Strawberries for Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry season always takes me by surprise in Pennsylvania. In central New York, where I grew up, the growing season is quite a bit later due to the area's reluctance to let go of winter. Berry season always started right around my birthday, toward the end of June, meaning that I almost always got a strawberry pie on my birthday instead of cake. But here in Philly, the season is on its way out the door by the time my special day rolls around and I almost always am scrambling to get to the berry patch in time to get my ten quarts of scarlet red fruit.  This year was no exception and we planned a quick trip to Lancaster to get the last bits of this year's bounty.

I love pick-your own strawberries. They are incredibly juicy and flavorful, the first of the summer-long harvest of delicious things to put up or layer between two pie crusts or eat out-of-hand, the juices running liberally down your chin as your teeth sink into the soft flesh. All the goodness of the season packed into a bright-red bundle. 

I buy enough berries to make enough jam for the coming year and of course a few pies. But I always leave a quart or two to make berries for strawberry shortcake. 

Strawberry shortcake is commonly made with bright yellow, pre-made cakes, covered in sliced strawberries and slathered with cool-whip. But in my grandparent's house, and I suspect a good bit of Maine, it's a different beast altogether. 

Hot biscuits, made with a local leavener called Bakewell Cream, are crumbled in the bottom of your bowl. The biscuits are light and tall and make the perfect bed for your strawberry shortcake. Then strawberries, crushed and macerated in sugar until the juices run freely, is ladled generously over the hot biscuits, which soak up the juices and turn pink. And then the whole thing is dolloped with freshly made, sweetened whipped cream. 

Oh, it's heaven in a bowl. And the perfect beginning to summer.  

Strawberries for Strawberry Shortcake

Serves: 4 - 6

Total Time: 10 minutes for berries, 

additional time for biscuits and whipped cream

4 cups, (1 quart) pick-your-own strawberries or farmer's market strawberries
1/2 cup sugar, to taste

1 recipe for your favorite biscuits*
1 recipe for whipped cream

*My family uses Bakewell Cream to make the perfect biscuits. The recipe is right on the can. It's a Maine tradition and unfortunately the product can only be bought in Maine or online. But it does make the best biscuits!

Start by washing the berries. 

This recipe really requires freshly-picked strawberries, in season, picked by yourself or the farmer that morning. Sadly, anything else, especially supermarket berries, will really lack in flavor. 

Hull the berries and cut them in half. You will need 4 cups (1 quart).

Using a pastry cutter, "cut" the berries into tiny pieces. 

The berries will release their juices, making a wonderful strawberry sauce.

You will want to make the berry pieces pretty small and it will be quite juicy.

Stir in the sugar. Start with a small amount and increase to your taste.

You can then freeze the berries for shortcake later or serve right then. 

The berries will also keep a day or two in the fridge.

For serving right away:

Make your favorite biscuits. Break one or two biscuits up in a bowl.

Then spoon a generous 1/4 to 1/2 cup of berries on top of your biscuit pieces. 

And dollop some whipped cream on top of that. 

Then dig in!

Recipe from my Grammy.