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Strawberry shortcake a little slice of heaven

By Dave Ross

April is one of my favorite times of the year in Arizona. The weather is normally warm days and cool nights. It is the time when we start using our patio in earnest.

We usually invite friends in for cocktails or supper prepared on the grill. For me, any celebration of spring would not be complete without fresh strawberries. Fresh fruit, picked at the peak of ripeness, is the perfect finale for any meal.

I remember being a teenager in Minneapolis and visiting one of my friends. It was early in July and his mom and dad had just returned from the produce market with several bushels of fresh ripe peaches to can.

After we carried the baskets into the kitchen, we all took a peach and began to enjoy it. That is, except my friend’s dad.

He looked through all of the baskets until he found the perfect peach. After rinsing it, he took a big bite and said that, for him, heaven would be the first bite of a ripe peach.

Being a typical teenager, I said I thought floating through all eternity doing nothing but eating a peach would be boring.

“That’s the beauty of it,” said my friend’s dad. “In heaven, every bite would always be the first bite.”

I don’t think I appreciated his remark until many years later. Isn’t it funny how some things just stick in your memory until you are ready to understand them?

For me, fresh ripe strawberries have the same appeal as my friend’s dad’s peach. This recipe will provide the perfect dessert for your springtime supper.

Fresh strawberry sour-cream shortcake

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

Granulated sugar

1 three ounce package cream cheese

Butter

1 egg beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 quart fresh strawberries

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 cup sugar. Cut in the cream cheese and two tablespoons cold butter. The mixture should resemble a course cornmeal.

Beat the egg in a measuring cup and add enough milk to equal 3/4 cup. Slowly stir the milk into the flour to form soft dough. Knead for about a minute.

Divide the dough in two. Pat half into a well-buttered eight-inch round cake pan and brush with melted butter. Pat the remaining half of dough over the top.

Bake for twenty minutes or until done.

While the cake is cooling, wash, hull and slice the strawberries. Add 1/2 cup sugar and let stand for 10 minutes.

When the cake has cooled, remove from the pan and divide in half.

Place the shortcake half on a large plate and cover with half of the berries. Place the second shortcake half on top and cover with the remaining fruit.

Top with the sour cream sweetened to taste and garnish with a few whole berries.

This recipe serves six to eight people.

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