Strawberry Shortcakes with Fresh Whipped Cream

I love fresh strawberries.  So, this year when my birthday came around on a Friday, I decided I wanted to go strawberry picking as part of my birthday weekend.  Matt and I headed to a local farm with one of my friends and her beautiful daughters and we had a great time riding the tractor to the field, picking strawberries and spending the day outside.  We came home with lots and lots of perfectly ripe and wonderful strawberries.  We froze most of them so we can enjoy them all summer long, but we also kept quite a bit out to enjoy during the week and so I could make one of my all-time favorite desserts: strawberry shortcake.

I followed Ina Garten's recipe for deconstructed strawberry shortcakes, only I assembled the shortcakes instead of leaving them "deconstructed".  The strawberries were perfectly sweet, the shortcakes came out wonderful, but I think what put this dessert over the top was the homemade whipped cream.  If you haven't had homemade whipped cream before, please do try it.  It is so simple to make and makes a huge difference-there really is no comparison between store bought whipped cream from a can and homemade.  I've never been a fan of Cool Whip so I've always bought the canned stuff, but honestly, now after trying this fresh homemade whipped cream, I probably won't be going back very often.

This was such a good dessert-I liked it so much that I might just need to make strawberry picking and strawberry shortcakes part of an annual birthday tradition for myself!

 Strawberry Shortcakes with Fresh Whipped Cream

2 cups all-purpose flour

Granulated sugar (2 tablespoons plus more for sprinkling on top of shortcakes)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup cold heavy cream

1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water (for egg wash)

2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier liqueur

Sweetened whipped cream, see recipe below

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream in a small bowl or measuring cup. With the mixer running on low, add to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. The dough should be sticky.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place onto a well-floured surface. Lightly coat a rolling pin with flour and roll the dough 1/2 to 5/8 inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Dip a 2-inch plain round cutter or top of a drinking glass in flour and cut 16 to 18 biscuits. Place on the prepared sheet pan, brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. Cool on the pan.

While the biscuits are baking, toss the strawberries with 1/3 cup of sugar and the Grand Marnier in a medium bowl. If time permits, allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator for at least half an hour to let the flavors really come together.

To serve, spoon some strawberry mixture onto one or two shortcake biscuits and top with sweetened whipped cream.

Sweetened Whipped Cream:

1 cup cold heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer), whip the cream. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until firm and stiff peaks form. Don't overbeat! If you do overbeat, add more cream.