Omorka's Lair

I realized on Thursday that the frozen mixed cherries in the freezer had been there for nearly six months and were in danger of getting freezer burn, so I made a cherry pie (technically it's a cherry-berry pie, since the frozen cherry mix has a few blueberries and currants in there as well). I did a vented top instead of a lattice, which was probably a mistake since the top crust turned out a little bit soggy, but everything else turned out fine.

I have leftover apples from CMA that also need to turn into a pie before they go bad on me.

If I am not careful I will use up all my pie juju before Thanksgiving, but that might not be a terrible thing - it's likely to just be me, the Spouse, and the Boy this year. The usual three pies might be overkill.

Preheat oven to 425° F.

1 c unbleached all-purpose or pastry flour (not cake flour!)*
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cream of tartar
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 T sugar

Stir together with a fork until combined. Add

1/4 c (half of 1 standard stick) butter, softened

cut into several pieces. Blend using a long-tined fork, two knives, or a pastry cutter (best), cutting the fat into the flour until the pieces are the size of dry oatmeal. Stir in

1/4 c milk

with a fork, until it makes a soft dough; knead three or four times in the bowl with your (clean, natch) hands to make sure flour is completely combined and dough hangs together in a single mass. Divide into four equal portions and pat each down until it is roughly 1/2" thick. Place four portions together in a non-stick pan with a rim (you can use an 8"x8" pan, or whatever size you have on hand; do not grease the pan), so that they are just barely touching, and bake for 15-20 min, until the tops are light brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, until warm but not hot. Split each shortcake open horizontally and fill with sweetened fresh fruit - sliced peaches, halved strawberries, mixed berries, etc. - and whipped cream**. Makes 4 small servings, or 2 large ones; recipe can be doubled.

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This is the original "shortcake" in "strawberry shortcake." If you make it with those little sponge-cake things, more power to you, but just bear in mind that you will confuse the heck out of those of us who still make the original, as this, being a biscuit derivative, really is a shortening-bread, while sponge cake generally isn't, using either vegetable oil or relying solely on the fat in the egg yolks.

Yes, I know some people use egg in their shortbread recipe. I consider this a Georgia affectation; I'm sure they consider mine a homely little Gulf-Central hick thing. I kinda like it crumbly; the egg version doesn't sop up the berry juice correctly, but that's just my thing. Yes, I am also aware that some parts of the coastal South historically used rounds of unfilled pie-crust in their strawberry shortcake. As that's also technically a shortening-bread, just an unleavened one, I don't have a problem with that, although again I prefer mine.


* If you live where the all-purpose flour is hard enough to bake high-rising bread with, without adding any bread flour or gluten, then you probably want to use pastry flour or half a cup of each.

** If you add a shot of brandy, rum, or vodka to the fruit, I certainly won't tell anyone. I like a pinch of sugar and a dash of vanilla in my whipped cream, but I'd never say you were wrong if you used lemon or orange extract instead, or left out the sugar.

Since the Spouse and I will be going to the campout this weekend, and since we're going to be leaving as soon as I get off work Thursday, I don't think gaming this Wednesday is really going to be a possibility. :( Sorry, y'all. Will rescheduling for the next Wednesday (the 20th) work for everyone?

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I'm beginning to suspect that Bagels, as an institution, is not going to survive the loss of this last place. Not that I dislike Bohr Bros. as an eatery, especially - I'm not thrilled, but they're at least as palatable to me as the previous sandwich place. But if we're going to go all the way out to the one on Westheimer, we're generally not going to make it until nearly 2ish, which is far too late for those with wee ones. And asking them to come all the way in to the one on Montrose seems selfish, especially since parking is not the greatest there.

I'm sure we'll still get together with PB and occasionally others on Sunday afternoon for a nosh. But I think we've had enough horses shot out from under us to do the regular event in.

Good thing we still have Movie Night. (Which won't happen this week either, BTW, again due to the campout.)

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We went by Big Wal's Club today, to pick up some stuff both for the campout and for just general resupply, and they had a box of assorted baking pans for $20. Not that I needed any more baking pans, really, but it looked like it might be decent and I can always use extras, so I picked it up. It includes:

1 15" x 10" jelly-roll pan (it claims it's a cookie sheet, but it's a jelly-roll pan - inch-high sides)
1 12-cup muffin pan (it claims to be "jumbo," but I think that's a reference to having 12 cups, as they look normal-sized to me)
1 13" x 9" x2" rectangular cake pan (actually closer to 2.5" deep, it looks like)
a plastic cover for the rectangular cake pan (this is really why I bought it, as I didn't have a covered cake/cookie pan)
2 9" x 5" loaf pans
2 9" round cake pans (again, fairly deep for their diameter)
1 9" springform pan (the least well-constructed item in the set, and it's not that bad)

The nice thing is that they're all (except the plastic cover, of course) fairly heavy, which means they should conduct heat reasonably evenly. They have some sort of dark non-stick coating, which probably won't last too long before scratching but which doesn't look like it'll flake off. I'll try a pound cake or something in one of the loaf pans, but probably not tonight - maybe during the day tomorrow. (memeslayer, the springform pan is the perfect size for cheesecake!)