Double Strawberry Shortcakes, on Repeat All Summer

Hello there! I’m Mia, the newsletter editor here at New York Times Cooking, filling in for Melissa Clark. As you might expect, my job puts me at the center of thousands (and thousands) of excellent recipes, and many of them wedge themselves deeply in my brain, tacky bits of toffee stuck to my subconscious. Right now, these double strawberry shortcakes (above) will not let me go.

Melissa has devised three smart techniques for baking with berries to help you avoid that dreaded sogginess that can weigh down fruit tarts or cakes. In these shortcakes, she macerates the strawberries in a little sugar to draw out some of their liquid before folding them into the biscuit dough. The resulting ruby juice is added to the buttermilk for the biscuits. (As if Melissa would let us waste berry juice.) This means shortcakes that brim with berry flavor — and color! — to sandwich even more sweet strawberries. Serve with Julia Moskin’s easiest vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or my personal favorite, Cool Whip. (Cool Whip is delicious. I will not be swayed on this.)

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Double Strawberry Shortcakes

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Also on my mind are these chorizo taquitos, a recipe from Bryan Washington in The New York Times Magazine. These aren’t the tightly rolled and deep-fried tortilla cigars you might be imagining, but Bryan’s take on the looser, hand-rolled varieties found at fast-casual spots like Whataburger. Spicy chorizo is sautéed with garlic, onion and jalapeño, mixed with fluffy scrambled eggs, and piled and rolled into flour tortillas. They give me zhuzhed-up breakfast-burrito vibes, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

But one can’t live on strawberry shortcakes and taquitos alone, tempting as that is. So I’m also thinking of Anna Francese Gass’s crispy chicken cutlets with lemony salmoriglio sauce and Lidey Heuck’s classic tuna melts. With the tuna melts, I’ll probably slip some kimchi under the sharp Cheddar — I always have kimchi in my fridge, and you should, too. It’s great in so many dishes, from cold noodles to potato hash. Speaking of spuds: Picnic season has started, meaning it’s time to keep a shortlist of potato salads in weekend rotation. Nigella Lawson’s light potato salad is crowd-pleaser; omit the bacon (and maybe add more oil) to make it vegan.

You do need a subscription to read these (and those aforementioned thousands of) New York Times Cooking recipes. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll consider subscribing today, and if you’re a subscriber, thank you! And if you run into any technical issues, the wizards at [email protected] can get you sorted.

Fun fact: As a New York Times Cooking subscriber, you’re entitled to two free recipes to gift to friends and family each month. Might I suggest those double strawberry shortcakes? Or Eric Kim’s easy kimchi?

Thanks for reading! Sam’s on deck for Friday, and Melissa will be back on Monday.