Fruit Fillings for Shortcakes

This recipe accompanies the Shortcakes recipe. I made strawberry shortcakes last night, fabulous! (also from the cookbook The Best Recipe)

Although the fruit used to fill a pie, crisp or cobbler is simply mixed together, shortcakes made with berries require an extra step--crushing 3 cups of the fruit with a potato masher. Once this fruit has been crushed, mix in the remaining 5 cups of fruit (sliced if using strawberries) and the sugar.

Stone fruits are merely sliced (without crushing) and sugared. With both berries and stone fruits, set the prepared filling aside for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours to macerate.

Blackberries:
8 cups blackberries (3 cups mashed, remaining berries whole)
6 tablespoons sugar

Blueberries:
8 cups stemmed blueberries (3 cups mashed, remaining berries whole)
6 tablespoons sugar

Mangoes:
8 cups mangoes (4 to 5 pounds), peeled, pitted and sliced thin
6 tablespoons sugar

Peaches/Nectarines:
8 cups fruit (3 to 4 pounds), pitted and sliced thin
6 tablespoons

Plums:
8 cups plums (about 3 pounds), pitted and sliced thin
6 tablespoons sugar

Strawberries:
8 cups hulled strawberries (3 cups mashed, remaining berries sliced)
6 tablespoons sugar