Noreen's Kitchen
Strawberries for Shortcake

The secret really is in the mashed or ground strawberries.  This helps get things going.  It helps to dissolve the sugar more quickly and have the fresh berries start rendering their own juices.  Truly the addition of orange juice is an excellent option and gives this even more bright, fresh flavor.

We love to make strawberry shortcake when berries are in season.  Right now we are getting very good prices at the grocery store and the berries are coming out of Florida.  Next month we will be able to go to any number of local strawberry farms in our area and load up on flats of berries for freezing, preserving and jamming as well, of course, for shortcake.  ​​​​​

Since strawberry season is upon us, and I am making strawberry shortcake for dessert, I checked and realized that I have never shared with you how I make strawberries for shortcake!  Say it isn't so!  Well, today we are going to fix that problem!  I am sharing how I make strawberries for shortcake or even ice cream topping, the way my mom always made it.  These are so delicious, fresh and easy that if you have never tried them this way I hope you will and I hope you love them!

Macerating strawberries is an easy task.  Normally you would toss the cut fruit with some sugar and allow things to hang out for a while while they created a lovely syrup.  While that way is great and gets the job done, I do things just a little different.  I actually grind or mash 1/3 of the berries to create a slurry.  Add in sugar and orange juice a little bit of vanilla paste or extract and then give everything a stir.  This makes the most delicious strawberry shortcake topping you will ever enjoy!

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4 quarts fresh, ripe strawberries
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberries for Shortcake

We always have both pound cake and angel food cake for our shortcake.  Rick prefers the angel food cake while I prefer the pound cake.  So we usually have both to make everyone happy.  The one thing we never have is those awful little sponge short cake cups that they always sell near the strawberries in the grocery store produce section.  

I hope that this helped you to know how to make strawberries for shortcake.  If you didn't already know, I hope that you will give this a try and I hope that you will love it as much as we do!

Happy Eating!

Wash and slice 3 quarts of strawberries into a large bowl.  Set aside.

Mash remaining quart of berries wit a potato masher or place in a food processor and roughly chop but do not puree.

Pour mashed berries over sliced berries. 

Add sugar, orange juice and vanilla extract.

Stir well to combine.  Allow to rest, covered in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  This will allow the strawberries to macerate and the juices to come out making a delicious syrup.

Serve as a topping for shortcake over biscuits, pound cake, angel food cake or sponge cake or as a sundae topping over ice cream.

This is best eaten within the first day.

This will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator. 

 
                                             Enjoy!

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Hi!  I'm Noreen, wife, mother of two amazing, almost grown, daughters, content creator, cook, baker and sister in Christ. Welcome to my Kitchen!   I hope you stick around, enjoy the recipes and share them with those you love!

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