Of Strawberry Shortcakes

I have always loved looking at strawberry shortcakes. There's something that's simply beautiful about smooth cream and bright red strawberries sandwiched between two slices of shortcake. The problem was that I never seem to have all the ingredients for it together. I'd have cream but no strawberries, strawberries and no flour, flour and no butter etc. And when I do have them, I always seem need them for something else.

Yesterday, my dad bought strawberries and to my surprise, he had some cream that he used for scalloped potatoes. Grabbing the chance, I baked strawberry shortcakes. 

I used the recipe for cream scones for the shortcakes. (See my post on scones) Then I placed some strawberries in a bowl (around a cup, maybe more if you love them) and added two tablespoons of sugar. Let them stand for at least an hour until the strawberries have soften and the sweet scarlet juices have oozed out. I placed another bowl and the beaters of my hand-held mixer in the freezer for a few minutes. After the bowl and the beaters had cooled, I placed some cream and a few drops of vanilla in the bowl. I beat the cream mixture until it formed soft peaks.

To assemble, I cut the scones into halves and place a dollop of cream on one side and spooned strawberries on top of the cream. I had more strawberries around each shortcake. And then...YUMMY!