Light and Flaky, Buttermilk Strawberry Shortcake

You know you can have a delightful, sinfully delightful treat when the snow is piled up outside with strawberries, shortcake, and ice cream. Yes, ice cream in winter.

No fresh berries and frozen ones at the store are too costly??

Try this...whip up a batch of the shortcake and top with a little strawberry jelly or jam that has been heated so that it is runny and gooey.

Top with a dollop of your favorite ice cream or even whipped cream....yes, it would work.

From the time I was big enough to waddle out to the strawberry patch, I was out there, picking berries.Most of the time, I ate more of them than ever went into the berry picking baskets.

We had about 2 acres of berries so keeping them picked took all of us. As the berries were picked, my Mother was kept busy in the evenings preparing them in many ways so they would not go to waste. Again we were all called into action, helping as much as we could.

Mother would freeze some of those glorious berries so in the winter when snow was on the ground, for an extra special treat, we could have strawberry shortcake.

Out of those same juicy berries so very fragrant that they filled the house with their aroma, Mother made jam and jelly that we stored in our cool room at the eastern side of our home.

As you might guess, there was no shortage of strawberry shortcake each summer as the berries ripened and begged to be eaten. This light and flaky buttermilk strawberry shortcake is just what you need to make an evening spectacular.

The recipe I shared here is as close to my Momma's recipe for shortcake as I could get. I watched her make it for so many years. During all of that time, I never wrote down the recipe. You know, I always intended to but the years slipped away and it just did not get done.

• Try to handle the dough only as much as necessary.
• I even recommend patting it out into the rectangle rather than rolling it.
• Another little trick I learned by watching was to fold the dough over into thirds, pat it down and out into a rectangle.This results in a flakier lighter shortcake.
• Then repeat.
• Finally pat out to about a six by eight rectangle.
• Cut out with a cookie cutter.

The reason the juice magically appears when sugar is added is fascinating. When there is more water on the inside of the strawberry than there is on the outside, the moisture flows out of the berry until there is equal water on both sides. I understand that salt can have the same effect but have never tried it.

This is actually osmosis which is "the tendency of a fluid, usually water to pass through a semipermeable membrane solution where the solvent concentration is higher, thus equalizing the concentrations of materials on either side of the membrane." (Dictionary.com)

After the berries have been quartered and placed into the bowl, add sugar.which will cause juice to form if allowed to sit for a bit. If you notice in the photos you do not see the juice on the short cake. The reason you do not is that I did not use sugar.

The reason I did not use sugar is that these berries this year are so naturally sweet that no sugar was necessary.

However, if you want juicy shortcake, be sure to use that sugar.

Strawberry short cake is not just for summer. Bring a bit of the warmth of summer to home today.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01604.htm