Few words are sweeter than “fresh strawberries for sale.”

This time of year, it’s nearly impossible to drive anywhere without seeing a table or a small stand set up by the side of the road, loaded with cartons of the small fruits, like oversized jewelry boxes full of rubies.

If you stop to buy a quart, chances are, there won’t be any berries left by the time you get home. But if you can resist the temptation long enough to get them to your kitchen, there’s no better way to prepare them than to cut them up, stir in a little sugar, and spoon them over a biscuit for shortcake.

Of course, as with all simple concepts, strawberry shortcake has become more complex. It has given way to peach shortcakes and strawberry-blueberry shortcakes topped with gourmet sauces and served with creme fraiche. But I can deal with that. What I can’t handle is a bad biscuit. While Maine strawberries can’t be improved upon, many biscuits can.

I’ve had shortcake that rivals a hockey puck in both size and texture. I’ve ordered it at a restaurant only to receive berries and Cool-Whip on one of those miniature sponge cakes. I’ve had strawberries on tall cakes and angel-food cakes with mounds of whipped cream. But all I really wanted was a biscuit. Or something that resembles a biscuit.

I found it at my grandmother-in-law’s house in Frankfort. She knows from biscuits. She also knows from shortcake. They’re not the same thing, but they’re interchangeable. Though she and her husband both grew up in Ohio’s farm country, she didn’t perfect her biscuit recipe until she moved to Maine in the late 1960s and started working for a little outfit in Bangor called the Byron H. Smith Co., which manufactured Bakewell Cream.

In 1987, Apple Ledge Co. of East Holden bought the Bakewell Cream business, and several months ago, Apple Ledge sold the business to The New England Cupboard, a Bangor-based mix maker. The leavening agent, which replaces cream of tartar, is a staple in Maine pantries – and it can be found in the kitchens of many cooks who have visited the state, as well. It has a devoted following among cooks, because it makes baked goods and pancakes – not just biscuits – extra tall and extra light.

“That’s the most important ingredient,” my grandmother-in-law Roberta Grove said recently as she mixed up a batch of biscuit dough. “That’s what makes them special.”

There’s another thing that makes them special, too. Before baking, she dabs butter on top of each biscuit.

“That makes them a little browner on top,” she said. “It makes them a little bit richer on top. Butter doesn’t hurt anything – except people.”

The biscuit recipe comes straight from the back of the Bakewell Cream can – you don’t mess with perfection -and it’s straightforward as can be: flour, Bakewell Cream, baking soda, salt, shortening and milk. Usually, Roberta doesn’t even roll it out – she pats it, cuts out circles, pops it in the oven, and 10 minutes later, voila, a better biscuit. For the baking-impaired, the New England Cupboard sells a Bakewell Cream Biscuit Mix, too. It’s fail-safe: all you need to do is add milk and oil.

For people who like things a little on the sweeter side (which is everyone but me), she makes a shortcake.

“It’s in between a cake and a biscuit,” she said.

Her recipe for shortcake, which she bakes in a round cake pan and cuts into wedges, comes from the original “Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book,” which is still in print. Betty’s explanation says it all: “The good old-time American dessert … Still first choice.” Take that, apple pie.

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net. Bakewell Cream is available at Hannaford, Shaw’s and Associated Grocers stores. To order Bakewell Cream Biscuit Mix, visit www.newenglandcupboard.com.

Bakewell Cream Biscuits

Makes 8 biscuits

4 cups flour

4 teaspoons Bakewell Cream

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

11/2 cups cold milk

Mix and sift dry ingredients. Add shortening and mix with pastry blender. Add milk all at once and stir quickly with a fork (some flours may require a little more liquid to make a nice, soft dough).

Turn out on a floured board and knead 5 or 6 more times. Roll or pat to 1/2- or 3/4-inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter. Bake at 475 degrees F for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and leave in oven 5 to 10 more minutes until golden brown.

Recipe adapted from Bakewell Cream label.

Shortcake

Makes 6 servings.

2 cups sifted flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons shortening

2/3 to 3/4 cup milk

In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until fine. Stir in milk to make dough soft. Knead lightly. Divide dough in half.

Pat half of dough into a well-greased 8-inch round pan. Dot with butter. Pat other half on top. Bake at 450 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes (425 if your oven runs hot), until golden brown. Split layers apart.

Spoon sweetened strawberries (room temperature) between and on top. Serve warm with whipped or plain cream.

If you’d like individual shortcakes, roll dough, fold in half and cut.

Recipe adapted from the “Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book.”

Sweet Berries

1 to 11/2 quarts berries

Sugar, to taste

Slice half of berries. Crush remaining berries slightly with back of spoon. Add sugar to taste (about 3/4 cup). Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Recipe adapted from the “Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book.”