Berry Shortcake

It’s berry season. My grandmother was famous for making a bang-up Strawberry Shortcake. In fact, she would make it every year for my mother’s birthday, until the year my mother finally requested a “real” birthday cake. Grandma felt that my mother is fortunate to have her birthday fall during berry season. That and it meant she got out of having to frost a cake. Wise lady, my grandma.

In any case, she made her Strawberry Shortcake with sponge cake.  Homemade of course. None of this supermarket nonsense. She was also known for making root beer from scratch, but that’s another story.

I like to make Shortcake with fresh homemade biscuits, for a nice buttery, salty flavor to balance the sweet whipped cream and assorted berries. Strawberry Shortcake is wonderful of course, but variety is the spice of life. I like to mix things up once in a while, which is why I like to use any number of seasonal berries in in Berry Shortcake.

Berry Shortcake - serves 4

1 pint of assorted  fresh blackberries, raspberries or strawberries
2 T – 1/4 C granulated sugar, depending on sweet tooth
1 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 C ice cold butter
1/2 – 3/4 C buttermilk (depending on the weather)
1 C heavy whipping cream
2 t sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss berries with the sugar in a large bowl and refrigerate for 1/2 hour, but no more than 2 hours. They start to get squishy and discolored after too long. We’re looking for fresh and bright, people.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Tip: When dicing the butter, I find that it’s helpful to coat the knife in flour and sprinkle the butter cubes with flour as you go. This way, the cubes are not fused together when they are dropped into the flour mixture.

Stir in the buttermilk until just moistened. Divide into quarters. Form each quarter into a ball and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 11 – 14 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops turn a lovely golden color.

Meanwhile, using either an electric beater, a counter top mixer or a whisk, combine the sugar and cream and beat until soft peaks form. Too far beyond that and it will end up as butter.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and allow them to cool. Carefully cut each in half, top the bottom half with a bit of whipped cream. Cover that with berries, a larger dollop of whipped cream and the top half of the biscuit.

Serve outside on a patio or deck after dinner, and watch the evening sky as the sun sets.