Strawberry Shortcake

When Beth Anderson first made Strawberry Shortcake for us, I knew that I'd never look at any other shortcake recipes.  If there's a better one, I'll never know.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 tsp. [1 Tbsp.] baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup light cream

• strawberries, sliced and sugared
• butter, soft
• heavy cream, whipped
• whole strawberries

1. Preheat the oven to 450°.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Combine the egg and cream and add all at once, stirring only to moisten.
4. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead gently for 30 seconds.  Pat the dough to 1/2" thickness and cut 3" rounds with a cookie cutter or knife; appearance is not important.
5. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes.
6. Split and butter the shortcakes and arrange in layers":  1/2 shortcake, berries, whipped cream, 1/2 shortcake, berries, whipped cream, whole strawberry.