Strawberry Shortcake

Boston’s Strawberry Dessert Festival may be over, but strawberry season is still in full force. So, when my sister asked me to bring a dessert to her house last weekend and my mom suggested strawberry shortcake, I knew it would be perfect. We were heading down the night before so I wanted to make something that would either stay nice or that I could easily assemble there. So, I made the biscuits for the dessert ahead of time and did the rest there. Of course we picked up some super fresh farm-stand strawberries while we were in Rhode Island doing some wine tastings for the day.

Strawberry Shortcake (serves 8)
  • 1 3/4 lbs (6 C) strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and chopped into quarters
  • 1 1/4 C plus 2 T sugar
  • 3 C all-purpose flour
  • 4 t baking powder
  • 3/4 t salt
  • 12 T butter, unsalted and cold, cut into small pieces
  • 2 C heavy cream
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 T vanilla extract
I did things in a bit of a backward order since I made the biscuits at home and bought the strawberries later. But assuming you have all your ingredients and are making the dessert all at once, you’ll want to prepare your strawberries first.

Put them in a medium bowl and toss with 3/4 C of sugar. You’ll want to let them sit while you finish the dessert so all the juices come out. If your kitchen is warm, you can put them in the fridge for a bit.

Now start on the biscuits. Put the flour, baking powder, 1/2 C sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. This dough was reason # 8493 I need a larger food processor. I had to do mine in 2 batches!

Now add the pieces of butter in and pulse about 10-12 times until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with some pea-sized pieces of butter mixed in. In a bowl, whisk together 1/2 C cream with the 2 eggs and 1 T vanilla. Pour this over the flour mixture and pulse until large clumps begin to appear, about 25-30 times.

Gently pack the dough into a 1/2 C measuring cup, invert and tap onto a baking sheet. The dough should make 8 biscuits.

Bake the biscuits at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until they’re lightly golden. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes.

Now, make the whipped cream. If you’ve never whipped your own cream, you have to! It’s SO much better than whipped cream from the can. I know it’s crazy, but I really don’t like whipped cream (it’s pretty much the only food I won’t eat), but I don’t mind it as much at all if it’s homemade. And you don’t even need a hand mixer! My sister and her fiance didn’t have one since they’re in their house temporarily and I forgot mine, so we did it by hand with a whisk. Actually, my mom did it. It takes a bit of time, but it’s so worth it.

Just put the remaining 1 1/2 C of cream in a big bowl and beat like crazy with a whisk.

Once soft peaks form, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the tablespoon of vanilla and beat a bit more.

Now, cut the biscuits in half horizontally.

Do this very gently with a serrated knife, so the biscuit doesn’t crumble.

Spoon the strawberries and some of their liquid over the biscuit.

And then add some whipped cream.

Seriously the perfect summer dessert.

The strawberry shortcake was such a nice ending to a wonderful seafood dinner. It’s perfect for a warm night when you want desert, but can’t handle anything heavy. I could probably eat this all year round, winter included.

[Sues]

12 Comments

  • Annie said:

    Yummmm! Strawberry shortcake is my favorite!

    July 6, 2009 5:35 pm
  • Quinn said:

    That looks JUST like a strawberry shortcake I got out to dinner a few weeks ago, and was wondering how to recreate it! I think I found my answer! Thanks for sharing this!

    July 6, 2009 6:00 pm
  • elliotts said:

    Looks delicious!!

    July 6, 2009 6:07 pm
  • Sara said:

    i've always taken the easy way out and used those pillsbury biscuits, but this is so easy! DELICIOUS!

    July 6, 2009 6:35 pm
  • Kerstin said:

    Strawberry shortcake is my favorite (we had it this weekend too!) and yours looks incredible – yum!!

    July 6, 2009 9:00 pm
  • Sophie said:

    Your strawberry shortcakes look so fabulous! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,….!!!!

    July 7, 2009 9:43 am
  • Boston Food Diary said:

    Completely agree- whipped cream from a can is terrible- but fresh whipped- insanely good!!!!

    July 7, 2009 10:05 am
  • Peckish said:

    Yummmm…
    I found I shortcut recipe for strawberry shortcake that I LOVED – it was so easy and isn't necessarily shortcake but you could've fooled me. I found the link through The Kitchn, and it's at gourmet.com if this link doesn't work:

    http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2009/06/strawberry-dumpling

    July 7, 2009 11:16 am
  • Kelly said:

    You're tempting me with all of these strawberry desserts, especially since I have a quart of super ripe strawberries in the refrigerator.

    July 7, 2009 1:01 pm
  • ttfn300 said:

    i LOVE strawberry short cake!!! your biscuits are so cute too :)

    July 7, 2009 1:42 pm
  • Jaime said:

    I LOVE strawberry shortcake!!! and i agree homemade whipped cream is so much better than store bought (esp cool whip which is just vegetable oil)

    July 7, 2009 6:46 pm
  • Single Serving said:

    GET IN MUH BELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

    July 8, 2009 3:31 pm

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