Strawberry Shortcake

Do you belong to a CSA? Some of my family members and I get food boxes from Growing Washington, and it's so exciting to open the box every week and come up with a plan for all the fruits and veggies. Recently we got a couple of cartons of strawberries and decided to make Strawberry Shortcake. We usually make whipped cream with heavy cream, a sprinkle of sugar, and a dash of Disaronno. I wanted to make homemade biscuits too, so I searched a few recipes, and decided on this one from Joy the Baker.

Strawberry Shortcake

About 1 carton strawberries

Some sugar

Some heavy cream

Disaronno

2 C flour

1/4 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 C cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C heavy cream

Cut the strawberries into small slices and toss in a few sprinkles of sugar. Refrigerate until needed. Whip together the cream, some sugar, and a glug of Disaronno. Refrigerate until needed.

Preheat the oven to 400, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl whisk together the egg, vanilla, and heavy cream. Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture and mix in with your hands until the mixture resembles little crumbs. 

Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Knead until the mixture comes together. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board and knead for a few minutes. Form the dough into a rectangle and cut into 6 pieces. Brush the biscuits with some extra heavy cream, sprinkle with sugar, transfer to the baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

To build the shortcakes, cut a biscuit in half, pile the bottom half with strawberries, top with cream, and then top with the top half of the biscuit.

Fresh Fruit Please!

A few weeks ago I went to Mississippi for a business trip. It seems that all anyone eats in Mississippi is fried seafood. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fried seafood, but when I got back to Seattle I was craving fresh produce like no other. This led to over purchasing of sexy looking produce aisle items, such as juicy ripe strawberries, which led to this cake. It's simple, it's delicious, it's light, it could be adapted in infinite ways with different fruit. Winner.

Strawberry Cake


6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved


Preheat oven to 350 and grease a pie plate. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Beat butter and 1 C sugar in a large bowl together until fluffy. Stir in the egg, milk, and vanilla until just combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Pour into the pie plate and arrange the strawberries cut side down around the plate, pushing into the batter a little bit. I couldn't quite fit the whole pounds worth, but certainly didn't mind eating the extras. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar. 

Ready to bake

Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the oven to 325, and bake for 50 to 60 minutes more. Cool in the pan. I served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, but fresh whipped cream would be great too.