Tuesdays with Dorie: Tender Shortcakes

I truly ♥ this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. During the warm months of late Spring and early Summer, Shortcake is one of my favourite simple pleasures. As well as sleeping on clean cotton sheets with freshly shaven legs. What can be as refreshingly satisfying on a humid evening than crumbly shortcakes with a heaping mound of raspberries and fresh whipped cream? True, there isn't a hint of chocolate (unless you want to drizzle them with hot fudge) but sometimes light and tart trumps rich and dark. Did I just write that? Dark chocolate, I still love you too.


With all the worrying I've been going through the last week, my computer is still not herself, I found sanctuary from all the 'what if's' as I was baking these. Being in the kitchen and around food is such a great form of therapy for me. I need to remind myself of that the next time my over analytical mind goes into hyperdrive. I seem to forget how calming baking and cooking are until I'm in actual need of calming. What makes me even happier is when a recipe actually turns out better than expected!

Anything in the biscuit family usually ends up looking looking sad, flat, and heavy. But I'm slowly learning how to resist the urge to over-work the dough. I tend to me neurotic when it comes to baking (nothing else) and it bothers me to see streaks of flour left in a dough. But it's crucial in a lot of recipes to just leave well enough alone. And I did this time. The reward was fluffy, crumbly, light shortcakes. It was a huge relief because my mounds of dough were barely holding together as they were scooped out of the bowl. Lesson learned. The shortcakes stole the show in this recipe, I even ate a few of them naked. There is just a hint of sweetness, and they are so fragile that it's almost impossible to divide them without the entire shortcake falling apart. I'm on a raspberry kick right now so I used as my topping. But this is a dessert you can have fun with and add whatever kind of fruit topping you like. These would be perfect with blueberries!

For the recipe, please visit Cathy, of The Tortefeasor. She has a wonderful blog and her food photographs are stunning! Thank you, Cathy.