I have an abundance of fresh strawberries on hand, so let’s make some Strawberry Shortcake ! Using Alice Waters’ recipe from The Art of Simple Food , these scrumptious bits of heaven were created. Since there are no pictures provided in her cookbook, you may follow them here as I followed them. These would be a great creation to prepare with the littles who surround you with love aand make some literally sweet memories.
Sweet Cream Biscuits:
Cream biscuits with sugar added to the mix yields a tender biscuit to perfectly accompany these sweet, fresh strawberries! Whisk together the dry ingredients. Grate half of the COLD butter and toss it into the dry mixture; toss to combine. Then, repeat with the remaining butter. Cut the grated butter into the dry ingredients with either a pastry blender, or use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour mixture until little balls have formed like is shown below. Form a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream, reserving a tablespoon to be used later. Mix just until the dough begins to come together.
Knead dough into the sides of the bowl to gather anything stuck on the sides of the bowl. Then place on a lightly floured board.
Roll the dough to about a 3/4″ thickness. Use a floured round or square cutter. This was a 2″ diameter circle; the recipe called for a 1-1/2″ cutter which I did not have available. You donn’t want a large biscuit as you want the strawberries to stand out. Brush them with the reserved tablespoon of cream and refrigerate while the oven preheats to 400 degrees.
Bake for 17-20 minutes.
The Strawberries:
While the oven is preheating and the biscuits are baking, make this divine strawberry topping for the shortcake..My lovely assistant, the egg slicer, cut these strawberries with such ease! Place your strawberries bottoms up and slice! Depending on their size, you could do two or three at a time. I measured out 1 cup of strawberry slices and pureed them.
Next, measure out 3 cups of sliced strawberries and sprinkle them with 1/4 cup of sugar, less if you like. Top with the pureed strawberies and gently stir to combine. Allow it to sit at least 15 minutes before serving.
YUM!!!
The Whipped Cream:
Using a hand mixer, begin to blend ingredients( cream sugar and vanilla) on LOW speed. Gradually increase to HIGH and stop once soft peaks are created. You can make this ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator until ready to assemble your Strawberry Shortcake.
The Assembly:
Split the Sweet Cream Biscuit in half and place about a 1.4 cup(or more) of strawberries on top of the bottom half. Put a hefty scoop of whipped cream on top of that. Place the other biscuit half on top and dust with some powdered sugar. Isn’t that a work of art?
I know this isn’t the presttiest of pictures, but oh was this Strawberry Shortcake good! Hopefully you can give it a try
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 1 1/2 c All-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/4 t salt
- 4 t granulated sugar
- 2 t baking powder
- 6 T cold butter
- 3/4 c heavy cream, reserve 1 T for brushing biscuits
Strawberries
- 4 c sliced strawberries, divided
- 1/4 c granulated sugar
Whipped Cream
- 1 c heavy whipping cream
- 1 T granulated sugar
- 1/2 t vanilla
Instructions
Sweet Cream Biscuits
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Position a box grater in the flour mixture and grate half the butter then toss gently in with butter. Repeat with the last half.
- With a pastry blender, combine further until mixture has the appearance of small lumps throughout. As an alternative, you may use your hands to rub butter into flour to yield similar results.
- Make a well in the center and pour in 3/4 cup of heavy cream(minus 1 T to brush biscuits before baking). Stir gently with a wooden spoon until mixture begins to come together. Knead mixture within the bowl to gather any loose bits, then turn out onto a lightly floured board.
- Roll dough to a height of 3/4". Cut with a 2" biscuit cutter, either square or round. Reroll scraps to obtain a few more biscuits.
- Place biscuits onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with the reserved tablespoon of heavy cream. Place pan into refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 400° F. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
Strawberries
- Slice berries to measure 4 cups. I used my egg slicer by placing berries bottoms up.
- Take out 1 cup of the sliced berries and puree them.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over the 3 cups of berries, then pour the pureed berries into the mix. Gently stir to combine and allow them to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Whipped Cream
- Whip the ingredients until soft peaks appear.
Serving it up !
- Slice cooled biscuit in half on serving plate.
- Spoon desired amount of berries over a biscuit half. Top with the other biscuit half.
- Dust the top with confectioner's sugar, if desired.
- Other option: Place berries on both halves then top with whipped cream.
