Delicious Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Strawberries are in season, and that’s good news! They’re ripe and ready, and just in time for what has become, for many of us, the second busiest month of the year.

Between end-of-the-school-year programs, recitals, parties, graduation celebrations, and Memorial Day get-togethers, our calendars are exploding! So when friends and families gather to celebrate, it’s nice to have a dessert recipe that’s easy, delicious, and that takes full advantage of the fruit that’s in season.

Your guests will be remembering this one, talking about it, and salivating for it, for years to come!

I found this recipe in a cookbook that was published back in the ’70’s, the American-International Encyclopedic Cookbook (affiliate link),  and first made it about 30 years ago, when I was living in Switzerland, the land of double-crème (that’s double rich cream!).

I made it every spring for several years in a row, and then somehow lost the recipe. Recently, though, I got to spend some time with my friend who owned that cookbook, and she found the recipe for me. And I’m so glad she did!

I really haven’t altered the recipe very much at all, because I think it’s just about perfect, as it was written. The only alteration I made was to slice my strawberries and let them macerate in a half a cup of sugar. To macerate just means to let them sit in sugar for an hour or two in the fridge. Macerating draws some of the juices out of the strawberries, and that means your strawberries will make their own kind of sauce.

My daughter suggested that next time we try puréeing some of the strawberries after they have macerated, to make a thicker sauce, and I think that’s really an excellent idea, even though I haven’t tried that yet. But YOU might want to.

You can see the butter, sugar, and orange zest rolled up inside the shortcake pinwheel.

The juices from the strawberries and the whipped cream are really both integral parts of this dessert, so don’t hesitate to ladle those on, because the shortcake really benefits from having the juices and the cream soak in. The butter that you spread on the inside of the sweet roll/shortcake/biscuit adds a lovely flavor, but it’s the orange zest that makes the dessert “sing”. You are going to love this recipe!

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe with Pinwheels

INGREDIENTS:

For shortcake:

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

2 T. sugar

2 T. shortening

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c. milk

2 T. melted butter

1/2 c. sugar

1 T. orange zest

For strawberries:

1 quart strawberries

1/2 c. sugar

For whipped cream:

1 c. whipping cream

1 T. sugar

PREPARATION:

For Strawberries:
Stem and slice strawberries, mix in bowl with 1/2 cup sugar, stirring until all strawberries are coated with sugar. Chill them in the refrigerator for approximately a couple of hours before serving, to allow them to make their own juices.

For Shortcake Pinwheels:
Stir together the dry ingredients: flour, sat, baking powder and sugar. Cut in shortening, until mixture forms small crumbs, like cornmeal.
Add in beaten egg and milk, and stir together gently till mixture forms into a dough.
Pat out dough into a 9″ square onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Spread dough with melted butter, and then sprinkle with 1/2 c. sugar and orange zest.
Roll up jelly-roll style into a log, and cut into 6 even pieces.
Bake at 375º, in a layer cake pan or pie pan, cut side up, for approximately 25 minutes.

For Whipped Cream:
Pour cream into bowl of an electric mixer. Add in 1 T. sugar and whip on high using whisk attachment until peaks form.
Spoon over shortcake pinwheel that has been topped with strawberries and plenty of juice.