the time

for strawberries, is now. And this means shortcake.

I bought this civilised basket of berries at the Atwater Market to make dessert for a party on July 1st. Not one substandard berry in the lot! And I was lucky enough to get 2 pints of strawberries in the Eastern Townships the following day to make dessert again.

This recipe is adapted from two others:
1. A shortcake biscuit recipe my Grandma Hanson had in her files
and
2. Dorie Greenspan's shortcake from her book Baking: From My Home To Yours.

Strawberry Shortcake
For the strawberries:
Slice 2 pints of strawberries north-south and toss with a little organic sugar and 2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier. A few curls of lemon rind are also nice but not essential. Cover and let stand at least an hour or two so the berries have time to make themselves a bit of syrup.

For the cakes:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 ½ sticks cold butter
1 ½ cups cold heavy cream

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 425°F. Lay a sheet of parchment on a baking tray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and, working quickly, integrate it with the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter until the mixture is pebbly.

Pour the cream over the dry ingredients, and gently toss the ingredients with a fork until you’ve got a very soft dough. You’ll probably still have some flour at the bottom of the bowl, so reach in and use your hand to mix and gently knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. But don’t get overzealous: it’s better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. The dough should be soft and sticky.

Using two large spoons, take about 1/3 cup of the dough at a time out of the bowl, and place about 5 or 6 of these spoonfuls on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them.

Bake 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back midway through, until the shortcakes are golden, puffed and give just a little when poked with a fingertip. Pull the pan from the oven, and carefully transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheet first.

Serve the shortcakes slightly warm or at room temperature. To serve, use a serrated knife to gently cut each cake in half horizontally. Put the bottom halves on plates, top with berries and gently whipped cream, and then cap with the top halves.

Yields 10 servings