This is a mouthwatering dessert! If you enjoy strawberries this is a real crowd pleaser. Strawberries are placed upon biscuit-type shortbreads and then smothered with whipped cream or ice cream. Yummy! While the original recipe calls for shortening I’ve changed that to butter for this recipe since I’ve tried to eliminate as many hydrogenated oils as possible from my diet.
My mom used to make strawberry shortcake for us all the time when we were kids. She always had big gardens and she grew a lot of strawberries, especially for jams. She would make biscuits, slice them in half and butter each side, spoon sliced, sugared strawberries on top and then add vanilla ice cream scoops on top. Absolutely incredible! (Cool Whip hadn’t been invented then and she didn’t make whipped cream a lot.)
I got this recipe from my niece, Gina, who adapted it from the Betty Crocker cookbook (1972 edition). We’ve both modified it slightly, but it still has that Betty Crocker quality you expect in a recipe. One recipe makes 8 servings. But if we have a lot of strawberries on hand, I usually double the recipe and make this in two round cake pans and sprinkle a cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough before baking. I cut each cake in eighths. Then split it in half and top pretty much as described above. This way there is plenty of Strawberry Shortcake for a couple of days!
I LOVE Strawberry Shortcake!
This recipe is really pretty easy to make.
Here is a serving of Strawberry Shortcake.
This picture shows the texture of the shortcake.
Here’s what I did.
Measure UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour into mixing bowl. (Bleached flour toughens baked goods).
Add sugar.
Add baking powder.
Add salt.
Add shortening or butter.
Blend flour mixture with butter using a pastry blender until all the butter is worked into the flour.
Now add milk.
Stir to combine.
Either grease and flour a round 9″ cake pan or spray really well with Bakers Joy cooking spray.
In a small measuring cup add 1/2 cup sugar.
Add 1 tsp. cinnamon.
Stir cinnamon-sugar mixture to combine.
Spread shortcake dough into prepared pan. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the top.
Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.
Allow shortcake to cool completely.
Invert shortcake onto serving plate. At this point I usually cut the shortcake into 8 pieces like a pie, then slice each in half widthwise and spoon sugared strawberries over the top of each half. Finally, I top with cool whip. But for the purpose of this blog I’ll show you how I decorated the shortcake from here.
Slice down strawberries.
Add a cup of sugar and allow berries to set for one hour. I only added about 1/3 cup sugar but they taste better with a full cup!!!
Spread strawberries over the top.
Add cool whip.
Garnish with more strawberries as desired.
The cinnamon-sugar topping on the shortcake takes an average shortcake recipe and makes it really special. It blends so well with the strawberries and whipped topping, too.
In this picture you can see how I’ve split the shortcake in half, then loaded it down with strawberries and added whipped topping.
Lots of yummy strawberries and whipped topping top a wonderful shortcake.
Here’s the recipe.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
(Recipe from my niece, Gina, Colorado Springs, CO, as adapted from the Betty Crocker cookbook)
1 qt. fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 cups UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
2 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup shortening (I used 6 tablespoons butter)
1 cup milk
Butter
Whipped cream or cool whip
Cinnamon-sugar mixture (1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon stirred together)
Slice strawberries; sprinkle with 1 cup sugar and let stand 1 hour. Heat oven to 450°. Grease round layer cake pan. Measure flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in shortening thoroughly until mixture looks like meal. Stir in milk just until blended. Pat into pan. Sprinkle with a mixture of about ½ tsp. cinnamon and ½ cup sugar. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut shortcake into 8 servings. Split each piece in half. Spread with butter; fill and top with berries. Serve warm with whipped cream or cool whip. 8 servings.
I served my strawberry shortcake with whipped topping, but you can always use ice cream!
The syrup from the strawberries will sink down into the shortcake. Yum.
If you look at this picture I’ve cut the shortcake in half. It would have been twice this thick!
This close up shows the texture of the shortcake. The cinnamon-sugar topping makes all the difference.
Here’s another close up so you can see the juicy strawberries.
Strawberry Shortcake is so quick and easy to make. It’s also economical and a family favorite.
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