Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake

March 4 – 14, 2010 marks the 75^th Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida but the upshot for all of us in the South is that we’re seeing this season’s beautiful Florida strawberries in our grocers now. In celebration of the 2010 strawberry season this entire week is dedicated to all things strawberry. Today’s feature is a chocolate adaptation to traditional strawberry shortcake by adding chocolate chips to the “mix.”  

Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut up

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 container (12 oz.) frozen lite whipped topping, thawed

4 cups sliced strawberries

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 400° F. Grease baking sheets.

COMBINE flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in morsels. Stir in buttermilk with a fork just until moistened. Knead 2 or 3 times on floured surface. Pat to 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into sixteen 2 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch diamonds; place on prepared baking sheets.

BAKE for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

CUT one shortcake in half horizontally. Spread bottom half with whipped topping; top with strawberries. Cover with shortcake top; layer with more whipped topping and strawberries. Repeat with remaining shortcakes. Serve immediately.

Prep: 30 min – Cooking: 12 min - Cooling time: 20 min cooling – Yields: 16 servings

For more recipes using the NESTLE family of products visit www.verybestbaking.com. For more information on the Florida Strawberry Festival go to www.flstrawberryfestival.com.