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You Pick Strawberries in Indiana~ Spencer Berry Farm and a Shortcake Recipe

June 5, 2013 By admin 8 comments

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Originally Published in the Greenwood Daily Journal Saturday May 26, 2012



Today you are hearing the collective sigh of relief by most school aged children.  It’s their first days of summer break after all!  The sun just seems to shine brighter when you don’t have to go to school on Monday.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and my kids do like to go to school but you just can’t help having a spring in your step when you know that your days are free to do as you please.  It’s still early, I haven’t had a chance to schedule away our summer yet.

This weekend is doubly big in our family.  First, with it being Memorial Day weekend, we will come together on Monday for a big family cook-out.  Having my brother home from the Army and safe is reason to celebrate as well as a good time to remember all of those who are serving our country both here and overseas.

Also, we will be celebrating the thirteenth birthday of my oldest son, Noah.  These last thirteen years have flown by.  Had I known how fast it would seem looking back,  I would have taken things a little slower.  It seems like I have always been in a hurry to see him grow up.  Not because he was a difficult child, which he wasn’t, but because I am so excited to see where his road will lead him.  What kind of young man he will grow into.

I think 13 is such a hard year.  Kids are torn between wanting space from their parents to develop who they are to become yet still wanting a hug here and there.  My son would never admit it, but for all of his complaining about wanting more independence, he still really wants to spend time with us.  I am soaking it all in because I feel like this might not last much longer.

I had all of this on my mind when I planned a family day for us last Sunday.  I made a big, traditional breakfast to start our day.  Then we headed to Noblesville to one of the best U-pick strawberry farms, at least in my opinion, in central Indiana.  Spencer Berry Farm is located roughly 40 minutes from where I live and it really isn’t a bad drive.

The wide open fields and country store greet you when you first pull into the drive and my kids couldn’t have been more excited.  Picking berries becomes a sort of competition to the boys and I am not ashamed to capitalize on this.  I planned on having a fun day in the beautiful sunshine with my kids and walk out with 10-15 pounds of strawberries to boot.

According to the owner, they are experiencing a bumper crop this year with the season starting an unexpected 3 weeks early.  Memorial Day weekend is expected to yield the most berries so I suggest that if you are planning a trip that you go soon.  I could have picked all day and we probably would have if my husband didn’t bring us back down to Earth.  Every basket we picked was like the sound of ca-ching in my husbands ears.  He is quite the berry lover but picking can quickly get out of hand when you have 2 boys trying to outpick the other.  We stopped at 15 pounds, just the right amount for baking, preserves, shortcakes and freezing.

The whole way home my family and I actually had a conversation.  One that didn’t revolve around work or school.  One that didn’t involve my kids having an ipod in their hands.  This is a rare occasion in the car.  We talked about what we were going to do with all of those berries.  My youngest was worries we wouldn’t eat them all before they went bad.  Each of us had a dish in mind that we wanted to have.  My husband wanted ice cream, my youngest wanted them in a pie and my oldest was still holding out.  He had yet to try one.  He was sticking to his guns that he didn’t like strawberries.  After much coaxing, he took a small bite of a tiny, ripe berry.  To my shock he ate another and another.

He didn’t have to admit it to me, that would be so very uncool of an up and coming teenager to do.  But I knew, and he knew.  A new berry fan was born that day and for one day Mom knew best.  Berries really do make things better.


Sunset Shortcakes with Strawberries
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Ingredients

  • Shortcakes:
  • 2 C all purpose flour
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 TB baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 TB chilled unsalted butter, diced
  • 11/4 C low-fat buttermilk
  • 1 TB lemon zest
  • 1/2 C all purpose flour
  • 1 TB unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 TB of Turbinado sugar (I use Sugar in the Raw, 2 packets)
  • Strawberries:
  • 4 C strawberries, sliced
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 TB fresh lemon juice
  • whipped topping, vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream
  • Fresh thyme leaves, chopped fresh mint or dried lavender as garnish, optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray a 9″ round cake pan with non-stick spray.
  2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level with knife.
  3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  4. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
  5. Combine the buttermilk and lemon zest, and toss gently to combine.
  6. Mix will look like cottage cheese, that’s ok.
  7. Place the remaining 1/2 C flour in a shallow dish.
  8. Scoop 10 equal dough portions into the dish.
  9. Toss each in flour to coat and shape into a small ball.
  10. Arrange the balls in the prepared pan with sides touching.
  11. Brush each top with melted butter and sprinkle with the Turbinado sugar.
  12. Bake at 425 for 20-22 minutes or until lightly browned.
  13. While shortcakes are baking prepare the strawberries.
  14. Add all ingredients, strawberries through lemon juice, to a medium bowl and toss.
  15. Allow to sit at room temperature to macerate until shortcakes are done.
  16. Serve warm cakes topped with berries and a dollop of cream.
  17. Add a fresh herb garnish if you want.

Important Notes

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

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https://basilmomma.com/2013/06/strawberry-fields-forever.html/
All Rights Reserved; Basilmomma (www.basilmomma.com) – This recipe may not be distributed, sold or used for any commercial purpose (including sharing on social media platforms). The ONLY authorized use is by to share an IMAGE ONLY along with a link to the blog post on basilmomma.com where the recipe can be found.

Stay tunes for my Fox59 segment LIVE from Spencer’s!

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Filed Under: Newspaper Column Tagged With: Column, Desserts, family time, Farmers, Go Local, Indiana, kids, Sides, Spencers Berry Farm, strawberries, summer

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Comments

8 responses to “You Pick Strawberries in Indiana~ Spencer Berry Farm and a Shortcake Recipe”

  1. cheeseandicecream says:
    May 25, 2012 at 9:31 pm
    Great post and love that you got the whole family thinking about being in the kitchen. The short cakes look top shelf
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  2. The Better Baker says:
    May 26, 2012 at 12:49 pm
    Lovely post...LOOOVE strawberry season. How sweet you got to pick berries together!! Enjoy every luscious bite.
    Log in to Reply
  3. The Better Baker says:
    May 26, 2012 at 12:49 pm
    Lovely post...LOOOVE strawberry season. How sweet you got to pick berries together!! Enjoy every luscious bite.
    Log in to Reply
  4. Carolina HeartStrings says:
    May 28, 2012 at 9:13 pm
    Love the post and the recipe. Great job with them both and thanks for sharing.
    Log in to Reply
  5. [email protected] says:
    June 1, 2012 at 8:07 pm
    Heather, I'm so jealous. Our strawberry season has already ended here although we did go picking, as a family and came home with $75 worth of strawberries. I've got plenty in the freezer so I'll be getting some out to make this. Nothing beats the meeting of the warm shortcake with the cool freshness of the strawberries and cream.
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  6. Amee Livingston says:
    June 4, 2012 at 1:24 am
    Yum! It's just not summer without delicious strawberry shortcake....lovely recipe, Heather! Thank you for sharing with me on Fit and Fab this weekend. :)
    Log in to Reply
  7. Debi....Recipes For My Boys says:
    June 4, 2012 at 11:42 am
    I seriously thought I posted a comment here. Sorry for the delay. I love that you shared a family day focused on food. Finding a new strawberry lover. Celebrating a milestone birthday (Happy Belated Birthday!) and a holiday!!!! You can do everything and make a lovely dessert, too! Thank you for sharing on Thursday's Treasures Week 36. Hope to see you again soon. Reply
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  8. Michael Lombardi says:
    June 8, 2013 at 10:36 am
    We actually went to Spencer just this past week and picked. Well, my wife picked. My daughter ate. And I took pictures of the whole thing. :-P I would definitely recommend and we only bought 2ish pounds which we already went through so we'll be back this upcoming week. :)
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