my favorite buttermilk strawberry shortcakes

whenever strawberry season rolls around, i always look forward to taking the not so pretty or bruised berries from the bunch to toss them in some sugar and throw them atop a sweet creamy cloud of whipped cream accompanied with a buttery, crunchy on the outside, and luxuriously airy on the inside shortcake/biscuit. woo, that’s a lot of adjectives, but i really am passionate when it comes to this buttermilk strawberry shortcake recipe.

if you’ve ever lived in berkeley or oakland, ca, you might have heard of bakesale betty and their divine fried chicken sandwiches, strawberry shortcakes, and other baked goods. back in college, it would be such a treat when the upperclassmen (with their cars) offered to drive us car-less underclassmen down telegraph avenue to get bakesale betty. we’d stand in line whilst hoping that they wouldn’t run out of sandwiches by the time we reached the counter, order our food, and carve out a spot for ourselves to enjoy all the goodness on cramped ironing board tables set out on the sidewalk. good times. i actually just checked my brother’s instagram stories and almost a decade later, college students are still enjoying bakesale betty the same way that my friends and i did back in the day :’)

ever since moving away from the bay area, i knew that i needed to get betty’s recipe down just in case i had extra strawberries laying around - which is exactly what happened after we went strawberry picking with hudson and baby sia. i ended up making these bad boys as a part of a bakesale betty themed dinner for an early mother’s day celebration while i was out in la last week, and kathy aka mom loved every bit of the improvised fried chicken sandwiches (~recipe coming soon~) and buttermilk shortcakes. i’m a bit saddened by the thought that we won’t be celebrating together on the actual day, but i tried to shower mama with as much love before taking off.

i hope you’re out there in the world enjoying strawberry season and maybe even thinking of whipping this together to show your mama some love in the form of buttermilk shortcake. here are also some other ideas from the blog that you can explore too <3

• dark chocolate cherry olive oil cake

• baby carrot zucchini flower cakes

• banana black sesame mochi scones

xo, christine

buttermilk strawberry shortcakes

(inspired by bakesale betty)

ingredients

shortcake/biscuit

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

• 6 oz cold cubed unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk

to brush atop

• 3 tbs buttermilk

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

macerated strawberries

• 2 cups sliced strawberries

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

whipped cream

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

notes

shortcake/biscuit

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. in a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and give a good mix. toss in cold cubed butter into dry ingredients and begin mashing with hands until butter breaks down into little pea sized bits

3. slowly pour in buttermilk in 1/3 increments and massage into dry-butter mixture with your hands until you can form a ball.

4. on a floured surface, flatten ball into a disk that’s about 1 1/4 inches high. using a cup or a ring or however large you wish you want your shortcakes to be, cut out your shortcakes. use the leftover dough to form a new disk to pop out a few more of those babies.

5. place shortcakes on a baking sheet and brush buttermilk atop

6. take 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl and dip the top surface of each shortcake to coat with a thin layer of sugar. when placing back on baking sheet, be sure to leave about 1 1/2 inch between each shortcake.

7. bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the top surface becomes a light golden color.

macerated strawberries

1. while shortcakes are baking, coat sliced strawberries in sugar in a medium bowl and set out to rest for at least 20 minutes

whipped cream

1. i guess you can use your hands and a whisk, but an electric mixer with the whisk attachment is really the way to go. whisk heavy whipping cream and sugar for 3-4 minutes on the medium-high speed until you get stiff peaks.

assembly

1. haha there are no rules here! but please do make sure you have a good even bite of shortcake, whipped cream, and strawberries in your mouth all at once. it’s delightful isn’t it?