Scratch Strawberry Shortcake

Nothing says the start of summer than strawberry shortcake.

1½ cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tbs sugar

¼ tsp salt

2 Tbs butter - salted

1 Tbs heavy cream

1 Tbs turbinado sugar

½ Lemon

Strawberries

Blueberries

Whipped cream

Really - freeze your butter. It'll be helpful later. I promise.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400°F and put a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Dice about half of your strawberries. Cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the berries. Add the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mash. Add the rest of your strawberries and let rest so that the juices develop.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the 1½ cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, the ½ tsp baking soda and 2 Tbs sugar.

Use a cheese grater and grate your butter into the flour mixture. Mix unti course crumbs form.

I always struggled with a pastry blender and getting the butter pieces small enough. Some recipies suggest a food processor but I don't have one. But when looking for ways to better blend the butter into the flour, I came across the suggestion to freeze the butter and grate it. Brilliant!

Add the ½ cup buttermilk and stir until just moistened.

Divide the dough into six pieces and place on the prepared cookie sheets.

Brush each with with the heavy cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Let cool for 5 minutes and then move to a rack to cool completely.

Cut each in half.

On one half, scoop strawberries and blueberries. Top with whipped cream and the top half of the shortcake.

Eat 'em up -

The shortcakes are also delicious with breakfast. Just warm them and serve with a little butter and jam.