June and Strawberry Shortcake

Hi everyone -- I'm glad you're here!  Can you believe it's June?  We're almost halfway through another year.  My Grandma once told me that the older you get, the faster time flies -- she was so right.  Did you have a nice weekend?  We did; I wanted to write a post for Memorial Day but just didn't get around to it.  We've been awfully busy for the past week now.  The work has begun on our house, and I hope to have some pictures for you soon.       My mom kindly got me some fresh strawberries on Saturday.  She lives a couple of miles from a strawberry patch, and most years she pays them a visit (or two).  :)  These were very pretty berries, and I appreciate her getting them for me.  My mom buys the already picked strawberries, although you can pick your own there if you prefer.          

         I got a gallon of strawberries, but this is only one quart shown here -- the amount needed for my strawberry shortcake recipe.  🍰 😊    

   This is the finished cake.  Years ago I went to a birthday dinner for a good friend, and her mom had made strawberry shortcake for the birthday cake.  Her cake was lovely, but it was not what I think of as strawberry shortcake.  Hers was a bakery-style cake.  Shortcake is like a moist, dense, lightly sweetened biscuit -- the perfect vessel for fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  Some people prefer the bakery-style, and some prefer the biscuit style.  I think it's kind of like the pizza debate; some folks like thin and crispy crust, while others prefer the thick and chewy crust.  Crispy chocolate chip cookies, as opposed to chewy ones.  You get the picture.           My mom used to make her shortcake with Bisquick, and I loved it.  Then when I got married, I made mine the same way.  But the last time I made a Bisquick shortcake, it didn't taste as good to me, so a few years ago, I decided to find a recipe for scratch-made strawberry shortcake.  I found two recipes that were almost identical, and I combined them for this cake.  This is the third or fourth time I've made it, and we always enjoy it.   

Above is the baked shortcake and one quart of washed and hulled berries.   

These are the same berries, sweetened with 1/4 cup plus 1 T. sugar and ready to go in the fridge.  The sugar will bring out the natural juice of the strawberries, which I think is a must for this cake.  The recipe called for 1/2 cup of sugar, and I wish I had used that full amount now, but I wanted the strawberries to retain their shape and not get too mushy.     

I planned to serve this Monday night for our dessert while our son was here, but things got kind of busy.  We wanted to watch a movie, and I still needed to whip the cream, so I decided to save the cake for Tuesday.  Our son has never been wild about fruit desserts (I know, right?) so I had made some homemade fudge sauce for him to have on ice cream.  We all had ice cream with hot fudge sauce on Monday night, and Hal and I had strawberry shortcake Tuesday night.     

 Last night's dessert.  We've all seen these gorgeous pictures of a whole cake split horizontally with strawberries and cream in the center and on top, right?  I know -- it looks so pretty.  But...that's only practical if you have a large crowd there to eat all the cake that day.  Otherwise, you have to refrigerate the whole cake, and it turns into a soggy mess (not so pretty or appetizing).  So we cut ours and split the slices horizontally, then top them with strawberries and cream on the spot.  The strawberries and cream stay refrigerated, and there's no real waste of food.  Of course, our waistlines would be better off by having a crowd here to help us eat the cake.  😉   

Yum.     

My sweet niece gave me these pretty towels at our Mother's Day outing; aren't they cheerful for summer?  She would love to be a mom, and I really hope she can be someday soon.  She would make a great one.        

These are the two cookbooks I used for my combined recipe.  Above is a pamphlet-sized book; you can see it was a freebie from the grocery store.  My mom had it for years, and she passed it along to me when I moved out on my own.  It has some neat, vintage recipes.   

I bought this Southern Living cookbook in 1998 -- back in the days when we went to our local Barnes & Noble bookstore every Friday night.  I have another one similar to this, and I have used them so many times over the years.       Below is the recipe I used for my strawberry shortcake.  You can always make one from Bisquick; the directions are right on the box, and there is nothing wrong with those cakes.  Made from scratch will take a little longer, but I think you'll enjoy the results. 
Strawberry Shortcake

• 1 qt. strawberries sliced
• 1/4 c. to 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 3 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 c. butter or margarine (I used butter)
• 1 beaten egg
• 2/3 c. light cream

Combine sliced strawberries and 1/4 to 1/2 c. sugar, stir gently and chill one to two hours.  I chilled mine overnight.
Butter an 8 x 1 1/2 inch round cake pan (I used Pam spray).  Stir together thoroughly flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Cut in 1/2 c. butter till mixture resembles course crumbs.  Combine egg and light cream; add to dry mixture, stirring just to moisten.  Spread dough in greased baking pan, building up edges slightly.  I had to do this step with my hands.  Bake at 425° for 15 to 18 minutes.  Remove shortcake from pan and cool on rack for five minutes.       I sliced our cake in eight slices, like a pie.  I then split the slices horizontally and topped with sweetened strawberries, juice, and fresh whipped cream.  😋  For the whipped cream, I combined one cup of heavy whipping cream, 2 T. sugar, and 1/2 t. vanilla.  I mixed this at medium speed with a hand mixer until soft peaks formed.      I love strawberry season.  It's such a short season here, and the weather for strawberries has not been the best this year.  It's a real treat for me to get these good berries and use them in something we enjoy.  By the way, I heat the leftover cake in the microwave, then add the berries and cream.  It's the combination of the biscuit-like cake, the sweet berries, and the soft cream that hits all the right notes with me.      I'm linking this post to "Full Plate Thursday," hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage.  Thanks so much for visiting today -- I'm always glad for you to stop by.  Hope you have a terrific week!