Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine strawberries with powdered sugar; set aside at room temperature until liquid starts to collect in bottom of bowl, about 10 minutes. Pour liquid into a smaller bowl; set aside. Wait 2 minutes and gently press strawberries down in bowl to squeeze out more liquid; pour liguid into small bowl and set aside. You’ll need about 1/4 cup liquid total.

Into a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt.

Using a pastry cutter or a knife and fork, cut small pieces of butter into flour mixture; work butter into mixture with pastry cutter or knife and fork, until butter pieces resemble small peas.

Add buttermilk and zest to flour mixture; mix batter with pastry cutter or a knife and fork until just combined, small pieces of butter will make batter appear a little lumpy.

Spoon batter by 2 heaping tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet, leaving a few inches between each cake. Bake until tops are just golden and a tester inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

When cool, to assemble shortcakes, split each shortcake in half and lay the two halves on a plate. Top each half with about 3 tablespoons each of strawberries and whipped cream; drizzle each half with about 1/2 teaspoon reserved liquid. Serve immediately.