Meyer Lemon Shortcakes

Not only does this post include a recipe for a sweet and wonderful shortcake, but it also has a few surprising and little know tidbits, Dear Reader, enhancing it’s fun factor by a lot. Just wait… that happens at the end. (No jumping ahead!) In the meantime, enjoy this recipe that just screams “Spring”! Who isn’t ready for that? After reading this post (and making the shortcakes), you can amaze and astound your friends all at once. Sounds like an instant party to me.

Meyer Lemon Shortcakes
makes 6

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
5 Tbsp earth balance
3 Tbsp meyer lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
zest from 1/2 a meyer lemon
3/4 cup soy creamer (any nondairy milk will work)
1/2 tsp vanilla
strawberries or other fruit

Preheat the oven to 450. Lightly oil your baking sheet.

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Chop the eb into small bits then crumble them into the dry ingredients, working it in with your fingers until it’s the size of small peas.

Combine the liquid ingredients and the zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour them in. Using a fork, mix the dough together until just mixed. You may need another Tbsp of either flour or soy creamer to get a workable consistency. Dump it out and knead it a few times on a lightly floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut it in half the long way, then cut it into 3 biscuits on each side. Pat in shape and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden. Cool on a rack. When you’re ready to serve them, cut in half and fill with fruit, saving some for the top.

Now, thanks to Wiki, here are the fun facts I promised. Meyer Lemons are originally from China and are believed to be a cross between a lemon and an orange, possibly a mandarin orange. If you taste the juice after you squeeze it, you already know this. In China, they are grown as ornamental plants. But get this….they were actually brought to the United States by a USDA worker in 1908 by the name of Meyer! I, for one, will never again say that the USDA has done nothing for me.