Strawberry Shortcake

Summer is here and it’s 4th of July weekend and although I don’t think America deserves a birthday this year, (and it’s always a bit of an odd holiday for me to celebrate being a Brit), I can‘t deny anyone this strawberry shortcake recipe. It’s so easy and very delicious. I like to fill mine with homemade whipped cream and fresh mixed berries but you could just do strawberries too. Also lovely with some good quality vanilla ice cream instead of whipped cream.

Here’s the recipe bellow:

Preheat oven to 425 F

• 1 stick cold unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup organic whole milk

• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup castor sugar

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

• 4 cups fresh ripe organic strawberries (blueberries optional)

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 tbsp sugar

One of the most important parts of this recipe is sugaring the prepped fresh strawberries before you start baking, so all their juices come out. I like to slice them so you get the most out of them. And leave them to marinate with the sugar for around 30 minutes to an hour while you bake the shortcakes.

For the short cakes, start by cutting your stick of butter in to small cubes. Now refrigerate until you are ready to use it to keep it as cold as possible.

Measure out your milk in a jug, add in the vanilla extract and also pop that in to the fridge until you are ready to use it to keep it optimally cold.

Now measure out your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend.

Scatter over the cold butter and using a pastry cutter (to avoid warm hands), cut the butter in to smaller and smaller pieces until pea sized and blended with the flour mixture.

Now slowly pour over the vanilla milk in to your flour butter mixture whilst mixing it all together until it comes together in a clump.

Then turn it out on to a floured surface and pat the dough in to a rectangle shape, about 2 inches thick and cut in to 8 pieces evenly.

Now transfer on to a lined baking sheet and using some extra milk, brush the top of the shortcakes and then sprinkle on some extra sugar.

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes until golden brown on top and firm to the touch.

Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

While you are waiting for them to cook start on your whipped cream.

Put the cold heavy cream, and 2 tablespoons sugar with the 1 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl. Whip the cream until it holds medium-firm peaks when the whisk or beaters are lifted. About 2 minutes. It should look silky. If you whip the cream too long and it looks grainy, lumpy, or curdled, pour in 3 or 4 more tablespoons cream and stir in gently (no more whipping). It should smooth out nicely. Cover until needed and refridgerate.

When you are ready to serve, cut the shortcakes in half horizontally and dollop in some of your whipped cream on each side. Top with berries on one side and then sandwich together.

Enjoy on a warm summers day with a crisp glass of rosé!