The sign in the produce section at H-E-B on Saturday said "Texas Strawberries, $1.99/lb," chalked by hand, and the berries under it were the deep red kind you can smell from three feet away. I bought four pounds. Two went into the freezer, sliced, for summer smoothies. The other two went into the fridge with a quarter cup of sugar, because shortcake was happening Sunday.
Texas strawberries come up from the southern part of the state in late winter, and for a few weeks around late March they're the cheapest they'll be all year at our stores. By May they cost more and taste like less. This is the one spring dessert I'll heat up the oven for without thinking twice, and by late June our oven is mostly retired for the summer anyway.
Berries the night before
This is the step that matters most. Hull and slice 2 pounds of strawberries, toss them with 1/4 cup of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, and leave them covered in the fridge overnight. By morning the sugar has pulled out enough juice to make its own syrup, and the berries have gone soft and glossy. Sugar them an hour before and you get sweet berries. Sugar them overnight and you get shortcake.
I use one of our glass meal-prep containers with a blue lid. Rosie stood on her learning tower and dropped in the sliced berries one at a time, eating every third one, so I slice a few extra now to account for the help.
Drop-biscuit shortcakes
I make drop biscuits instead of rolled ones because there's no rolling pin, no cutter and no floury counter to clean. Makes 8 big shortcakes.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar, plus a little for the tops
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup cold milk
Heat the oven to 425. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then work in the butter with your fingertips until the biggest pieces are the size of peas. Stir in the milk with a fork just until there's no dry flour left. The dough will look shaggy and a little wet, and that's right. Drop eight big scoops onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, sprinkle the tops with sugar, and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until they're golden on top and brown underneath.
The first time I made these for the kids, I stirred the dough until it was smooth, like muffin batter, and got eight hockey pucks. Lumpy dough makes tender biscuits. Leave it alone.
For the whipped cream, 1 cup of heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla go into the KitchenAid we got as a wedding present in 2013. Medium-high for about 2 minutes, until it holds soft peaks. On Sunday I walked away to settle a dispute over the learning tower and came back to cream that was about one minute from butter. A splash of fresh cream folded in by hand smoothed it back out. I've plated dessert for 300 at a wedding, and I still do this about once a year.
Serving five, and the cost
Split a warm biscuit, spoon berries and syrup over the bottom half, add cream, put the top on, more berries. Matt and Wyatt each had two. Rosie had hers in a bowl, and her hands were pink to the wrists. Eli had a biscuit with butter and a pile of berries on the side of his plate, no syrup touching anything and no cream, and announced it was the best dessert I've ever made. Fine. I'll take it.
- 2 pounds Texas strawberries at $1.99: $3.98
- 6 tablespoons butter: $1.33
- 1 cup heavy cream: $1.10
- Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla: about $1.02
- 1 cup milk: $0.18
All in, that was $7.61 for shortcake for five, about $1.52 a person, with one biscuit left over for Monday's breakfast.
Easter is a week and a half away, and shortcake has already been requested as the Easter dessert by two of the three kids and one husband. If the berries are still $1.99, they'll get it.
