Classic Strawberry Shortcake – Thanks, Grandpa!

I was visiting my mom last summer, and overheard her and my aunt talking about making strawberry shortcake using "dad's" recipe. They were obviously talking about my grandfather, which was surprising, since I had no idea he baked.

I remember he did a lot of cooking growing up, but it was things like frittata, meat sauce, or polenta. I never once saw him bake anything sweet. Nevertheless, he apparently gets credit for inventing our official family recipe for strawberry shortcake, which I've adapted here.

What he had done was taken the strawberry shortcake recipe off the box of a certain, very popular premade biscuit mix, and added extra "everything," as my mother put it. So, that's what I did here, except instead of using the stuff in the yellow box, I used self-rising flour, which I'm pretty sure is basically the same thing.

The only other major change is the original recipe calls for regular melted butter, but as you'll see in the video, I like to toast mine just a little, to bring out those subtle, nutty flavors. I'm hoping Armand Cianfoni would approve. I really hope you give "our" strawberry shortcake a try soon. Enjoy!

Makes 6 Large or 8 Normal Strawberry Shortcakes: 2 cups self rising flour ((You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt) 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup milk 4 tbsp butter, melted, and lightly toasted to a golden-brown

4 pints fresh strawberries 1/2 cup white sugar *add 1 tbsp water, if strawberries aren't perfectly ripe 3/4 cup cold heavy cream, whipped with a tablespoon of sugar and a few drops of vanilla (watch demo here)

- Bake at 425F. for 15-18 minutes or until browned.