Strawberry Shortcake is a summer favorite! Strawberries are on sale everywhere! It is the perfect time to treat yourself to this simple, delicious dessert.
This is the strawberry shortcake of my youth. Ripe strawberries, sweetened with a little sugar, and served over a light, fluffy, warm biscuit. Then add a huge dollop of fresh, whipped cream and that's it!
The thing that sets this strawberry shortcake apart is the marinating of the strawberries. When you cut them up, sprinkle on a little sugar, and let them rest for 20 minutes, this creates a luscious sweet strawberry syrup. The warm biscuit soaks up the syrup, and with a spoonful of sweet, whipped cream this becomes the BEST strawberry shortcake ever!
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake
1. The key to this fabulous dessert is the marinated strawberries. Cut them up into small pieces. Sprinkle on some sugar and toss. Let the strawberries sit for at least 20 minutes. The technical term for this process is macerate. The delicious syrup this process makes will amaze you.
Too many people miss this step. They toss the strawberries with sugar and serve immediately. Or they never toss the strawberries in sugar. You have to trust me on this one!
2. Make the biscuits. My new hack is grating the butter on a cheese grater. This makes the perfect size butter pieces to create light, fluffy biscuits. No need to use a pastry blender or dirty a food processor. Using cold butter from the refrigerator is best. It holds it shape and creates the pockets in the biscuits to give them the rise you want.
3. Add all the dry ingredients together. Place all your butter shavings in the same bowl. Use your hands and mix the shavings into the dry ingredients. Be sure the butter is all pulled apart and coated with the flour mixture.
4. Use a fork to mix the eggs and milk together. Pour this over the dry mixture with butter in it. Use a large wooden spoon to mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Once the mixture starts to stick together, get your hands in there and mush it all together. You want it to be a large mass of dough. When it is all together in one ball of dough you are ready to make biscuits.
5. Flour a large surface and then place the dough on it. Over the years, I have learned not to use my rolling pin. For the longest time, I rolled my dough out way to thin. Now I push the dough around with my hands and keep it about an inch thick. This is so much thicker than you think it is! If you use a ruler to measure, you will surprise yourself.
6. Preheat oven to 450°. These biscuits need to be baked in a hot oven. It melts the butter quickly and creates air/lift in the biscuits. This is good! I love thick, fluffy biscuits!
7. Use a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass to cut out the biscuits. The juice glass I use has a diameter of 3 1/2 inches. "What a large biscuit you have. The better to soak up the strawberry syrup, my dear!"
Once all the biscuits are cut out, use the left over dough and smash it together to form another ball of dough. Push the dough out on the floured surface and continue cutting out biscuits until all the dough is used.
Put the biscuit dough circles on a greased cookie sheet. Place the biscuits next to each other so the edges are touching. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Biscuits that are not done in the middle are not good! You want the tops to be a dark brown, not burned, just dark brown. This will ensure the biscuits are cooked through the middle.
8. Whip the heavy cream. Once it starts to thicken up, add the powdered sugar and continue to whip. Some people like soft peaks. Thick and stiff is how I like my whipped cream. I have to be careful not to create butter!
Some people use granulated sugar in their whipped cream and I think, why?
Powdered sugar dissolves quickly in the cream and makes it smooth without a grainy texture. I rarely, if never, add vanilla to my whipped cream. I love the taste of the heavy cream. I don't need any other flavors to mask that beautiful taste!
9. Get your dessert plates ready to make individual dessert dishes. Use a fork to pierce the middle of the biscuits all around the exterior and pull it apart. Place both sides on the plate and spoon on lots of strawberries. Then drop a spoonful, or two or three, of whipped cream and serve!
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Strawberry Shortcake
2 Quarts Strawberries
1/2 C. Sugar2 C. Flour
2 T. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Milk
1 Beaten Egg
2 C. Whipping Cream
1/2 C. Powdered Sugar
1. Slice strawberries into small pieces. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of sugar, toss and let sit for 20 minutes. The sugar will activate the juices in the strawberries and create a luscious syrup.
2 C. Whipping Cream
1/2 C. Powdered Sugar
1. Slice strawberries into small pieces. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of sugar, toss and let sit for 20 minutes. The sugar will activate the juices in the strawberries and create a luscious syrup.
2. Preheat the oven to 450°
3. Make biscuits. Add dry ingredients to a bowl. Grate the butter on a cheese grater to create perfect pieces of butter. Place in the same bowl as dry ingredients. Use your hands or a spoon to coat each piece of butter with the flour mixture. Use a fork to mix the egg and milk together. Add to dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until a mass of dough forms.
4. Flour a large surface and place the dough on it. Push the dough to a one inch thickness and use a juice glass to cut out circles. Continue doing this until all the dough is used.
5. Place these dough circles on a greased cookie sheet. Place them next to each other without much space in between. Bake for 12 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are dark brown.
6. Whip the heavy cream and use the powdered sugar to sweeten. Split the biscuits open with a fork. Serve both sides on a dish with lots of juicy strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.