Strawberry Picking - Again!

Sunday afternoon we went strawberry picking for the second time and ended up with three more flats of strawberries.  Here is our days take.  For full disclosure - mine is the one on the right that doesn't have straw or green berries it :)

The cutting of the first two flats went fairly quickly but the last flat was a little painful.  I sent a container of them home with the friend who helped us pick them and I offered a container to our neighbors.  She wanted to know if I was a glutton for punishment to go pick another three flats.  Unfortunately she declined my offer because they received some in their CSA box.

What do I do with all these strawberries?  I cut them up, sugar them and freeze them for strawberry shortcake.  My shortcake is one of my families favorite deserts and very simple to make.  Here's the recipe that I use

Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberries

Cut off tops and then quarter the berries (if strawberries are larger you will want to cut them a little smaller)

Put strawberries in a bowl and add sugar.  For a quart of strawberries I would add about a quarter cup of sugar.  You can use more or less to your taste

Lightly mash with a potato masher and let sit for a couple of hours before serving.

Whipped Topping

1 pint heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine cream, sugar and vanilla with mixer until stiff.  You will want to scrape the bowl down to make sure everything is well combined.

Biscuits

Assuming you are using the original Bisquick, here is the recipe I use

2 1/3 cup Original Bisquick

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter

Combine, drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 10 - 12 minutes. 

This is suppose to make six biscuits but I double it and make larger biscuits which will need more time to bake.  I decide the doneness by how golden brown they are.

I typically put a biscuit in a bowl and top with the strawberries and whipped topping.  However, if you'd like to do something fancier here are a couple of ideas.

Cake

Instead of dropping by spoonfuls add the batter into an 8 inch round cake pan (you will need to do this twice) and bake until done.  On a cake platter place one of the biscuits upside down, layer with strawberries and whipped cream.  Top with the second biscuit and top with strawberries and whipped cream - make sure your cake plate is large enough for the strawberries to run down a little bit. 

The result is a beautiful and pretty impressive but doesn't cut nice (in my opinion).  Also, we have people who don't like the whipped cream or only want a little bit of strawberries....You get the idea.  You will want to make sure that there won't be any left overs as this doesn't keep well.

Trifle

You will want to at minimum double the above recipe.  Break up the biscuits and add them to a trifle bowl.  Layer with strawberries and whipped topping.  Repeat until you have the desired number of layers.

This is a very impressive presentation and serves nicely.  However, you will want to make sure there are no left overs since it won't keep well and picky people won't like it being all mixed together.

Enjoy your shortcake!

Do you have any good variations or suggestions for serving the shortcake?