Strawberry Shortcake has never thrilled me very much. Probably because the only time I’ve ever had it was when my mom felt ambitious and brought home those foam sponge cake circles you find in the produce section of your grocery store. I’d rather just have the strawberry and cream, thanks.
But Bear decided to try his hand at it after we bought yet another flat of strawberries at the farmer’s market and we had to do something with them quickly. After consulting a few recipes he made a sweet biscuit version that’s so great I was eating them naked the next day for breakfast. It was unreal. UNREAL.
Strawberry Shortcake
2 1/4 C bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T baking powder
1/4 C butter
zest of 1 orange
1 2/3 C heavy cream
2 eggs
pinch of salt
sugar
Sift together the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is pea-sized.
Combine the zest and the cream and stir into the dry ingredients.
Roll out to measure just over an inch thick and cut. You could use a traditional round biscuit cutter, but we used every scrap of dough by rolling it out into a rectangle and then cutting it into triangles.
Combine the eggs and salt to make an egg wash, and spread over the shortcake triangles. Sprinkle the tops thoroughly with sugar.
Bake the biscuits on a lined cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
Bear served this with fresh whipped cream and strawberries, and his famous strawberry sauce. It was the perfect combination of savory and sweet and a wonderful, summery, tradition.
