Lucy’s Shortcake–1933

What better way to combine many of my loves into one than write about our family recipes using farm fresh food that I have grown?

I’ve been chewing on the idea for quite a while and I’d rather not stew any longer. Please join in and let me know what you think of my debut post here in GOOD EATS as I share with you some of our family recipes. (History, cooking, photography, and writing…all in one…I can hardly stand it!)

First up is Shortcake, just in time for berry season. Enjoy!

This recipe is from Lucy Fox Beachler, my husband’s grandma. I never met Lucy, but a few years ago I visited the house in Ohio where she gave birth to Dorothy, my mother-in-law, in 1914. Here is the Beachler family in 1917.

OLD FASHIONED SHORTCAKE

2 C flour                                                  3 tablespoons shortening

1/2 teaspoon salt                                  1 egg

4 teaspoons baking powder              1/2 cup sweet milk

2 tablespoons sugar                             2 quarts strawberries

Sift and mix dry ingredients; cut in shortening; add beaten egg to milk and add to dry ingredients to make soft dough. Divide dough in half. Pat out lightly one-half and put in greased deep layer pan. Spread with butter and cover with other half of dough which has also been patted to fit the pan. Bake in hot oven 15-20 minutes. Divide while hot and spread with crushed, sweetened berries and whipped cream, between layers. Cover top with whole berries and whipped cream. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Cream may be omitted if desired. Also other berries may be substituted. (I baked mine at 400 for 18 minutes).

Once the bottom layer has been spread with butter, add the second layer of dough.

I used a circular Pyrex pan here, although I have used a rectangular Pyrex pan as well. Either is fine.

This is the original recipe from Lucy’s cookbook.

Another motive for starting this series is to clean out my freezer and prepare for this year’s crop. I am using berries from last year, and I can only drink so many smoothies. For this shortcake, since we are just shy of berry season in Oregon, I combined home made freezer jam with my home grown raspberries to make a “topping” for today’s shortcake.

I microwaved 2-3 tablespoons of jam and spooned that over the frozen berries which I’d placed on top of the hot shortcake (as soon as the first piece was cut).

Let me know what you think of this recipe. It was very easy to make and delicious, too.