Strawberry Shortcake Secret
Posted by in Food
It’s strawberry season – so short and so sweet! I bought two quarts of local strawberries over the weekend and *had* to make strawberry shortcake. I make my mom’s wonderful recipe which is very unique. Most people make strawberry shortcake like a biscuit or cake. Not my mom! Her main complaint with those types is that the cake or biscuit gets wet and soggy. So she devised a shortbread-like shortcake that is out of this world. It’s also amazingly simple to make. The strawberries sit on top and the “cake” stays crunchy, while absorbing much of the juice. The whipped cream is completely optional – this is so good you don’t need it, but I know the dessert isn’t complete for some people without it!
Mom’s Strawberry Shortcake
1 1/2 quarts strawberries
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar plus extra
1 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter, room temp
4 tsp grated lemon zest
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp cold water
Preheat the oven to 400. Combine butter, sugar and lemon zest (you can use a food processor or do it by hand). Add the 2 egg yolks, vanilla and water, then add dry ingredients. Press dough out onto a baking sheet covered in parchment until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake for 12 minutes until lightly brown.
Hull and slice the strawberries and mix with 4 tbsp sugar. If you want whipped cream, I always whip my cream then add in some vanilla and a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar to sweeten it.
Break the shortcake into pieces and serve with strawberries and whipped cream on top.
As another variation, sometimes if I am making this in the food processor, I add some chocolate chips, which get chopped up into tiny pieces and are a nice addition.
This recipe feed 4 strawberry shortcake pigs in my house, so it can definitely be used to feed at least 6 normal people in your house!
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Love this. Dorie Greenspan does a strawberry tart along these lines. It resonates with me bec I often list shortbread as my dessert of choice. I don’t like soft desserts… Well desserts with no texture. This might be made chez Babette. Soon.
What a great idea! I know what she means about soggy – I’ve tasted those kinds of strawberry shortcakes. This looks and not too complicated. It might just be what I make for Father’s Day!
This looks great, but I’ve got to say, soggy can be good!
Sounds perfect! That’s the same reason I liked the drop biscuit cut in half, to try to keep it from getting too soggy!
You know, I’ve longed to make a GF strawberry shortcake but never got around to it. I think you’ve inspired me. 🙂
Wow! Sounds great. Will try it this weekend.
Will make this, but with whole wheat flour and agave! Should work just fine
I’ve always used biscuit recipe, but this looks yummy. By the way, don’t NORMAL people eat TWO servings of strawberry shortcake. Mom served it as a meal, with maybe a piece of cheese on the side.
Haha! Well it’s certainly normal in this house and I justify it by saying it’s fruit and you can only get local berries once a year.
sounds like the perfect dessert to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer. on the to-do list for this weekend.
This looks divine! And I have to say I would like to hang out with Vera if adding cheese to a double serving of strawberry shortcake constitutes dinner.
I like your mom’s innovation. I don’t like soggy strawberry shortcake either.
Strawberry shortcake is the perfect summer dessert. And it’s so versatile – with a little creativity, you can come up with endless variations for any type of event. I personally like to make them into tiny, two-bite versions, like petit fours!
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Strawberry shortcake – my favorite. And it must have real whipped cream on the top. I’ll be trying your shortcake recipe.