Strawberry Shortcake with a Twist

Posted by -colleen

I know. What kind of a twist can you (or should you) put on Strawberry Shortcake? I mean, we all know Strawberry Shortcake needs no improvement but since the purpose of this blog is to try new things and (hopefully) discover some delicious new recipes I had to at least build on the original.
First of all. No store-bought shortcake or dessert cups would do. I searched for a yummy made- from-scratch shortcake and settled on this one from the Cooking Light website:
Shortcake:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons turbinado sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400°.

To prepare shortcake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (flour through baking soda) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine buttermilk and vanilla; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times with floured hands. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush top with egg white; sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Carefully split shortcake in half horizontally using a serrated knife; cool layers separately on wire racks.

Place bottom half of shortcake, cut side up, on a serving plate.

This took exactly 12 minutes to turn slightly golden and cook perfectly!

I then found a recipe from Joy of Baking for an Ambrosia Shortcake so I used part of this recipe minus the bananas.

Take one 20 oz. can of pineapple chunks in syrup. Drain and reserve 3 tablespoons syrup.
3 tablespoons honey
1 and 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Combine these three ingredients and simmer on the stove for about 5 minutes.

I then poured this mixture over the bottom of my shortcake. I placed about 2 cups of cut strawberries that had been mixed with a little sugar and chilling in my fridge for a couple hours on top.
Now for some homemade whipped cream.
I strained 4 oz. of vanilla Greek yogurt first.

Whip together 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in the vanilla yogurt.
I spread this over the fruit and placed the other half of the shortcake on top.



When ready to serve I made a little more fresh whipped cream to put on top.

This was fantastic. The shortcake was amazing. Perfectly flaky and moist. The pineapple strawberry mixture was perfect and the vanilla cream beats Cool Whip by a mile (and I do love that nasty processed stuff a whole lot)!