Sweet strawberries

It is strawberry season here in California and I have died and gone to heaven. I absolutely love in-season strawberries. You know, the kind that are red the whole way through. They are tender, juicy, and have barely any white flesh. They melt in your mouth. Any they definitely do not need any additional sugar. They are sweet enough on their own.

Strawberries remind me of the summers' of my youth when school had just let out and softball season was nearly over. My brother and I used to beg my mom to buy strawberries at the local farmer's market and somehow, on the car ride now, half the quart would disappear. With the rest of the berries, I would beg my mom to make strawberry shortcakes. If the weather wasn't unbearably hot, she would turn on the oven and make shortcakes for dessert. She used a simple Bisquick recipe to make the shortcakes. Somehow my mom would pull them right out of the oven just in time for dessert. Then she would send me to the kitchen to prepare the dishes.

When assembling shortcakes, I use a fork to gently split open the cakes in halves. Then I scoop vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt onto the bottom half, stack the top half on the ice cream (or yogurt) and place a generous portion of sliced strawberries on top of it all. It is best to serve this dish in a bowl. The warm shortcakes contrasted with the cold ice cream make for a wonderful taste sensation.

I leave tomorrow for my trip and when I return it will no longer be strawberry season. I figured it was my last chance for my annual strawberry shortcake indulgence. So I whipped up some dessert for our dinner this evening. It was divine! I had to scour the internet for the Bisquick recipe that my mom used. Sadly, it is not longer on their box. I then altered the recipe a bit for my liking, which is below:

Strawberry Shortcakes

2 1/3 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp melted butter
Sliced strawberries
Vanilla yogurt or ice cream


1. Preheat over to 425 degrees
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk, sugar and butter until a soft dough forms. Drop six, equal spoonfuls of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Spilt warm shortcakes; fill the center with ice cream or yogurt, replace top and generous top the shortcakes with the sliced strawberries. This time of year there is no need to sweeten the berries.

For all you East Coasters, strawberry season has just kicked in and you can enjoy strawberries with or without shortcake all month!