Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Sometimes I think everything is just better in its old-fashioned form. Old-fashioned phones didn't cause car accidents or stunt teenagers' vocabulary to three-letter words. Old-fashioned clothes actually clothed people. (Ever been to Miami Beach?) And old-fashioned recipes weren't made of chemicals. They were made of food. Tasty, nutritious, real food.

So what exactly makes this recipe old-fashioned? The made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits that thankfully replace those sticky, preservative-packed, nuclear war-surviving Twinkie-like “shortcakes” you’ll find disgracing the mere existence of strawberries these days.

No prepackaged shortcuts here. For this dessert, you'll actually have to get your hands in some dough. Knead it. Form biscuits. Slice and smash strawberries... But in the end, every buttery, flaky, sweet berry-cream bite will be well worth the trouble.

You start by making the sauce, a perfect mingling of strawberries and sugar, fancied up with the flavors of orange juice and vanilla. A definite win with the taste buds.

While the strawberry mixture is chilling, you can make the old-fashioned biscuits. If those words paint horrid images of lard, shortening and three-pound bags of sugar, have no fear. This is a Cooking Light-inspired blog, after all, so this treat will give you old-fashioned flavor without an old-fashioned gut. 

Low fat buttermilk and just a tidbit of butter do the trick and make biscuits truly worthy of strawberries. (And sausage gravy if you make a double batch.)

Once the biscuits are baked, cooled and sliced, you can start assembling your homemade creation. You can get all fancy with artistic saucy drizzles and perfectly balanced berries, or just throw it all in a bowl, pass it to your husband's happy hands and call it a day.

A tip: if that middle biscuit layer (the crown) is too rounded to stack, just slice off the edge and you'll have a flat surface to keep building. And hey, a snack!

The end result? Fantastic. I actually had initial doubts about replacing angel food or pound cake with a biscuit. (I prefer my biscuits layered with egg, sausage and cheese.) But these had a wonderful crumbly crunch on the outside and a soft fluffiness on the inside. A perfect compliment to the sweet, flavorful sauce.

Now if only I'd made my own old-fashioned whipped cream instead of using Cool Whip’s whipped oil. (Did you know that? Ridiculous.) But that’s for another day and another post.

Overall, it was the perfect summer treat. And let me tell you, we definitely ate it the old-fashioned way…

...we didn't waste a crumb.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
Cooking Light, June 1998
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
3 1/2  cups  halved strawberries, divided
1/3  cup  sugar
1/3  cup  orange juice
2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
1  teaspoon  lemon juice
1 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
3  tablespoons  sugar
1  teaspoon  baking powder
1/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1/8  teaspoon  salt
3  tablespoons  chilled stick margarine or butter, cut into small pieces
1/2  cup  low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray
6  tablespoons  frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed
Whole strawberries (optional)

Preparation:
Combine 1 cup strawberry halves, 1/3 cup sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and lemon juice in a bowl, and mash with a potato masher. Stir in 2 1/2 cups strawberry halves. Cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; cut in margarine with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 4 times with floured hands. Pat dough into a 6 x 4-inch rectangle. Cut dough into 6 squares. Place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Split shortcakes in half horizontally using a serrated knife; place each bottom half on a dessert plate. Spoon 1/4 cup strawberry mixture over each bottom half. Top with shortcake tops; spoon 1/4 cup strawberry mixture over each top. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon whipped topping; garnish with whole strawberries, if desired.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 270 (24% from fat), Fat: 7.2g (sat 1.9g,mono 2.7g,poly 2.1g), Protein: 4.3g, Carbohydrate: 47.3g, Fiber: 3g, Cholesterol: 0.0mg, Iron: 1.7mg, Sodium: 183mg, Calcium: 93mg.

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