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Friday Favorite: Strawberry Shortcake

June 10th, 2011

We picked our first strawberry last week and have been enjoying strawberry shortcake for dinner ever since. Strawberry shortcake at Chiot’s Run is a little different than most. The first time I made it for Mr Chiots he said, “What is this?” No little round spongy cakes or loads of sugar here.

When you grow you own strawberries they’re so much better than what you get at the store, you don’t want to overpower them with too much sugar. I make homemade shortcake with real butter, whole grain flour, crystallized ginger and just a small amount of sugar. This lets the sweetness and flavor of homegrown sun ripened strawberries be the star of the meal. The shortcakes are cooked until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. When cooled we crumble them in a bowl, top with strawberries macerated with maple syrup and a dash of vanilla. Then we top it all off with some raw milk.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

1 1/2 quarts of strawberries
2 Tablespoons of maple syrup
a dash of vanilla and salt

Slice strawberries and mix with maple syrup, and a dash of vanilla and salt. Put in fridge to macerate.

2 cups of flour
(I use 10 oz of freshly ground soft white wheat flour)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
(I use 2 t of cream of tartar and 1 t aluminum free baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup diced crystallized ginger*
1/2 – 3/4 cup of heavy cream or buttermilk
1 Tablespoon of sugar
*If you don’t like ginger, you can add lemon zest and some lemon juice, or perhaps cinnamon and vanilla.

Preheat oven to 425, butter a baking sheet or line with parchment paper (you can also use a cast iron skillet if you’d like).

Sift flour into a large bowl and mix in baking powder and salt (if you want sweeter shortcake add 1-2 Tablespoons of sugar). Cut butter into pieces and work into the flour mixture with pastry blender, knives or fingers until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir crystallized ginger into flour mixture.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in half a cup of cream or buttermilk. Stir lightly, if mixture is too dry, add the rest of the buttermilk or cream. You want the mixture to be like biscuit or scone dough, not too wet and not too dry. Spread or drop onto cookie sheet and sprinkle lightly with sugar. I make mine in one big piece but you could easily make individual ones if you’d like. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

When shortcakes are cool, crumble into a bowl, top with macerated strawberries, pour cold milk on top. Enjoy. (makes about 6 servings unless you’re really hungry)

When made this way, it’s the perfect light dinner on a hot summer day. With all that whole grain, fresh fruit, pastured butter and raw milk I don’t feel a bit guilty about eating it every night for dinner during short strawberry season!

What kind of strawberry shortcake do you enjoy in your household?

15 Comments to “Friday Favorite: Strawberry Shortcake”
  1. Quinn on June 10, 2011 at 6:28 am

    I’ll bet my children would love this for breakfast. They’re so tired of eggs (our hens are doing their job quite well this year!) I’ll have to talk them into not eating the strawberries within minutes of the harvest so we can give your recipe a try.

    Reply to Quinn's comment

  2. kristin @ going country on June 10, 2011 at 6:39 am

    Now this is a topic I find very interesting and have wondered about myself–the regional variation in what is considered “shortcake.” I grew up with a sponge cake as the base for strawberry shortcake. In this area, it’s basically baking powder biscuits with a small amount of sugar added. A VERY small amount in our house. In fact, we could probably get away with none, since we sweeten the whipped cream a little and the strawberries are so sweet. I like this because it’s so easy to make.

    Plus, biscuits are about the only baked good I can make as well as my mother-in-law. :-)

    Another week before we have fresh strawberries. We had strawberry shortcake on Mother’s Day with berries from the freezer, but even real berries fresh when frozen don’t compare with just plain fresh strawberries. YUM.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  3. Andrea on June 10, 2011 at 9:27 am

    My shortcake recipe, from my grandmother is somewhat like yours, except for the ginger. Enjoy the berries :)

    Reply to Andrea's comment

  4. Jennifer Fisk on June 10, 2011 at 9:27 am

    I slice my strawberries, sprinkle with sugar and let them juice. In the meantime I make real whipped cream from raw Jersey cream and biscuits. I put real butter on the biscuits and top them with the berries and cream.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  5. Marie on June 10, 2011 at 9:39 am

    Mmmm, we make a very scone-line whole wheat short biscuit, split or crumbled, topped with fresh strawberries tossed with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup and then a liberal hand with the chilled cultured buttermilk. Heaven in a bowl!!! Sadly, our strawberry yield has been pretty low again this year, even with rejuvenating our beds. I guess that just means we’ll savor each one that much more!

    Reply to Marie's comment

  6. Candie on June 10, 2011 at 11:41 am

    This sounds amazing! We have maple syrup from a small farm in Canada by the family cabin I think this would be a great way to use some of it!!!

    Reply to Candie's comment

  7. elizabeth on June 10, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    I’m going to have to make my shortcakes with ginger next time, my husband loves ginger scones.

    Do you have chickens?

    Reply to elizabeth's comment

    • Susy on June 10, 2011 at 1:24 pm

      Only in my dreams do I have chickens. They’re “Not Allowed” in our community – but we’re considering starting a petition to allow them, I just need to find the time.

      You husband will LOVE the shortcake with ginger. Ginger and strawberries are a match made in heaven!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  8. Carol on June 10, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    I grew up on my Aunt Luella’s recipe, which is a denser, eggier cake with a crumble on top. It’s delicious. The first time someone handed me a biscuit and pretended it was shortcake, I was dumbfounded. :) I still make Aunt Luella’s recipe for my family in strawberry season.

    Reply to Carol's comment

  9. Beegirl on June 11, 2011 at 7:24 am

    You’ve got me dreaming of shortcake!! We got our first berry this week..split it 4 ways.. wasn’t much, but it was delicious!! I just keep thinking.. next year…! Beautiful picture and thanks for sharing the recipe!

    Reply to Beegirl's comment

  10. Sarah on June 13, 2011 at 10:25 pm

    Made this last night for dinner. Definitely going to be doing it again soon!

    Reply to Sarah's comment

    • Susy on June 14, 2011 at 1:25 pm

      Glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  11. Allison @ Novice Life on June 14, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    Yum! This sounds delicious! I just made homemade angel food cake to go with our fresh Strawberries! I refuse to buy the fake sponge cake from the store.

    Reply to Allison @ Novice Life's comment

  12. […] We brought home 25 lbs of high quality organic berries and have enjoyed strawberry shortcake daily. Choit’s Run has a delicious and relatively healthy recipe. […]

    Reply to Father’s Day strawberries | The Budding Homestead's comment

  13. Joan on June 23, 2015 at 8:45 am

    I like a nice biscuit shortcake with just a little sugar added to the batter. Yum!

    Reply to Joan's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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