Strawberry Shortcake

What better way to celebrate summer than with a delicious homemade Strawberry Shortcake?  I absolutely love a fresh crumbly scone layered up with strawberry jam, fresh cream and strawberries. 

Strawberry Shortcake is a classic American dessert as well as an annoyingly twee little pink cartoon character, search online and you will see what I mean.  I did a little research online and it soon became obvious that ‘shortcake’, in this context, is simply a sweet scone.  So if you can make scones, you can make Strawberry Shortcake!

I know some people struggle to make good scones, so here is a little help: 

TOP TIPS FOR BAKING SCONES:

• Rubbing the fat into the flour is best done by hand, but if I have a large batch to make I do use my stand mixer or sometimes a food processor.
• Never add the liquid in the mixer or food processor (unless you are really expert) as this is likely to overwork the dough, add it slowly and bring together the dough first with a knife and then with your hands.
• Never knead the dough, just bring it together pressing a little until it’s smooth.
• There’s no need to roll  out the dough, just pat it down.
• The height of the uncooked dough should be about half what you want for your finished scone, so cut them thick.
• Never twist your cutter when cutting out the scone, it stops it from rising properly.
• Make sure your oven is really hot before putting the scones in to bake.

Strawberry Shortcake

2016-07-02 16:11:55

Yields 4

A sweet scone type shortcake filled with strawberry jam, sliced strawberries and cream.

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Prep Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

20 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1. For the Shortcake
2. 225g self-raising flour
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. 50g soft butter
5. 25g caster (superfine) sugar
6. 1 egg
7. milk
8. 1 tbsp granulated sugar
9. For the filling
10. 2 tbsp strawberry jam
11. 12 strawberries
12. 150ml double (heavy) cream whipped (or 100g clotted cream)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 220C
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
3. Put the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the butter and chop it into the flour, then rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips, until it looks like breadcrumbs, add the caster sugar.
4. Crack the egg into a jug or other measure and beat with a fork, add milk up to 150ml.
5. Gradually add this mixture to the flour bringing the liquid and flour together into a soft dough, you may need a little less or a little more depending on your flour.
6. Pat the dough out to about 1.25cm (1/2 inch)
7. Cut into rounds with an 85 mm (3 1/4 in) cutter and place on the baking tray
8. Brush the tops of the scones with milk, or the milk/egg mix if you have any left.
9. Sprinkle with granulated sugar
10. Bake for about 10 minutes until the scones are pale golden brown.
11. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
12. To assemble
13. Take one cooled scone per person
14. Split the scones in half
15. Spread strawberry jam on the base of the scones and place on the serving plate
16. Top with a spoonful of whipped or clotted cream
17. Set aside 4 of the best strawberries (preferably quite small) for the top of the shortcake
18. Slice 8 of the strawberries and sprinkle with a teaspoon of caster sugar and 1/4 tsp lemon juice
19. Divide the strawberry slices between the four scones
20. Place the top of the scone over the strawberries
21. Add a small spoonful of cream and top with a small whole strawberry.

Notes

1. If you don't have time to make scones, you can always buy some good quality scones and layer them up with jam, cream and strawberries.

Farmersgirl Kitchen https://www.farmersgirlkitchen.co.uk/

Here are some other strawberry dessert ideas you might like to try:

Raw Strawberry Coconut Macaroons – Planet Veggie

Sensational Strawberry Pavlova – Farmersgirl Kitchen 

Strawberry Mousse – Farmersgirl Kitchen 

Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange – Tin & Thyme

Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Cake – Simply Food

And one last look at the Strawberry Shortcake…