Strawberry Shortcake

Six years ago I made a strawberry cake. White cake, sliced strawberries in the middle, and cool whip frosting flavored with French vanilla jello mix. I didn’t have any one tall dark and handsome to share it with. A little sad right? I wasn’t. I was happy and content by myself. Which is a good place to be. I cannot stress enough how important it is to date yourself! Seriously. Take the time to get to know yourself before you expect someone else to. Ok off my soap box. Where was I? Oh. So a week later. Mr. Tall dark and handsome walked into a graduation party neither of us planned on going to (sorry John and Kerigan!). I can still remember seeing him for the first time. *insert swoon here* I was chasing my two year old nephew at the time. That should’ve been a clue to how our life together would go. Chasing kids and checking each other out when the kids are not paying attention.

Peep baby Haley and Matt’s first picture together circa July 2014

I’ve come a long way from using store bought cool whip in my mama’s kitchen. So to celebrate 6 years together I surprised Matt with strawberry shortcake from scratch using my Mamow’s shortcake “biscuit” recipe:

2 Cups of flour (I used self-rising)

2 Tablespoons of sugar

1/2 Cup of butter or margarine (I used unsalted Land O Lakes butter)

1 Beaten Egg

2/3 Cup cream (I just used half and half)

Combine the flour and sugar and “cut in” the butter until it looks like little peas. Y’all. I would have loved to have had a pastry cutter at this point instead of using two butter knives. So.. I used Matt’s Great Grandmother’s biscuit cutter. Had I known when I started mixing I was going to post this, I would’ve used a different bowl because orange just isn’t my color.

Next, I beat an egg and added it and the cream to the flour mixture until it was all moistened. Mamow’s recipe called for making one larger cake therefore, using two smaller cake pans. I, personally, like dropping the “cakes” out in a more rustic kind of way.

I just love the texture these have. I placed them in the over at 450 for about 12 minutes.

While these were baking, I put my metal KitchenAid mixer bowl in the fridge so it would be cold for the whipped cream. I don’t know that it makes a difference but I felt fancy adding that extra step haha.

In the meantime, I cored and sliced my strawberries. I used a carton of berries and then added about a 1/4 cup of sugar and placed them back in the fridge.

Now for my favorite part. If you’ve ever ordered a milkshake with me you know I get it without whipped cream so by me saying this is my favorite. It’s a big deal. There is no reason to ever buy cool whip again. I always have whipping cream in the fridge because I cook with it a lot. So you take one pint of whipping cream, 1/4 cup of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla. That’s it. If you’re feeling fancy, like I was, put it in a chilled metal bowl. I start out with my mixer on low and then ratchet up the speed to about 8 until It’s the consistency I want. It’s Heaven. Like I’m pretty sure the clouds in Heaven are made of this

Once the biscuits were golden I took them out of the oven and placed them on a cooling rack. (Shout out to my mother-in-law for letting me keep this one) we like our bread around here. So I like for it to be slightly crumbly and crispy on the outside and tender in the middle.

Once Matt got home and we had dinner it was time for dessert. It was a very sweet way to celebrate these past six years together.