Simple Strawberry Shortcake & Southeast Virginia

Sweet, fragrant and ruby red! Nothing screams the start of summer like seeing fresh strawberries on prominent display in local grocery stores.

Seeing these bountiful beauties carefully packed in their plastic containers instantly packs me to the strawberry fields in Pungo, Virginia!

In the southern part of Virginia Beach, in Virginia’s Tidewater region, lies Pungo. A predominantly farming community, Pungo features many pick-your-own farms featuring produce like blueberries, pumpkins, figs, and our favorite–strawberries! If you haven’t ever picked your own strawberries, it’s a bucket list item you can really use a bucket for!

There’s nothing like a the smell of ripe strawberries lingering in the air on a warm Spring afternoon. What’s even better is watching the sheer bliss of a young child pick and taste their first picked fruit. Their red-stained face is the best! As you can imagine, Son A and Son B grew up stuffing their faces with syrupy sweet berries, lingering up and down endless rows of strawberry plants. Over the years, we have probably eaten equal weights of freshly-picked in the field vs. taken-home red beauties.

What’s one to do with all of these succulent strawberries? There’s the obvious eat-’em-fresh, freeze for later use, dry to delicate deliciousness, jar into jammy goodness, or simply serve over shortcake!

This Simple Strawberry Shortcake is just that…simple! Rather than using shrink-wrapped sponge cakes with an unknown packaging date, this shortcake features fresh, flaky baking powder biscuits. The recipe can be found on my Bodacious Baking Powder Biscuits post. Straightforward with sliced strawberries, whipped cream and biscuit layers, my version is, well…simple!

A key to this recipe is putting the strawberries to work by creating their own sweet syrup. Termed macerating, fruits like strawberries are sliced or chopped, stirred together with sugar, and allowed to mingle. After about 20 minutes…Shazam! Fresh fruit in a natural syrup perfect for soaking into biscuit layers!

I prefer my strawberries to be half sliced and half chopped in this shortcake recipe. But any way you slice yours, I hope you enjoy!

Simple Strawberry Shortcake

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Simply perfect for a summer cook-out and equally impressive, this strawberry shortcake features flaky baking powder biscuits layered with fresh sweet berries and pillowy whipped cream!

• Author: Erin Thomas
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 30-40 minutes
• Yield: 6–8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For Biscuits:

1 recipe Bodacious Baking Powder Biscuits

For Macerated Strawberries:

16 ounces fresh strawberries (about 3 cups sliced and chopped)

1–4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar*

For Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold

1 tbsp. powdered sugar

Instructions

Prepare the recipe for Bodacious Baking Powder Biscuits.

As the biscuits are baking, prepare the Macerated Strawberries by combining the sliced/chopped strawberries with granulated sugar.  Adjust the amount of sugar you use based on the sweetness of the strawberries.  Set aside for about 20 minutes.

Using a hand-held or stand mixer,  prepare the Whipped Cream by beating heavy whipping cream together with powdered sugar.  Beat until the cream mixture holds its shape on the end the beater.  Be careful to not over-whip cream, as it can quickly turn into butter-like consistency.

When biscuits have cooled, split in half and layer with strawberry mixture and whipped cream. Enjoy!

Notes

*Taste your strawberries for natural sweetness before you sugar them.  A general rule of thumb for macerating fruit is 1/4 cup granulated sugar to 1-1/2 cup sliced or chopped fruit.

Feel free to experiment with different fruit types and combinations.  In place of heavy whipping cream, store-bought whipped toppings and puddings can also be used.