Instructions: * Note: Available through mail order outside Maine, Bakewell Cream can be ordered from: Bakewell Cream and The Apple Ledge Company RFD 2

Rinse and hull the strawberries and then cut them in halves. Combine the strawberries and sugar in a mixing bowl and let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Sift together the flour, Bakewell Cream, baking soda, salt, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and stir quickly with a fork to blend into a sticky dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead 5 or 6 times until smooth.

Roll out or pat the biscuit dough to a thickness of 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Cut into rounds with a 3-inch biscuit cutter and arrange the biscuits 1 inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits lightly with the remaining 2 tablespoons buttermilk and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake the biscuits until puffed high and colored light golden brown, a scant 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool.

To assemble the shortcakes, whip the cream with the vanilla until it forms soft peaks. Split each biscuit in half horizontally and lavish some strawberries over the bottom of the biscuit. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and then the other half of the biscuit. Serve and consume at once.

This recipe serves 12.

Comments: Strawberry Shortcake is a quintessential Down East summer dessert. Mainers like to make their shortcake with Bakewell Cream as the leavening agent.

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