Strawberry Shortcake!

The best part about fresh strawberries is the dessert.

Strawberry Shortcake is everyone’s favorite in my family.  It tastes best with freshly picked strawberries.

Once rinsed, I slice the berries into a bowl and lightly sugar them.  When all the berries are sliced and sugared, I add a small amount of water to the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and let the berries rest at room temperature.  The sugar, water, and strawberry juice will form into a strawberry syrup.  My husband likes his shortcake drizzled with it.

I make my shortcakes the way my mom did.  I use the recipe off the side of the Bisquick box with one alteration, I increase the sugar in the shortcake to 1/3 cup.  These biscuit-like cakes tend to burn on the bottoms, so I watch them carefully.

I learned long ago never to leave a jar of whipping cream in my refrigerator.  My boys will sneak squirts out of it all day long until it is empty by dinnertime.  Besides, I like freshly whipped cream best.  I stir in powdered sugar and vanilla to taste and whip it on high in my Kitchen-Aid.  My son learned the hard way to keep an eye on cream in a heavy-duty mixer.  Hoping to score a late night snack, he overwhipped the cream and ended up with butter.

When ready to serve, I slice the shortcakes and top them with strawberries and syrup.  Then I top the whole dessert with the freshly whipped cream.

This is a true summertime dessert and ample reward for pickers who spent the morning in the sun, backs bent, to bring home such a lovely treat.