Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake....a simple masterpiece....don´t ya think? Are you gaining weight while looking at this photo? Admittedly I probably gained weight when I ate it...but couldn´t help myself...it was good...real good. 


When I was growing up though strawberry shortcake was always served with pound cake which would be similar to a Norwegian sukkerbunn. However, when I googled strawberry shortcake recipes biscuits or scones kept popping up in the majority of them and one recipe, the one I used for these biscuits here said the proper cake for strawberry shortcake is a cream biscuit. You can check out the recipe HERE. To be honest, these were good in flavor but I wasn´t too impressed with the rise in these biscuits compared to other recipes I have tried before. This might be my fault, might be the recipe´s? I´m not sure...but I would probably use a different recipe next time but with that said- this one works nicely if you have no other recipe to fall back on. 

I have to say also I was a bit unsure about using a biscuit with this. To me a biscuit is a breakfast bread...something I use with eggs and bacon...or butter and honey....or butter and strawberry jam...I have NEVER thought of putting cream on it and berries and making a cake...but you know what? It works brilliantly! The cream is sweet, I use heavy cream, vanilla sugar,  (this recipe calls for regular sugar but using powdered sugar with the vanilla bean will give you more of the type of vanilla sugar we use here in Norway.) and regular sugar. Then the strawberries are also sweetened slightly...so with all this sweetness going on the biscuit which isn´t really sweet is exactly what you need to balance this desert out and not feel queasy with all the sweetness. It´s quite simply perfect....

Wouldn´t you agree???


Thankfully a friend of mine sent a text message after I was done making this and asked me to go for a walk with her...so my "sinful" little desert here wasn´t as bad as if I had just enjoyed it and then done nothing. So thanks to my friend- you know who you are- for buzzing me. Oh by the way...remember we talked about vanilla extract on our walk? I found a recipe for you...try this one HERE. For those of you who weren´t on the walk and have no idea what I´m talking about- we were talking about vanilla extract. My friend asked me where you could buy it here in Norway and I said I didn´t know if you could get real vanilla extract here...I knew you could get vanilla essence which isn´t the same. So when I got in I had to google making homemade vanilla extract. Surprisingly the few recipes I looked at all had pretty much the same recipe which included vodka! Who would have known! No wonder I like vanilla extract so much!!! hahahaha! 


I had another friend from blog world who commented yesterday and asked me about the pilgrim paths which is what I think that marker I found yesterday was from. So for those interested here are two links where you can read about the pilgrim paths that run through Norway and the significance of them. I could sit here and write it all out for you but why would I do that when these two websites explain it all better then I ever could!! You can check out the first one HERE and the second one is HERE. Now you guys are going think I´m nuts...but that´s ok, I´ll take that...but when I was reading these links I was thinking, wouldn´t that be a neat summer vacation to just pack a back pack and set off on these pilgrim paths and wander up to Trondheim and then take the train back down to our house? You could go as fast or as slow as you wanted, overnight in a tent or guest farm or something on your way up- treat yourself to a night or two in a hotel in Trondheim and then take the train home. I think it sounds like fun!!! Probably would be so sore though after walking thousands of kilometers but....yeah....I´d do it! Would you?


Until next time my friends....