Simple strawberry shortcakes

I've never been the person to order a fruit dessert if given a choice.  Growing up, when my friends ordered strawberry ice cream or milk shakes, I was always the one asking for chocolate.  The only thing I liked about those strawberry or fruity desserts was the color.  I'm a creature of habit and, unfortunately, not a very adventurous eater.  Luckily, I've branched out a little in recent years.  Though fruity desserts may still not be my first choice (though I do love lemon tarts), I've come to appreciate them like I never have before.

Can I tell you something?  A couple of years ago, I noticed that my mid-section (and other places) had expanded when I wasn't paying attention.  I'd never been concerned about my weight before then, just assuming my metabolism would straighten things out.  Blame it on getting older but I had to do something about it and trim down a bit.  Ironically, that was near the time I started this blog but, luckily, moderation seems to work.  Now, I don't want to get bogged down talking about weight or "diets".  What I did want to get at was the good thing that came about from paying attention to my weight and scaling back: I learned to eat (to love to eat) a lot healthier.  I enjoy fruits and vegetables like I never did before.  In trying new things and becoming more educated, I discovered that I actually like many of the healthier stuff, like whole grains, that we hear so much about.  Plus, I learned to cook more.  Of course, I still love treats and chocolate in particular, and I fully embrace it, but I have also discovered the pleasure of a plain strawberry or blueberry.

That said, I'm going to segue into dessert because while plain, in-season strawberries might be great all by themselves, sometimes you want to turn it into a special dessert (otherwise, there'd be no blog...)!  The occasion could well be Mother's Day.  A bright, colorful dessert always seems appropriate.

Now, remember those lighter and easier buttermilk biscuits I raved about?  The ones where you don't need any equipment or to roll anything out.  The last time I made them, I stowed a few away in the freezer.  I picked up some gorgeous organic strawberries from the market and made old-fashioned strawberry shortcakes.  If you go ahead and make the biscuits ahead of time, putting these shortcakes together is pretty simple.  Just bake the frozen biscuits straight from the freezer, adding a couple extra minutes to the bake time.  While the biscuits cool, macerate your strawberries with a little bit of sugar.

A dollop of whipped cream comes next.  I lightly whipped the cream with a just a bit of sugar and a touch of pure vanilla extract.

The result is a great combination of flavors and textures.  Believe it or not, the old me wouldn't have even tried it; the new me loved it!  The berries seem to bring out the buttery flavor of the biscuit.  The crunchy edges of the biscuits contrasted with the silky whipped cream.  The strawberries are just sweet enough and add a lightness to it all.  I am a fan! 

My husband has always been a fan of strawberries and shortcakes (he loves getting waffles with strawberries at the diner), and I'm happy to say he adored the ones I made here.  I just have to figure out how to get my 7-year old on board.  I think he might have inherited some of his mom's tendencies when it comes to eating (i.e., he would like to exist on a dark chocolate diet).  It makes me laugh when I think back to his first birthday when I made a strawberry shortcake - not with biscuits, the cake kind with sliced strawberries in the center and whipped cream icing.  I think I read somewhere that strawberry cakes were proper for a first birthday.  It was not a very pretty-looking cake and I don't think I took more than a bite.  Needless to say, my son wouldn't pick that now for his birthday cake but I have hopes that he'll become more adventurous in time.  For my part, I know I would take more interest in that cake now than I did then.

I think I've rambled on enough for today.  Let me just wish all you loving and well-meaning moms, future-moms, and lovely people a very Happy Mother's Day this coming weekend!

Lighter, easier buttermilk drop biscuits

If you like biscuits, I have a little discovery to share with you.  This is an incredibly easy recipe for buttermilk drop biscuits.  They can be whipped up in about 20 minutes - no need to cut butter, roll out dough, or haul out any machinery.  As an added bonus, they are also lighter - a little bit better for you -than the average biscuits!

In the words of my 7-year old: "these biscuits are so good!"

This recipe really caught my attention though I was a tad skeptical at first because it sounded maybe a little too good to be true.  Lighter, easy and quick-to-make buttermilk biscuits...and they taste good?  Luckily, it really turned out to be all those things!

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine.  I automatically thought about giving them a try for one of our leisurely weekend breakfasts.  We love our pancakes and dutch babies on any given Sunday but I'm always on the lookout for something new to cook up for my family.  These biscuits were a snap to get on the table.  I was able to make them fresh and serve them warm, alongside some scrambled eggs and turkey bacon for an early Sunday breakfast this past weekend.

The easy part of this recipe  was what really lured me in.  The process literally requires simply stirring everything together and dropping the batter onto the baking sheet with a spoon.  There is no butter to cut or roll pin to contend with!  The secret is to stir melted butter into cold buttermilk.   You know how warm, just melted butter will get rather unattractive and clumpy when it hits cold liquid?  That's precisely what you want to happen here.  Those clumps of butter will help create a fluffy, moist buttermilk biscuit!  It's kind of like pancake batter.

And these biscuits are lighter, and a little better for you, by having less butter (just 4 tablespoons for a dozen biscuits) and just a bit of canola oil in them.  And rather than purely all-purpose flour, these have some white whole-wheat flour in them, and you could even use fat-free buttermilk (I used the typical low-fat kind).

These biscuits are fluffy and tender.  I love the bit of whole wheat nuttiness you get from white whole-wheat flour.  I'm not necessarily always looking to cut fat or "go light" if it means sacrificing flavor but I don't usually want a super heavy biscuit that leaves my fingers completely greasy and feels like a meal unto itself.  Plus, I think a lighter biscuit makes a lot of sense given all the stuff we're likely to put on or have with them - whether it be butter, honey, jam, or bacon and eggs as in my case here.

These biscuits are good all by themselves and doesn't even need all those accompaniments.  The little guy's reaction was "mmm..." at first bite and my husband and I were impressed by how good they tasted!  This is a great way to use up buttermilk and I plan to make this recipe a part of my regular repertoire.  In fact, it has not only shown up at breakfast but also been a part of dinner this week!  I'm really glad I clipped the recipe out of the magazine and gave it a try.  It's turned out to be a great little discovery (I'm not often this enthusiastic about a non-chocolate recipe)!