As a child and young adult, I spent my summers picking strawberries on my grandparents' farm. My Mammie (grandmother) spent hours and hours in green pastures picking berries. One spring, she got a bad sunburn on her back from picking berries. I followed in her footsteps years later. I didn't realize my shirt had rolled up while picking berries and my back was blistered.
There's no telling how many berries we picked, but there was plenty for us and all our friends. I never will forget the day when my mom had picked some strawberries for herself. She picked a basket full of berries and placed the baskets on the hood of her car. However, my mom didn't realize that Mammie did the same thing for the mailman. She would pick a basket full of berries and lay them on the hood of her car for him to pick up.
That day, we saw a mail truck pull in the driveway. Mom looked down the driveway and told Mammie the mailman had arrived. He got out of his mail truck and placed the mail on the hood of the car, picked up the berries, and waved goodbye at Mammie. Before mom could run out of the house, the mailman was already down the driveway. She screamed, "Stop, stop! Those are my berries!" The screened in the door slammed behind her, while she was waving her arms at him to come back. He was gone. We watched from the old farmhouse windows, while Mammie giggled and pushed her glasses back up to her face. My sister and I knew not to talk unless we were spoken to. All that work she had done, only meant there was more work to be done. We grabbed our baskets and went back to picking strawberries, again. After replenishing the other berries, we went back home.
We ate a lot of strawberry related recipes. One that I cherish the most is the store brought strawberry shortcake bread. We piled many strawberries on top and clobbered it with cool whip.
Today in homeschool cooking labs, my son and I made strawberry shortcakes from scratch. My mind became flooded with memories of Mammie. I often wondered what she would have thought of this recipe, and what kind of reaction she would give when she ate a strawberry shortcake her great-grandson made.
I found this recipe in a cast iron magazine. I added some of my own ideas to these recipes. Enjoy!
Strawberry Shortcakes
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
Whisk flour, baking powder sugar, and salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Add strawberries to flour mixture, fold in. Pour in milk and rum. Mix until everything is evenly combined. The dough should be sticky. Dump the dough out onto the floured surface and knead several times. Roll out dough and cut out. Place 1 inch apart in cast iron skillet. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Biscuits do not need to be a golden color. You need to bring them out before they turn golden.
Sweet Whip Cream
While biscuits are baking, combine all the ingredients together until soft peaks start to form. I like my whip cream to be thick.
