Strawberry Shortcake

This is my most favorite summer recipe.  I look forward to our brief and glorious strawberry season every year to make it. Tender strawberries you pick yourself at a pick-your-own farm, or purchase at a farmer's market or farm stand, improve  this recipe so much that I can't be happy with it when I make it at a different time of year from the pulpy grocery store variety.    I added this dessert to the offerings at the Ritz-Carlton when I worked for them, and would always make extra to share with the other cooks.  The "shortcake" itself is only a little sweet, a layered biscuit with a little sugar sprinkled on top. The visual, textural, and flavorful contrasts are what make it so delicious- cold and warm, sweet and tart, crunchy and soft, red and white.

The day before:

Put 1 stick of butter in the freezer.  (Frozen butter will not soak into the flour as much before the biscuit goes in the oven. Then, moisture in the butter will evaporate, and the steam will form delicious layers.)

Hull 2 pints of strawberries.  Quarter half of the berries.  Put the other half in a blender and puree.  Mix the puree with the quartered berries and add sugar to taste to make the berry sauce.  Allow to macerate in the refrigerator.  (This improves the flavor of the berries and will help dissolve the sugar into the sauce.)

For the shortcakes:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Mix 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 TB. baking powder,  and 3 Tb. sugar.  Take the stick of frozen butter and grate it.  (I use my food processor's shredding disc, but a hand cheese grater works too.) Mix the frozen butter shavings into the dry mixture.  Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup light cream or half-and-half.  Stir to make a stiff biscuit dough.  Fraisage, or lightly knead the dough, so that it comes together.  Roll the dough, or flatten it with your hands, until it is about 3/4" thick. Cut it with biscuit cutters.  Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar. Bake until golden on top.  The time will vary depending on the size of the biscuits, but expect it to happen quickly.  In the meantime, whip 1 cup heavy cream, adding granulated sugar to taste.  

Allow the biscuits to cool slightly, so that they are still warm, but not so hot that they will instantly turn the whipped cream to a puddle.  Serve by first splitting the biscuits, ladling strawberry sauce onto the bottom, spooning on whipped cream, and then adding the top. Serve immediately.  This recipe is enough to serve four people hungry for dessert.  If you make more biscuits, you can freeze them unbaked indefinitely and pop them directly into the oven.