Gooseberry season is too short! So we have to make the best of it when we can. We do the usual crumbles which my son loves because he gets to make the topping. 🙂
For our last batch of gooseberries I thought I’d do something different. I’m a fan of the good old strawberry shortcake but I thought I’d mix it up and do a gooseberry shortcake. The tartness would be perfect with the whipped cream.
I got lucky with the shortcake as I didn’t follow the steps in this shortcake recipe. I was rushing about and just threw the ingredients in. Oops. It came out a bit denser than usual but still tasted good.
What I did was mix 2 1/4 cup of flour, 4 tsp of baking powder, 2 T of sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/3 cup of vegetable shortening, 1 beaten egg, 2/3 cup of milk in a bowl.
You are supposed to cut in the shortening into the dry ingredients then add the milk and egg. Which I know to do! You would have thought this was my first rodeo. Bake the dough in an 8″ greased and floured pan for 15-20 minutes in a 425F/220C oven. Meanwhile make the gooseberry jam sauce.
Add about a 1/4 cup of water to the gooseberries and bring to a simmer. As the gooseberries start to burst add a 1/4-1/2 cup of brown sugar, stir well, and simmer until it thickens.
When you are ready to serve slice the shortcake and layer the gooseberry and whipped cream.
A super easy dessert to make when you want a delicious treat. 🙂 The plates were cleaned pretty quickly!
I just made a plum shortcake,,,,looked pretty similar and tasted delicious:)
That sounds wonderful as well!
Lovely. Gooseberries used to be pretty common here. We used to pick them wild. Now, very hard to find.
Can you buy the bushes to grow them? My MIL has a few and the birds love them. You can tell they aren’t native here because the birds leave them alone. They don’t know what they are!