It’s that time of year again…for strawberry shortcake!

David is not a big dessert eater, (especially not chocolate desserts), but one thing that he looks forward to every year is the first strawberry shortcake. Strawberries have recently hit our grocery stores, and last week David said that he would like for me to make them. I am always happy to bake, and I really like it when he requests something because it’s something I know he will eat. He doesn’t eat most of the things I make. I don’t let it bother me because I know that it’s not because he thinks that it’s gross, he just doesn’t like desserts. So I have to either eat it myself or give it away =)

I usually make the Strawberry Shortcake from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, but I wanted to try something different this time. I was browsing through Peabody’s blog the other day and found this recipe for shortcake and decided to give it a try. I thought it was delicious. I loved the cinnamon flavor and the flaky biscuits and how they mixed together so well with the strawberries. This is the way I like shortcake. David said he preferred the Plain Jane Better Homes & Gardens recipe. What can you do? At least I got to try something different! I didn’t use whipped cream because David likes his shortcake plain.

Strawberry Shortcake

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (I used kosher)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
coarse sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 425F.
Whisk together the dry ingredients and cut in the cold butter. Whisk the vanilla and egg with the buttermilk, then all at once add the dry ingredients and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 4 or5 times, just until it holds together. Pat the dough out until it’s about ½ to ¾inches thick and cut it in to circles. Use a sharp biscuit cutter for the highest rising biscuits. place the biscuit onto an ungreased baking sheet, brush the tops with milk for a shiny surface, sprinkle with sugar if desired and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.

Filling: (I did not make this way. Instead, I just sprinkled sugar over the strawberries and let them sit for about 30 minutes)

2 quarts hulled strawberries
½ cup sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup whipped cream
½ cup mascarpone cheese

Mash 2 cups of the strawberries. Slice the remaining strawberries and mix all of the berries with sugar and lemon juice. Let rest one hour. Whip the cream and mascarpone cheese together at high speed…it will look like very thick whipped cream. Split the biscuits in half, spoon strawberries and whipped cream mixture on the bottom half. Put biscuit top on and add more berries and cream if desired.

Source: Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, originally adapted from The Baker’s Companion Magazine Summer 2007 edition