Strawberry Shortcake was my absolute favorite dessert growing up - simple, unadulterated sugar macerated strawberries, whipped cream topping {typically from a plastic container or aerosol can} held together by the truly American, iconic Bisquick sweet biscuit - flaky, sweet, buttery and utterly delicious - the culmination of strawberry and sweet cream had a special way of turning the southern scone into a mushy, eye rolling bit of culinary nirvana; and to this day, it's still one of my most cherished summer desserts.

I was excited to resurrect a bit of that childhood food nostalgia for the annual Thrill of the Grill article for Citiscapes Magazine, only substituting the strawberries for grilled peaches, blackberries and Cool Whip for mason jar shaken cream. 

I also wanted to share my Pappa Was a Rolling Scone (Biscuit) recipe, albeit a little messy, but one hell of a delicious pedestal for any fruit based dessert, or even as an amazing breakfast accoutrement with either butter, jam, or honey.   Check out the June issue of Citiscapes  https://www.citiscapes.com/eats-drinks for the play by play on 'how to' compose the final dish - and read below for details on my Pappa Was a Rolling Scone {Biscuit} recipe -

Pappa Was a Rolling Scone {Biscuit}

We begin by thoroughly mixing together 2 cups of all purpose flour with a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and nearly 3/4 cup of powdered sugar - do this with a whisk to ensure all dry ingredients are evenly distributed. 

Next, add 1 stick of very cold, cubed butter to the dry mixture

Then carefully, but quickly work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until pea sized granules form - then add 3 tablespoons or so of cold whole milk, continuing to work with your fingers until a shaggy dough form. 

Knead the shaggy dough a dozen times or until smooth  dough ball forms - allow the dough to rest for a bit, maybe grab a cold beer or chilled white wine at this point - I'm having Knob Creek straight RYE Whiskey with San Pelligrino Aranciata Soda.

Once the dough has settled down a bit, roll it out until about 1/2" thick - you may have to use a handful of flour here, just to ensure the dough doesn't stick to your surface - there are only a couple things worse than sticky dough, I won't bore you here, but message me and I'll send details with images. 

Once the dough is rolled out, use a glass or dough cutter to make circles - whatever size you like - for this application, I like a 4" diameter. 

Arrange dough circles on a sheet pan lined with parchment, brush a whisper of melted butter atop each, sprinkle with sugar, then place into a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

I love to eat them right out of the oven - you know, when they're really too hot to consume, so you chew them with your mouth open in a half assed attempt at cooling them down, even though it's too late and the top of your mouth is blistered - yeah, that's like the fourth BEST way to enjoy these delicious, slightly dangerous sweet biscuits.