SMS: Strawberry Shortcake

I’ll get to shortcake in a moment, but is anyone else excited about the movie “Julie and Julia?” I think it looks like a charming summer movie. The movie is merging Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia with Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France. Although I read Julie’s book, I think it reads better as a blog, and you can find the Julie/Julia project here. As far as I know, Julie Powell was the first to “cook a book” and blog about it. Her book inspired me to buy a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which, sadly, I rarely use for fear of too much butter. My Life in France is a good read too, in regard to both cooking and the process of publishing a cookbook.



Okay, so on to Strawberry Shortcake, this week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday selection. You really can’t improve upon the combination of strawberries and whipped cream, so the component that made this recipe a winner was the shortcake. I had never made shortcake before, and when I have been served “strawberry shortcake,” it has more commonly been with a pound cake. I was pleased that this recipe produced a tender, sweet biscuit, with a nice sturdy crumb to hold the macerated berries and whipped cream. And not only is the shortcake delicious, it is amazingly quick and simple to put together. I made it on Friday night when I had a couple of other kitchen projects going, which isn’t always a great idea (not that it stops me), but this was a trouble-free and worthwhile endeavor.



Many thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for choosing such a great seasonal recipe. You can find the recipe on her site, not to mention loads of other great treats. Seriously, she makes impressive things like croissants and morning buns (which I have been trying to get up the nerve to attempt for weeks) and everything is always exquisitely presented. And if you would like to see what the other members of Sweet Melissa Sundays thought of these, you can via the SMS blogroll.