Shortcut For Shortcake

Summer berry shortcake. (Callie's Charleston Biscuits)

Berry shortcake is one of summer's simplest desserts. And it just got easier. Callie's Charleston Biscuits has added shortcakes to its artisan line.

I wrote about owner Callie White's technique for biscuits after a trip to Charleston, S.C., in 2007. Since then, I have watched the company grow and win one accolade after another for its sweet and savory country biscuits, which arrive frozen (but fully cooked) for you to reheat in the oven.

With shortcakes, a natural extension of its line, the mother-daughter business has done it again. The tender cakes taste like the love child of a Walker's Shortbread and a fine country biscuit. The edges crisp up for texture, the crumb is soft, and the flavor is subtly sweet and perfumed with vanilla. They're wonderful right out of the oven but just as good at room temperature, something resident baking maven Leigh Lambert says isn't true for for all shortcakes, which tend to taste dry when they cool down.

Shortcakes cost $19.95 per dozen. To buy, call 843-577-1198 or visit the company's Web site.

-- Jane Black