A Berry Treat

It's been hot lately. Like, seriously hot. The kind of hot where you're like OH MY GOSH I'M MELTING... oh wait, that's just the sweat dripping from my ENTIRE BODY. And oh, did I mention I'm just sitting here, not moving at all?!

Despite the heat, my mom decided to take the kids (my mom has three litte guys, ranging in age from 6 to 12) strawberry picking at a local farm in Connecticut. It was a welcome treat when I got to her house this weekend and she offered me some of the delicious berries. They were seriously the some of the sweetest strawberries I've ever had, and when she mentioned that they were already getting too ripe, I knew it was time to try out my newfound favorite dessert - strawberry shortcake!

I've never actually make shortcake on my own, so I scoured the web for a recipe that was semi-healthy (aka not made with shortening). I decided on this tasty recipe from Cooking Light, with some tiny changes. Instead of the turbinado sugar on the shortbread, I just used a sprinkle of regular sugar. I also only used a tiny bit of sugar on the strawberries - I think they taste delish on their own! Share Stories Tip: I'd suggest slicing the strawberries first, so you can mix in the sugar and lemon juice, and let the berries marinate in the frige while you prepare everything else. The longer they sit, the more syrupy and sweet tasting they get.

After your strawberries are chilling in the frige, mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter. You'll want to end up with a crumbly mixture:

After you add the buttermilk and shape the shortbread, place it into a well-greased cake pan. I thought this was the coolest part:

Bake! Hopefully, you're a more patient baker than me. I'm always sneaking a peek to see how the baking is coming along. Once these babies are cool, you're almost ready to assemble:

But, before you do that, you need whipped cream! Of course, you can always buy the store stuff, but another recipe change I decided on was making my own whipped cream. I'm not usually a huge fan of whipped cream, but when you make it at home it really is amazing. And, as I learned recently, SO easy. Check out the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 pint of heavy whipping cream (organic if you can get it)
• 3 to 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar... If you like it sweeter, go for more sugar. Just be sure to add the sugar in slowly and taste as you add. Remember: you can always add more, but once you've added too much, you can't go back!
• That's it! Crazy, right? If you happen to like other flavors, go ahead and add them. Vanilla extract and lemon zest work well. You can also add some rose water, a little tip Todd and I picked up during a recent cooking class.

Instructions

• Whip, whip and whip some more! You'll definitely want to use a hand or stand mixer for this on high speed. When you start to see the stiff peaks, it's ready.

Voila - strawberry shortcake!

-Amanda