Sunday, May 3, 2009

Strawberry Shortcakes -- Sweet Melissa Sundays


This Sweet Melissa Sunday treat was picked by Wendy at Pink Stripes , who has an amazing blog and is always cooking up and baking the most delicious looking food! You can visit her site for this recipe, or find it on page 130 of Melissa Murphy's The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I was instantly excited at this pick because strawberry shortcakes are the most served dessert -- or anytime treat -- at our home. My extra picky husband, who is usually not a dessert person, absolutely loves strawberry shortcakes, and I've been perfecting a recipe for it for the past six years. I wondered how Melissa's recipe would compare, and in short, we were not disappointed!


The biscuit dough for the shortcakes is almost exactly like our family recipe, I was really surprised! The main difference is that the Sweet Melissa recipe uses cream and our usual recipe uses buttermilk. The only other difference is the addition of lemon zest to this recipe, which we all enjoyed! I usually add a splash of vanilla to our shortcake biscuit dough, and lemon was a nice fresh hint of flavor.

Before and after baking...


Before and after baking close-up...



As for the strawberries, both recipes start out the same, but instead of just macerating with the sugar, I cook my strawberries and sugar (nothing else added) for a few minutes (I'd say 5 over medium heat, stirring constantly), just to give break them down a touch and make a little extra sauce, then I add some extra fresh sliced berries to the cooked sauce.


What was the verdict? My husband, Mr. Picky, loved these but missed the saucier strawberries, he loved the lemon in the shortcakes and the kids (who had no idea this wasn't our usual recipe) and I loved these strawberry shortcakes as well. I would make these biscuits again for sure, especially if I have some extra cream that I don't know what to do with, and just make the strawberries a little saucier. What a completely delicious Sweet Melissa Sunday treat :)


10 comments:

PheMom said...

Very pretty! Your shortcakes turned out so nice and tall!

Lulu the Baker said...

Your shortcakes are so tall! I might have to try your time-tested tricks next time I make strawberry shortcake. And I'm with you: I love vanilla in mine!

NKP said...

What a beautiful tower of goodness!

Unknown said...

Your shortcakes look amazing!! They baked up beautifully! This was a really yummy recipe.

Flourchild said...

You are such a great baker. Everything you bake looks so good! I am happy your husband loved the shortcake. I really thought the lemon added the best flavor. My kids scarfed it down quickly!

Stephanie said...

What a delicious looking stack o' shortcake! I love the height yours got - looks like your shortcakes came out Perfectly! Perhaps thats from all the strawberry shortcake practice.

Michele said...

Your shortcakes are picture perfect! I have to say that we loved this recipe; it's by far the tastiest shortcake recipe I've used.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you liked them. Saucier strawberries sound delicious. Thanks for baking along with me this week.

Cristine said...

GORGEOUS shortcakes!

Hanaâ said...

Your shortcake looks yummy!! I love the rise in your shortcake. Wow! Almost doubled. Great job!

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