Strawberry Shortcake, Amish Style

 

I made a delicious, old-fashioned strawberry shortcake for Father's Day, and I want to share it with all of you.

As you can see, it is made in a pie pan and then cut into wedges before serving. Simple!

Whenever I am looking for an old-fashioned recipe, I turn to the Amish. 

Does anyone remember the heyday of PBS programming? Long before cable was such a big thing, there were cooking shows and painting shows and gardening shows. This Old House! The Frugal Gourmet! Victory Garden!

Ah, the good ole days of television! These days, I cannot find anything on television worth watching, and when I do, I am assaulted by terrible vulgar commercials. Disney lets me down time and again, I am shunning Hallmark, and don't even get me started on PBS.

But I digress.

One show we loved to watch on Public Broadcasting System television was Marcia Adams Cooking in Quilt Country. Marcia lived in Indiana and made a career out of spending time with the Amish. Her cookbooks, which are long out of print, are wonderful. I have a few that I've collected from used book sales. They are filled with beautiful photographs, too.

Here is Marcia's Strawberry Shortcake recipe:

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. corn starch

2 T. sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

6 T. butter, cold

3/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a pie pan ( I use Baker's Joy) and set aside. In large bowl, sift together first five ingredients. Cut in butter until large crumbs form (I use a pastry blender). Add milk and stir to make a stiff batter (adding more milk if necessary). Don't overmix. Pour into pie pan and bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Serve hot or cool. This will make 6-8 servings.

(Marcia's version tops the hot shortcake with butter and nutmeg, but I left those out.)

For my version, I cleaned and sliced a quart of strawberries, added a tablespoon of sugar, and let them sit in the bowl on the counter at room temp for a while. When ready to serve, I sliced the shortcake, topped with strawberries, and then whipped topping. I probably would have added vanilla ice cream, too, but I didn't have any in the house. 

Mmm! So good! And such a perfect summertime treat!

The day after I made this, we did a driving tour through the Amish country of Indiana as we took Sam on some college visits. Good times!

In many ways, this summer is shaping up to be even more turbulent than last year's COVID summer. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and experiences for our family. But God is good, and He is faithful, and we are determined to find the joy in these days...even if joy only comes in the form of a sweet dessert.

Find joy, café friends!