經(jīng)典美國甜點：草莓酥餅

草莓是很多人難以抗拒的水果，顏色鮮紅欲滴，咬下去酸甜多汁。本文的作者向我們介紹了一種傳統(tǒng)的美國甜品——草莓酥餅，酥脆的底餅，澆上攪打奶油和草莓醬或是放上新鮮草莓。草莓酥餅的歷史可謂悠久，酥餅是歐洲人的獨創(chuàng)，草莓可追溯到古羅馬時期，而草莓酥餅卻是美國人的獨創(chuàng)。草莓每年在七月初上市，因此草莓酥餅也成為慶祝美國獨立日的美食。

Strawberry shortcake is one of the most beloved desserts in American cuisine. It is made from sweetened biscuits (a soft, crumbly type of bread), paired with strawberries and whipped cream (cream that has been mixed until it is light and fluffy). Strawberry shortcake is a very unique dessert. Traditionally it uses a biscuit as a base, it can neither be considered cake, nor bread. Perhaps it is the best of both worlds, sharing the quality of both. Shortcake provides the perfect base for this desert because it is hard enough that the juice from the strawberries does not make the desert soggy .

While the strawberry shortcake is rather short indeed (most are only about 7 centimeters in diameter and 4 centimeters tall), the term “shortcake” doesn’t refer to its small stature. It actually points to the use of “shortening” in the dough. When the term was coined, shortening was used to address any type of fat that was solid at room temperature. Adding fat to the dough inhibits gluten strands to form, causing them to be “short”, so the final product is easily crumbled. However, I will point out that modern use of the term “shortening” refers to hydrogenated vegetable oil. Most of the time recipes for strawberry shortcake will use butter or lard .

It is believed that shortcake was a European invention, dating back to the 1500’s. Strawberries on the other hand, can be traced back to ancient Roman times, about 200 B.C.E. However, most historians agree that topping off shortcake with strawberries was a uniquely American invention. Strawberry shortcake first became popular in the Unites States around 1850. Strawberries were one of the most popular berries of the time, and considered to be a seasonal treat exclusive to the summer months. Strawberry fever was often mentioned, as it seemed people just couldn’t get enough of these sweet red berries. Many people would make strawberry shortcake to celebrate the coming of summer and to enjoy the new crop of strawberries. Strawberries were often still available during the beginning of July, so strawberry shortcake also became a favorite dessert for Independence Day (July 4th) . With advertisements and magazine articles featuring strawberry shortcakes, the dessert only became more popular.

With the introduction of the transcontinental railroad, strawberries could be shipped all over the country, surrounded by ice to keep the berries fresh. And with new advances in refrigeration, whipped cream was found in most American homes. This aided the rise in popularity of strawberry shortcake, as it could now be enjoyed in all seasons.

Nowadays, there are many different variations in strawberry shortcake. Instead of using a sweetened biscuit as a base, many people prefer using a soft cake, or bread, or even cookies. I suppose that is part of the beauty with strawberry shortcakes. While the dessert has always been composed of a pastry base and strawberries on top, there has always been a lot of room for improvisation . One of the most popular versions of the dessert available today is where strawberries marinated with sugar are heaped on a round of sponge cake, a firm, yet aerated cake with a structure similar to a sponge (also known as a pound cake), and topped with whipped cream.

Strawberry shortcakes have also been commercialized. Different companies such as Little Debbie and Hostess have made snack cake versions of this popular dessert, which consist of strawberry jam and whipped cream sandwiched between layers of sponge cake. While these are a far cry from the original strawberry shortcake, they are very simple and very popular.

Strawberry shortcakes are especially popular down in the South. Most of the time, we will make traditional strawberry shortcake: a hearty biscuit topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream (though I still like adding sugar to the strawberries)

.草莓酥餅是最受美國人喜愛的甜品之一。它的原材料是甜烤餅(一種松脆的面包)，點綴上草莓和攪打過的奶油(經(jīng)過攪拌而變得又輕又軟的奶油)。草莓酥餅是一種非常特別的甜品。通常使用烤餅作為底餅，它既不是蛋糕，也不是面包。但它又具有這兩者的特征，我們也可以說它是最好的蛋糕，也是最好的面包。酥餅為這種甜品提供了最好的底餅，因為它足夠硬實，不至于讓草莓汁把它浸透。

草莓脆餅的尺寸相當(dāng)小(大部分直徑只有7厘米，高4厘米)，不過“短糕”這個名字并非指它的尺寸小，而是指在生面團(tuán)中加入起酥油。不過最初創(chuàng)造起酥油這個名字時，是用來指任何在室溫下為固體的油脂;在生面團(tuán)中加入油脂是為了防止形成面筋條，讓它能夠起酥，使最終成品更加酥脆。不過需要指出的是，現(xiàn)在的人說“起酥油”是指氫化的植物油。很多時候，制作草莓酥餅會使用黃油或豬油。

人們普遍認(rèn)為，酥餅是歐洲人的發(fā)明，可追溯到十六世紀(jì)。另一方面，草莓可追溯到古羅馬時期，大約公元前200年。然而，大部分歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為，在酥餅上面加上草莓是美國人的獨創(chuàng)。大約在1850年左右草莓酥餅開始在美國流行起來。草莓是當(dāng)時最受歡迎的莓類水果之一，被認(rèn)為是夏季專產(chǎn)的季節(jié)性蔬果。我們經(jīng)常提及“草莓熱”，好像人們怎么樣吃都吃不夠這些紅色的小甜莓。很多人會制作草莓酥餅來慶祝夏天的到來，以及享用新鮮的草莓。草莓大約在每年七月初上市，因此，草莓酥餅也成為慶祝美國獨立紀(jì)念日(7月4日)最受歡迎的甜品。隨著越來越多的廣告和雜志文章宣傳草莓酥餅，這種甜品也變得越來越受歡迎。

隨著美國橫貫大陸鐵路的開通，草莓被運往全國各地，周圍加上冰塊進(jìn)行保鮮。且隨著冷藏技術(shù)的進(jìn)步，攪打奶油開始進(jìn)入美國大部分家庭中。這使得草莓酥餅更加流行起來，因為現(xiàn)在一年四季都可以享用到這種美食。

現(xiàn)在草莓酥餅已經(jīng)有了多種不同的花樣。很多人更喜歡用軟蛋糕或面包，甚至曲奇餅去做草莓酥餅的底餅，而不是用甜烤餅。我想這也許是草莓酥餅的魅力之一。因為草莓酥餅使用酥油底餅，上面加上草莓，因此還有很多空間可供即興創(chuàng)作。現(xiàn)在最受歡迎的“版本”之一就是用浸過糖漿的草莓堆在圓松餅上，松餅是一種較硬而多孔的蛋糕，組織結(jié)構(gòu)很像海綿(也叫“磅餅”)，頂部淋上攪打過的奶油。

草莓酥餅已經(jīng)成為一種商品。小德比和豪斯特斯等公司將草莓酥餅制作成零食，在海綿蛋糕層中夾入草莓醬和攪打奶油。盡管這些小點心與正宗的草莓酥餅不盡相同，但由于食用方便倒也很受人們的歡迎。

草莓酥餅在美國南部特別受歡迎。我們經(jīng)常會自己制作傳統(tǒng)的草莓酥餅：一個心形的烤餅作底餅，頂部澆上新鮮草莓和攪打過的奶油(雖然我還是喜歡加點糖在草莓上)。