Strawberry shortcake is THE quintessential summer dessert to me. I grew up making it with store bought angel food cake, Cool Whip and fresh strawberries. Hey, don't judge, this was a hip way to make it in the 80s!

A few decades later, I decided to make this not the way I remember it, but the way my mom and her mom remember it: homemade sweet biscuits with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. I love this recipe because it's light and not overly sweet. The biscuit is a dream too: sweet n' buttery and just dense enough to soak up the juices like a champ. I would happily eat it on it's own. As for the strawbs and whipped cream, lets be honest, these two are a force to be reckoned with. They wouldn't win in a duel between chocolate and peanut butter, but they'd put up a good fight.

It's best to make this dessert when strawberries are at their prime: April –June are their best months, but at stores like Safeway, it's strawberry season year round! 'Merica!

Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake
Adapted from All Recipes
Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries (this is rough, but best to error on the side of too much)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (for strawberries)
coarse or white sugar (for biscuit sprinkling)

Directions
1. Slice up strawberries, add brown sugar and pop into fridge. Fact: adding the brown sugar makes the strawberries juicier.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, white sugar and baking powder. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Pro Tip: After cutting in butter, I gently pulled mixture together with my hands in the mixing bowl.
4. Stir in cream and egg. Knead for a few minutes until it comes together.
5. Gently form 12 balls and place on baking sheet. Flatten top slightly and lightly sprinkle with coarse or white sugar (see my visual above).
6. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden. Let cool. Pro Tip: mine took exactly 20 and never turned golden.
7. Carefully split biscuit in half and add a scoop of berries on the bottom half, then a scoop whipped cream (don't be shy with these scoops). Top with second biscuit half (like a little hat!) and reverse the order: scoop of whipped cream then berries (this is my tried and true technique, but do what feels right to you. Go with your heart!) Lastly, be sure to add some juice that's hiding at the bottom of your bowl as a topper. The juice is where it's at!

Dessert Fiend