Strawberry Shortcake for Two

This easy recipe for rustic strawberry shortcake is 2 layers of cake filled with fresh strawberries and topped with whipped cream.

How about an easy recipe for rustic strawberry shortcake that has 2 layers of cake filled with fresh strawberries and topped with whipped cream? I even sized down this batch of strawberry shortcakes making it perfect for two!

I know there’s a song about Christmas being the most wonderful time of the year. But for me, spring really is the best time of year. The longer days, the blooming flowers,  and the fresh produce at the Farmer’s Market are things that pick my spirits up more than any Christmas tree ever could. Right now the fresh strawberries are pouring in, and really, what’s better than that? 

I live in a good sized city, but the southern most part of the area is still an agricultural zone. It’s the best of both worlds, really.

There are farmers here who are running the family farms just like their parents and grandparents before them. When I visit our amazing Farmer’s Market (that’s only 4 miles from my home), the people running the shops there are the same people who are growing the gorgeous produce they offer for sale.

And now the strawberries are coming in! I live for this time of year. There is nothing like a farm fresh, hand picked strawberry. When you slice these, they are red all the way through. And they have the dreamiest aroma. That’s the thing that really grabs me about about garden fresh food and herbs. The fragrance is intoxicating.

So with the excitement of Strawberry Season upon us, I wanted to share a strawberry themed recipe today, and a Strawberry Shortcake recipe seemed like the most obvious choice.

I started with a recipe from one of my grandmas, but did not have enough flour so I had to improvise a little. And much to my delight, and great relief,  it worked out!

I’m a home cook with zero professional training. I only know I love fresh food with out a ton of additives.

The scariest part of making this recipe is the bit about cutting in the butter with the dry ingredients. It sounds kind of intimidating, but honestly, it’s not difficult.

Use new recipes as skill builders, and try new things when you bake. It’s the best way to grow your abilities and confidence.

I have my maternal grandmother’s pastry blender, and I used it for this shortcake….which is actually a biscuit with a little sugar added.  If you don’t already have one, search google for pastry cutters and take your pick. It’s a pretty basic tool.

Once incorporating the butter with the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients in by hand.

They come together really well. I did not roll the dough and cut the biscuits out. I did not knead the dough. I simply mixed my wet and dry ingredients with a gentle hand and used my large cookie scoop to drop the biscuits onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  My scoop is sized for 3 tablespoons, so it’s a good sized scoop. Just gently mix the dough and scoop. It doesn’t get much easier than that! Dropping the dough makes for a rustic looking shortcake, but I rather like that. If you prefer something more polished, then you would want to knead the dough and roll and cut each biscuit out with a biscuit cutter or a glass.

But why would you want something polished when rustic looks this delicious?

I love the imperfection of a home prepared meal or dessert. Don’t fuss over perfection. Life is too short to attempt to live in a state of Pinterest Perfection.

Also, I left out a lot of the extra sugar commonly used in similar recipes. I did not macerate the berries. I simply sprinkled a little sugar on top of the perfectly ripe berries. I wanted to taste strawberries and not strawberry syrup. (All macerate means is that you cut up the fruit and soak it in a sugar bath for an hour or so before serving.) With fresh fruit like this, it’s optional.

This recipe yields six little shortcakes, and uses less than a quart of fresh berries. So if you have a small household like ours, you won’t be swimming in these for the next two weeks. Most recipes are written like you’re going to a family reunion or something. Our household is small. Two people live here. So it can be a challenge with those ginormous recipes.

And it’s PERFECT!!! The only problem is, now I wish I had more to eat, because they were so good! HA HA!! And that’s another great thing about this small batch prep. Stuff isn’t sitting around for days and days so it’s fresher when you eat it. And I’m all about fresh.

I’ve included a video about how I bake drop biscuits, and it’s very similar to these shortcakes. You can see how to cut in the butter.

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