This Sweet Melissa Sunday treat was picked by Wendy at Pink Stripes , who has an amazing blog and is always cooking up and baking the most delicious looking food! You can visit her site for this recipe, or find it on page 130 of Melissa Murphy's The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I was instantly excited at this pick because strawberry shortcakes are the most served dessert -- or anytime treat -- at our home. My extra picky husband, who is usually not a dessert person, absolutely loves strawberry shortcakes, and I've been perfecting a recipe for it for the past six years. I wondered how Melissa's recipe would compare, and in short, we were not disappointed!
The biscuit dough for the shortcakes is almost exactly like our family recipe, I was really surprised! The main difference is that the Sweet Melissa recipe uses cream and our usual recipe uses buttermilk. The only other difference is the addition of lemon zest to this recipe, which we all enjoyed! I usually add a splash of vanilla to our shortcake biscuit dough, and lemon was a nice fresh hint of flavor.
Before and after baking...
Before and after baking close-up...
As for the strawberries, both recipes start out the same, but instead of just macerating with the sugar, I cook my strawberries and sugar (nothing else added) for a few minutes (I'd say 5 over medium heat, stirring constantly), just to give break them down a touch and make a little extra sauce, then I add some extra fresh sliced berries to the cooked sauce.
What was the verdict? My husband, Mr. Picky, loved these but missed the saucier strawberries, he loved the lemon in the shortcakes and the kids (who had no idea this wasn't our usual recipe) and I loved these strawberry shortcakes as well. I would make these biscuits again for sure, especially if I have some extra cream that I don't know what to do with, and just make the strawberries a little saucier. What a completely delicious Sweet Melissa Sunday treat :)
