Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

• Strawberries, destemmed and cut into quarters -- 2 pints
• Sugar -- 1/2 cup
• All-purpose flour -- 4 cups
• Sugar -- 6 tablespoons
• Baking powder -- 5 teaspoons
• Salt -- 1 teaspoon
• Butter, chilled and cut into small cubes -- 12 tablespoons
• Milk, half-and-half or cream -- 1 1/2 cups
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream -- 2 cups

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together the strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Set aside, stirring occasionally. The strawberries will produce their own syrup.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the chilled butter and work it into the flour with your fingers until the mixture takes on a mealy texture. Place the bowl in the refrigerator or freezer and chill the ingredients for 10 or 15 minutes.
3. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and stir in the milk, half-and-half or cream until all the ingredients just come together in a ball. Remove the dough to a lightly floured worksurface and knead gently and quickly just enough to smooth out the dough.
4. Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Use a cookie or biscuit cutter to cut the dough into twelve 3-inch rounds. Place the rounds on a buttered baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on top, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and let the shortcakes cool.
5. Place one shortcake round in a dessert bowl. Top with a spoonful of strawberries and syrup. Place another round on top of that and top with another spoonful of berries. Top the whole thing with a dollop of whipped cream and serve immediately.

Strawberry Shortcake Variations

• The tops of the shortcake rounds can be brushed with milk, cream or some melted butter before baking to help them brown.
• Cut half the shortcake into 3-inch rounds and the rest into 2 1/2-inch rounds. Use the smaller ones for the top shortcake layer. This gives a somewhat more pleasing presentation.
• The biscuits can also be split horizontally and filled with berries. This will give you about 12 portions for this recipe, but you will need 2 quarts of berries.
• Instead of cutting the dough into individual portions, pat it into a greased 8-inch round cake pan and bake whole for about 15 minutes. After it has baked and cooled, split horizontally and fill with berries. Top with more berries and whipped cream.
• Use any type of summer berries for this dish, or a mixture of different kinds. Or use peaches, nectarines, mangoes...any seasonal fruit.