size wedge of brie (you can use more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor)
• 4 Tablespoons of butter
• 2 Tablespoons of sugar
• 3/4 cup of milk (keep an extra 1/2 cup on reserve just in case)
• butter to melt and brush on the top of the biscuits (optional)
• strawberries and enough sugar to dust them with
• heavy whipping cream
• honey

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Before getting started, put the butter and brie into the freezer.  The brie doesn’t need to be entirely frozen, so it’s okay if you put it in just before you get started.  In order to grate the butter, it does need to be frozen solid, so if you don’t already have frozen butter, you may need to cut it in.

Method (Strawberries):

• cut the strawberries into quarters lengthwise and place them in a container with a lid
• dust the strawberries with the tiniest amount of sugar- you want to just barely coat the top
• close the lid and turn them around a few times, leaving them to sit out at room temperature until you are ready to use them

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Method (Biscuits)

• preheat the oven to 450F
• sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl
• using a cheese grater, grate 4 T of frozen butter into the flour
• using a wooden spoon or something similar, toss the butter flakes with the flour before you move on to the brie
• using the cheese grater, grate about half of a large brie wedge into the flour/butter mixture, tossing it occasionally to coat it with the flour (you want about a cup’s worth of grated brie)
• make sure the butter and brie shreds are well coated with flour and make a well in the center where you will pour the 3/4 cups of milk (all at once!)
• if you need to cut in the butter, I strongly recommend using your biscuit cutter or your can with both ends removed.  Dip it in flour and just chop away until it resembles coarse cornmeal
• stir it up quickly and aggressively- as the Joy of Cooking notes, too little stirring will mean the baking powder won’t mix in properly and you will get brown spots on your biscuit. It’s not the end of the world, it’s just not pretty.  However  too much stirring will stop the butter from making the biscuit flakey- also not the end of the world, just means it isn’t perfect. It will still taste good on either end of the stirring spectrum
• add more milk if needed, but don’t stress out too much. Too much or too little milk, it will work out
• dump the dough out onto a floured surface, dip your hands in flour and pat it out until it is about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
• using your biscuit cutter or can, punch out as many biscuits as you can- do not twist the cutter! Bring it straight down and straight up so the edges remain flakey and tearable
• pat the remaining dough together once and cut as many more as you can (usually makes about 4-5 total, more or less depending on thickness. Place them on a baking sheet as you go
• at this point, you can either stick them in the oven or melt some butter to brush on the top. If you decide brush on some butter, don’t be afraid to add a little spice! Add some saffron or lavender, maybe even a little black pepper or red chili flakes. Experiment!

Method (Honey Whipped Cream)

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• once you stick the shortcake in the oven it’s time to make the Honey Whipped Cream.
• you want about a cup of heavy cream and about a Tablespoon of honey. It’s easiest if you have it in some sort of squeeze container, but if not, you can just drizzle it in as you mix it with a spoon, or pour the honey into a creamer.  Taste it as you go and add more if needed.
• you want the whipped cream to be pretty thick since the biscuits will be hot, bordering on butter
• once you take the biscuits out of the oven, split them open and put a spoonful of whipped cream on the bottom part, then a spoonful of strawberries, then another spoonful of whipped cream, and close it up. Ready to serve!

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Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

Photographs by Rosey Lakos at roseylakosphotography.com.