Strawberry Chocolate Chip Shortcake

Yes, summer is hot and yes, midwest summers can be pretty humid, but who cares when we can have strawberries?  Strawberries make everything better, right?  So I thought I'd say farewell to spring and brace ourselves for summer's heat by making us some strawberry shortcake. 

But not able to leave well enough alone, I felt compelled to throw some chocolate chips into the shortcake dough, and I now love strawberry shortcake even more than I did before.  I mean, really, is there anything quite as wonderful together as chocolate and strawberries?  I think not, and to that end, I might even drizzle this with a little extra melted chocolate next time.

While the strawberries are definitely the star here, these little shortcake biscuits definitely threaten to steal this show.  They're light and sort of flaky and puffy and exactly what you want strawberry shortcake to be.  And with the chocolate chips, I could just eat these all by themselves!  OK, so I did.  Eat one all by itself.  I have no regrets.

We will forgive summer its fiercesome heat and stifling humidity because it brings us strawberries, and this shortcake is one awesome way to enjoy them.  Here's the recipe...

P.S.  I know I promised some of you another strawberry recipe, a bread pudding to be exact, but the photos did not do it justice.  Bread pudding can be a tough one to photograph, but I will post it as soon as I can get those photos.  It's worth waiting for.  In the meantime...

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Shortcake

Click here for a priintable recipe

The Shortcakes:

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Sugar for sprinkling top

Strawberry Filling:

4 cups sliced strawberries

1/4 cup sugar or to taste

Pinch of salt 

Whipped cream for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

To make the shortcakes: Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the butter and mix with your fingers until it is broken up and the mixture has the texture of wet sand. Add the buttermilk and gently mix it in. Stir in the chocolate chips.  Shape the dough into 6 or 7 shortcakes on the baking sheet. Space them about 4 inches apart on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet on another baking sheet. (This keeps the bottom of the shortcakes from burning.) Sprinkle the tops of the shortcakes with sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool. If made ahead, store in a covered container.

Combine the strawberries, sugar, and salt.

To serve, carefully slice each shortcake in half horizontally.  Top the bottom half of the shortcake with a spoonful of the strawberries and spoon some whipped cream over the berries.  Place the top half of the shortcake over the whipped cream and serve.