The Fourth

(source)

Since I was a kid, every year when the 4th of July came around, we typically had a big BBQ with family, good friends, and lots and lots of food. My dad was always in charge of the grill while my mom would make some sort of 4th of July themed dessert. However, since my dad moved to San Diego, and my mom's currently in New York visiting family, this year wasn't at all the same. Everyone is much more grown up and have jobs and busy schedules, so it's harder to get together. Since my favorite part was always the dessert, my sister Catie & I decided to keep up that tradition with a strawberry & blueberry shortcake! Neither of us are amazing cooks or anything like that, so we just looked up how to make the biscuits from The Serendipity Cookbook, then added vanilla ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream on top!

ingredients:


2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder


2 tablespoons sugar


1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces, plus extra for the pan

2/3 cup cold milk


1 large egg


1 tablespoon heavy cream

Granulated sugar, for dusting
(we used sugar in the raw)

1 pint heavy cream,

1 can whipped cream for serving

1 gallon of vanilla ice cream

2 containers of strawberries

2 cups of blueberries

1. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process briefly to blend; add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 15 to 30 seconds. Add the milk and process until just incorporated; the dough will be dry.

2. Working the dough as little as possible, turn it out onto a clean surface and bring it together with your hands into a ball. Press the ball flat to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut out biscuits with a sharp 2 1/2-inch round cutter and place them on a buttered baking sheet, 1 inch apart. (we just did triangles instead)

3. Lightly beat the egg in a small dish, add the cream, and stir. Brush each biscuit with the egg wash, and then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown and puffed. Transfer to a rack. Keep warm for serving.

Makes approximately 8 biscuits.

Once cooled down, top the biscuits with your choice of vanilla ice cream, cut up strawberries, blueberries, and a dollop of whipped cream.

Meet my younger sister, Catie. She's 17 years old and just graduated high school! Her and I are pretty much as close as sister can get. We're always there for each other, and I don't know what I'd do without her, and I'm sure she'd say the same for me. If you'd like to check out her tumblr, you can do so here > what catie likes. It's really cute, and I'm sure you'll be able to tell she's a big fan of food while scrolling through her posts. Her and I also started our own tumblr, here :).