Strawberry Shortcake

Oh this is so delicious!  Fresh strawberries, fresh whipped cream and homemade buttermilk shortcakes.  Summer on a plate.  You will not ever need a boxed shortcake mix ever again.  I adapted this recipe from America's test kitchen.  I like to use buttermilk in a lot of my baking.  It definitely worked in this recipe.  It makes A LOT of dessert, so make sure you've got a crowd of hungry eaters.  These are individual desserts as opposed to one giant shortcake.  I like to pass these out to the neighbors if we have leftovers as the shortcakes do not keep.  These are GREAT after a Summer BBQ, when we're in the backyard sipping champagne, and the sun stays out late.  Happy homemade cooking!

Strawberry Shortcake

2 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled (about 8 cups)
6 Tablespoons white sugar

Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
5 Tablespoons white sugar (divided use)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces, and chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg plus 1 egg white

Fresh Whipped Cream

Prepare fruit: Crush 3 cups strawberries with potato masher in bowl.  Slice remaining berries and stir into crushed berries with sugar.  Let sit at room temperature until sugar has dissolved and berries are juicy, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

Prepare biscuits:  Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and adjust oven rack to lower-middle position.  Prepare an unrimmed baking sheet, by lining it with parchment paper.  In a food processor pulse flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt.  Scatter butter pieces over top of and process until mixture resembles coarse corn-meal.  Transfer to a large bowl.

In a separate bowl mix buttermilk and egg until well combined.  Pour over flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to gently fold buttermilk into flour.  When the mixture starts to come together, lightly flour your hand, and gently knead the biscuit dough, in the bowl into a nice ball.  Turn ball out onto lightly floured surfaceand shape into a 9 by 6 inch rectangle about 1 inch thick.  Cut out 6 biscuits using a floured 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter.  Pat remaining dough into 1 inch thick pieces and cut out 2 more biscuits.  Place cut out biscuits onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

In a small bowl whisk together egg white with a bit of water, brush tops of raw biscuits with egg white mixture and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of white sugar.  Bake biscuits until golden brown, about 12-14 minutes, rotating sheet about 1/2 way through baking.  Let biscuits cool for at least ten minutes (can be stored at room room temperature for up to 1 day)

Prepare fresh whipped cream.  Split each biscuit in half, and place bottoms on individual serving plates.  Generously scoop strawberries onto bottom half of biscuit, add a generous scoop of whipped cream, and then top with other half of biscuit.  Are you drooling yet?  Serve right away.

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