Summertime means fruit desserts. And summertime fruit desserts are the only thing for which I will make an exception to my chocolate-required-for-it-to-count-as-dessert way of life.

Amid the plethora of berry cobblers, stone fruit crisps, and cherry pies (all of which I love and would gladly eat as breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner) stands the humble strawberry shortcake: The simplest dessert to ever taste so good.

Do you ever forget how much you like a food until you start eating it? That’s exactly how I feel about strawberry shortcake. Before I take my first bite – every time – I think to myself, this is a lame dessert. And then I taste that sweet, syrupy strawberry with the fluffy biscuit and whipped cream and all my doubts disappear. I’m pretty sure my very next thought is, must get more.

While I’m not usually an advocate for adding sugar to fruit because, um, fruit is already sweet, I always do it for my strawberry shortcake strawberries! It doesn’t take much, but letting your cut-up berries sit with some sugar mixed in transforms them into the juiciest strawberry flavor bombs AND gives you a delicious strawberry syrup which will soak into your shortcake and be ah-mazing.

I make biscuits instead of shortcake (gasp!). I love the buttery flakiness of homemade biscuits, and I find leftover biscuits to be easier to use up than leftover shortcake. Since they’re not super sweet, you can eat them with pretty much whatever you’re having for dinner, or make delicious breakfast sandwiches out of them the next morning.

Happy summertime, everyone! I hope you eat strawberry shortcake to your heart’s content this season.

Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Biscuits

• Servings: 6
• Time: 45 minutes
• Print

A simple summertime classic made with buttery, flaky biscuits.

Ingredients

For the strawberries:

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 tablespoon sugar

For the biscuits:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, chopped
• 1 cup whole milk

Serve with whipped cream.

Directions

1. Stir together strawberries and sugar in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10-12 more times, until the butter is roughly the size of peas. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add the milk. Stir just until the mixture comes together to form a rough ball. Place the dough onto a well-floured surface. Press dough out into a rectangle that’s roughly 1″ thick, flouring as necessary to keep from sticking to your hands. Fold the rectangle in half, and press out again. Repeat once more. Cut into 2″ squares and place on a baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
4. To assemble strawberry shortcakes, place a biscuit in a dish, spoon over strawberries with any juices, and top with whipped cream to taste. Serve immediately.

Biscuits adapted from New York Times