Comments on: State o’ bliss

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:08:30 +0000

I am from Michigan and I grew up with my Mother making biscuits for strawberry shortcake. I didn’t have the little sponge cakes to years later when we thought we would try them. For I grew up in a family of six with three brothers, biscuits were cheaper to make than buying those little yellow sponge cakes and also more feeling, stick to the ribs type food.

By: PJ Hamel

PJ Hamel — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:03:25 +0000

Nonni, I knew I could count on you to approve of this shortcake! As a TRUE native, your opinion means a lot—thanks for taking the time to connect. And I hope April and May up there in Old Town bring crocuses and daffodils, not blizzards and ice storms. And that June brings a bountiful crop of strawberries—along with the swarms of blackflies! Cheers, girl-

By: Nonni

Nonni — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:08:55 +0000

Well, PJ, my friend — you’ve exonerated yourself! We became great friends when I questioned your sanity for putting thyme in a New England Fish Chowder (haven’t stopped questioning, either! But, you have done us Mainers proud with your shortcake. Never served it in little tasteless spongy cups in my 70 years and sure wouldn’t start now. Your methods of using cream intrigue me and will go with the Hamelization next time. If we ever dig out of winter in Maine, maybe we will find some strawberries waiting underneath!!
LOVE your blog!!
Nonni

By: Rebecca Boren

Rebecca Boren — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:54:20 +0000

One quick amendment to the recipe — if you live in the Land of No Humidity (i.e. Tucson, Arizona), you will need about 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream to make these biscuits. I know — I made 80 of them last week. Thanks to PJ for keeping me honest — I had committed to baking and stuffing ham biscuits for my church’s choir and orchestra breakfast on Easter. I had almost persuaded myself to slither by with a mix. Then I read this recipe and realized I would not have to cut in butter!
They were an enormous hit — and ruined my plans to use the leftovers for shortcake. Leftovers?
Rebecca

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:36:04 +0000

Yum! The pictures made me drool, so I treated my family to these delicious shortcakes for dessert immediately. We slurped up every drop of biscuit, cream and sweet fruit. They have been asking for more ever since. Keep up the good work!

By: Alvara Tompkins

Alvara Tompkins — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:08:24 +0000

P.J., I just love your recipes. I am 72, so my kids are in their 40’s and barely 50’s and they always want strawberry shortcake for their birthday. But it has to be on biscuits (none of that store stuff for them). I never dipped my biscuits in butter like you did but I will try it next time. I have your round cutters with the little handles. Your pictures are mouth watering. I have been ordering from your catalog since the ’90’s when I lived in SC. The mailman had put my neighbor’s catalog in my mailbox. I called in an order and then gave my neighbor her catalog.
Please keep blogging!

By: Jean Clevenger

Jean Clevenger — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:35:25 +0000

Biscuits hold a lifetime of memories for me which is why this caught my eye. My dear Mother, Caroline was famous for her Baking Powder Biscuits. She loved a hot one out of the oven, buttered with lots of home grown maple syrup. My Mom is gone and I carry on her tradition of biscuits with maple syrup. King Arthur’s recipe is the same recipe, except for the heavy cream. Mom used Crisco. You can bet I will be making the cream biscuits for Easter, using those wonderful fresh strawberries from Costco. I live in So. Orange County, (the OC) and watch the strawberry fields being planted, tended and harvested. MMMMMM, I can hardly wait! I am originally from PA and also remember my Dad collecting sap and boiling it down to a wonderful maple syrup and a little maple sugar candy. Hence, my pension for maple syrup.

By: Billie

Billie — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:06:08 +0000

My question is, “Why would anyone want to make bisquits by cutting in the shortening, when you can just use heavy cream and — VOILA! — you are ready to pat them out, cut and bake them?!!!” I have made mine this way for a long time, even as savory bisquits for the main meal — so much easier. Didn’t know there was a “recipe” for them, I just tried it and it worked. (Ya, I know, I’m lazy!)

ALL those pictures at the begining of this blog are fabulous! Keep up the lovely commentaries!

By: goodfood4ursoul

goodfood4ursoul — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:05:57 +0000

There’s no doubt that it LOOKS delicious, but every time I see those golden crusty edges on the biscuit my mouth starts to feel raw.
Every time I eat a biscuit-shortcake, with all the soft ripe berries & velvety whipped cream, the harsh crunchy edges of the biscuit rip open my mouth. And it never tastes as good as a strawberry shortcake made with fresh homemade golden yellow or even white cake, covered with fresh strawberries & whipped cream, all soaking into the layers of the cake.
I LOVE biscuits, made with fresh soft southern flour, butter and buttermilk, but when I want strawberry short CAKE I go for the cake, not the biscuit.
I think too, it really depends what you grew up with.
Most people really LOVE what they are confortable and familiar with.
I say go with what you love be it cake or biscuit.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:57:07 +0000

The State O’Bliss induced by the biscuit version of strawberry shortcake is indeed a statewide phenomenon in Maine. This is the kind of shortcake one of my grandmothers made in Aroostook County in the north and my other grandmother made in Somerset County in the west of the state, both counties at the edge of the great north woods. The author locates the eastern boundary of the recipe at the ocean’s edge. My own experience of the southern extent of the recipe places it in central Massachusetts where my in-laws strongly disagreed about the proper way to prepare a shortcake. My father-in-law, an old Yankee, was of the biscuit persuasion. My mother-in-law, proudly pure Irish, favored sponge cake. However, all agreed that true bliss requires native strawberries. I suppose an argument can be made that Florida berries at least suffice to trigger memories and the promise of better things to come in June,