Shortcake Lab With Cheater Chef

I'm a pretty advanced home cook. I often make things that require straining through cheesecloth on a regular weekday so you would think that I would know everything there is to know about making shortcakes.  Oh, no I don't!  Mindy Merrell and R.B Quinn of Cheater Chef were about to show me just how little I knew. Mindy has a degree in home ec and has worked in test kitchens and has written cookbooks. She can whip up a batch of biscuits faster than you can say, "Pass the gravy."

R.B. was an Eagle Scout so he can do pretty much anything as long as he has a piece of rope and some flint.

The Cheaters assembled the Lab attendees in the Downtown Nashville Farmers Market and gave us in-depth info on self-rising flour and different fats and liquids.

I'm not kidding about the in-depth part.  The Shortcake Lab Manual they gave us was 12 pages long!

There was no way I was going to leave without learning something.  Like out of all the self-rising flours they had, only King Arthur didn't have aluminum.

One of the great things Mindy demonstrated was the use of a pastry cloth.

I've already ordered mine!

People in the Lab got to participate and the Middle Child decided (with a little prodding) to try her hand at it.

I have to say I was quite proud.

Her chocolate chip shortcakes turned out great!

They ended up being the most decadent version.

They did a brunchy take on the shortcake, topping it with apples and sausage. I added ricotta with orange zest.

This one with bananas and a caramel sauce Mindy whipped up in about 2 minutes.  I was impressed because caramel sauce makes me panic. That girl can flat cook!

These were made with a super wet dough that was formed into balls and rolled in flour before baking. I've never seen a recipe like it. Oh, and they poured like a stick of melted butter over them so they came close to being my favorite.

They even made little muffin versions.

After a while, my plate was looking a bit like a dog's breakfast with all the shortcake carnage.

Our brains and bellies were full up!

Mindy and R.B. made a super informative and fun evening.  I can't wait to try all these out this summer and go to another one of their labs.  Past classes have been a cornbread lab and a biscuit lab.

To learn more about the Cheater Chef and to get more recipes, visit their site.