Strawberry Shortcake

Wow! Why in the world did it take me this long to get this post up? The bad thing is that it's been such a long wait and it wasn't even that great of a recipe. I know, kind of a let down, huh.

A while ago we had some fresh berries and some leftover whipping cream so I thought I'd whip up a quick batch of strawberry shortcake. I didn't have the time to peruse the internet for the best recipes out there so I went to my cookbook cupboard, grabbed out Betty, and flipped to page 143. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but in this particular case Betty definitely let me down. While I was whipping up the batter I was mulling over in my brain the fact that it really just sounded like plain old biscuit dough. I got past that and imagined the strawberries and whipped cream would somehow transform this blah dough into an amazing shortcake. Let's just say, it didn't. It tasted just like cut open biscuits with strawberries and whipped cream piled on top. I think there are definitely better shortcake recipes out there, in fact I've made them in the past. I'll post the recipe, but you can keep it mind that it will make better biscuits than shortcake. Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake (AKA Strawberry Biscuits)
Makes about 6 biscuits

1/3 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
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1 quart strawberries
sugar
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sweetened whipped cream

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut shortening into flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder and salt with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk just until blended. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Gently smooth into a ball. Knead 20 to 25 times. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured 3-inch cutter. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Split crosswise while hot. Fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.