Growing up near Plant City, Fla., means I know a thing or two about fresh strawberries. Each year the small Florida town would host an early spring strawberry festival to welcome the new crop, and the highlight was strawberry shortcakes that seemed a mile high. When Plant City strawberries show up at my local supermarket, you can bet I’ll be making strawberry shortcake, and my Simple Strawberry Shortcakes uses convenience products to whip up a version that’s definitely a cut above most.

If you’re tight for time, you can eliminate the whipping cream and brush the biscuits with milk, fold the curd into two cups of prepared whipped topping, and thin the remaining lemon curd with a quarter cup of milk. Whether you use the additional shortcuts suggested or not, this is one recipe where the resulting dish is far more spectacular than its individual ingredients.
 

• 12 frozen ready-to-bake Southern-style biscuits*
• 2 cups whipping cream, divided
• 2 tablespoons coarse sugar or granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon, divided
• 16 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 6-ounce jar prepared lemon curd

Preheat oven according to biscuit package directions. Place biscuits on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Pour 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Brush the top of each biscuit with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake according to package directions. (Shortcakes can be baked several hours before serving.)

Combine the hulled and sliced strawberries with 2 teaspoons of the lemon zest and the granulated sugar. Set aside to macerate.

Beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in remaining lemon zest and 1/2 cup of lemon curd. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Whisk the remaining lemon curd and whipping cream together in a bowl until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Drizzle 12 dessert plates with some of the Lemon Crème. Split the baked shortcakes in half. Place the bottom half of the biscuits on the Lemon Crème on each plate. Top with a dollop of the Lemon Mousse and divide the macerated strawberries among the biscuits. Top with the remaining biscuit halves and serve immediately.

Makes 12 servings.

*Pillsbury frozen oven baked Southern-style biscuits were used for testing purposes.