Strawberry Shortcake

At 450, the bottoms started burning well before the insides of the biscuits were cooked. We lowered to baking temperature to 375, and things turned out well. So I'd suggest adjusting the baking temperature in this recipe.

Such fun to see a recipe I published more than 30 years ago spring back to life again--the beauty of the NYT recipe collection. I see the point some made, that the recipe makes far more than 4 servings but back home in Maine at this time of year when our native berries are at their luscious peak, strawberry shortcake is often served on its own as a substantial supper, what we call in Italy a piatto unico, nothing else. In that case, it's just about right for 4 people, with healthy seconds.

This is a great shortcake recipe. I questioned it while I was making it, but it works! I used the food processor to cut in the butter because it was too cold, then switched to fingers to finish blending it in. When I added the cream, I thought it was never going to come together, but that minute's worth of kneading did the trick. I have other recipes for biscuits, but this is what I'll be using from now on. Crisp, short and delicious.

Super recipe!! I used the food processor from start to finish,did not knead the dough,rolled it out and proceeded with the instructions. Found that when the dough was resting between batches,made about a dozen,doubled biscuits,it rose better than the first batch. So maybe next time I will let the dough sit for a few minutes before using the 3 inch biscuit cutter. Delicious!

FYI In the NY Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne, copyright 1961, it calls for adding a bit of sour cream to the whipped cream. It is a fantastic addition. The sour cream puts a bit of weight to the cream making it richer. Also, I suggest putting some of the whipped cream inside the "sandwich" and more on the top.

penultimate means second to last

I don't mean to sound like the language police, but "penultimate" means 'next-to-last', implying that some other recipe is yet better. To mean 'the best ever' use "ultimate".

I always use brown sugar to macerate strawberries. Deepens the berry flavor and the resulting juice is more intense. Reduce measure by half.

Rather than rolling out the dough after kneading and using a biscuit cutter, I rolled the dough into a log, and then cut the dough in 1" slices. I baked them for 15 min without the butter on top. They were delicious! And way more than 4 servings, more like 12 with everyone getting a single slice of shortbread (which was very rich so more than enough!)

This is the penultimate strawberry shortcake recipe. Just sweet enough without overpowering the natural sweetness of the berries. I have died and gone to heaven....

IMHO best shortcake recipe ever! I only had white whole wheat flour and half and half (not cream) but seemed to work perfectly! I had the advantage of reading the previous comments, so I made the dough into a ball and patted it into an 8 inch round disk and cut it into 6 thick wedges. Cooked at 450 for 10 minutes and split the wedges in half to serve-crisp on the outside, tender (but fully cooked) on the inside-thank you!!

I use 1 1/2 cups self-rising and 2 1/2 cups AP and place the shortcakes close together on baking sheet. This creates a shortcake that rises high enough to split in the middle instead of using 2 shortcakes. Better for soaking up strawberry juice. Yummy.

There's a lot of discussion about oven temperatures. Please recognize that the test kitchen has an oven that is exactly calibrated and many home ovens are not. If you set it at 450, it might be 500; conversely, if you set it at 450, it might be 350. One hundred degree swings in home ovens are common. PLEASE invest in a good oven thermometer so you can take the guess work and burned bottoms out of your baking!

Don't be put off by the rolling and cutting if you're used to dropping shortcake batter onto a baking sheet. These are INCREDIBLE. Even better when soaking up a bit of sweet strawberry juice.

Misread recipe & rubbed all of cold butter in dough. Used 2" rounds chilled 30 min. didn't butter tops. biscuits were perfect. Recipe serves FAR more than 4. Served 8 w/ 1/2 dough left. ¾ cup butter to grease pan & brush tops can't be right. ¾ cup of whipt cream served 8 generously with lots left over. Usedt 2 pints relatively small local berries, quartered, & had about 1 ½ cups left. Net,net great recipe all the butter is used in dough. Serves far more than 4.