Here in Victoria, the start of June heralds the start of strawberry season. The local berries smell and taste absolutely wonderful. I picked up a pint of these delicious berries yesterday with the intention of making this easy strawberry shortcake for dessert. Unfortunately, it was too hot to even consider baking, so I waited until about ten at night to make the shortcake, so that the kitchen would have all night to cool off. We had it for dessert tonight, and the delay simply seemed to make it all the sweeter.
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup milk
Preheat oven to 425F. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and cut the butter in with a pastry blender or two knives. When it resembles coarse cornmeal, add the lightly beaten egg and the milk. Stir with a fork until it all comes together, then knead for a minute or so. This is basically the same as a scone, and can either be baked in an 8″ cake pan, or you could cut it into rounds, and bake it for 15-20 minutes. ( I put it in a cake pan sprayed with cooking spray and baked it for about 18 minutes.) When cool, split in half and serve with sliced strawberries and whipped cream or you can keep the points down by serving with ultra-low fat Cool Whip. (I sliced the strawberries ahead of time, and sprinkled a small amount of sugar on them to make them juicier…not that these need much help as they are so sweet and juicy to start with. Other strawberries might need a few tablespoons of sugar…)
This makes 8 servings at 5 points each. The strawberries have no points, and the whipped cream or cool whip determine the rest.