When I was in the USA as exchange student ages ago, I fell in love with Strawberry Shortcake. There was a great restaurant in Springfield MO, where to my family went always for Sunday lunch. They served this wonderful pie which was so crispy but filled with this ooey-gooey strawberry mixture and topped with whipped cream. Oh boy! I am still drooling while thinking of it!

This is my version of the Classical and very simple dessert. My motto is: Keep it simple! Don’t be afraid of trying a different kind of variations with the fruits or berries. My favorite is the strawberries because they are right now in season in Austria. If you do not like to use alcohol just leave it away, it is not necessary, but gives a lovely extra flavor for the strawberries. A small trick that I learned from my Dad.

So here you go, lovely and easy summer recipe with strawberries!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kg strawberries, hulled
• 90 g sugar
• 1 dl poppy seeds
• Grated peel of two lemons
• 270 g all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the work surface and biscuit cutter)
• 75 g sugar
• 15 g baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 120g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1,2 dl whole milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 5 dl whipped cream
• 50 g good quality vanilla sugar

DIRECTIONS:
FOR THE FRUIT:
Place 0,5 kg of the hulled strawberries in a large bowl and crush with a potato masher. Slice the remaining 500g berries and stir into the crushed berries along with the vanilla sugar and Licor 43. Set the fruit aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

FOR THE SHORTCAKES:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 220 c.
2. In a food processor, pulse the flour, 40 g of the sugar, the baking powder,poppy seeds,grated lemon peel and salt to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl.
3. Mix the beaten egg with the whole milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Combine with a rubber spatula until large lumps form. Turn the mixture onto a floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.
4. Place the dough wrapped in plastic wrap into to the fridge and refrigerate at least two hours.
5. Use your fingertips to pat the dough into a rectangle about 0,5cm thick, being careful not to overwork the dough. First cut out 6 dough rounds, then use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut the tops. Place the rounds and stars on a small baking sheet, brush the tops with the beaten egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake until the shortcakes are golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool the cakes until warm, about 10 minutes. Keep checking your shortcakes! My  oven is baking unevenly and I managed to burn the first patch 😁

TO ASSEMBLE:
When the shortcakes have cooled slightly, place each cake bottom on an individual serving plate, and spoon a portion of the fruit and then a dollop of whipped cream over each cake bottom. Cap with the cake top and serve immediately.