Strawberry shortcake

It's strawberry season here in Southern California! Which means that all the farms have little roadside stands filled with red berries. Park and walk up to one, and you can smell the sweetness from several feet away. Yum.

So naturally, this was a big part of the weekend.

First you wash all your berries and slice them up. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle just the tiniest bit of sugar on top (I tossed in some grated lemon zest as well).

While they sit, mix up your dough and cut it out.

The biscuits only take 10 minutes in the oven, but that's plenty of time for whipping up some heavy cream (again, just add a touch of sugar and vanilla - you want the berries to shine).

And before you know it, you have this...

Perfection.

Strawberry shortcake biscuits (makes about 6 servings, adapted from the Tassajara Bread Book biscuit recipe)

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream

**Put the dry ingredients into the food processor and pulse to combine.

**Add the cubes of butter and pulse 7 or 8 times for about 1 second each. The mixture will resemble coarse cornmeal. Use a pastry cutter or two knives if you don't have a food processor.

**Mix together the cream and the eggs and then pour into the food processor while pulsing. A soft dough should form within a few seconds. Stir the liquid in with a spatula if you aren't using the food processor. Don't overmix.

**Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and gently shape into a rectangle approximately 1/2 inch thick. Fold in thirds lengthwise, turn one quarter turn and repeat once more. This gentle folding creates a tender, flaky biscuit.

**Roll the dough out (I just pat with my hands) to about 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick. Cut out your biscuits with whatever shape you like.

**Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the tops are just golden brown.

The biscuits might sound slightly intimidating (it's all the patting and folding), but they seriously take all of 15 minutes to pull together. Once you have the technique under your belt, you can have them ready to pop in the oven in 5 minutes (I know, because the first batch was so good that I had to make a second one, immediately).

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