Spring is the most exciting time of year. Everything comes back to life and it's finally strawberry season. A ripe strawberry is so delicious and perfectly sweet you don't need to do one thing to it. So what a better way to enjoy that strawberry than sandwiched between a biscuit with loads of whip cream? This is the perfect dessert to serve for mothers day. It's festive and fun, but super easy, and the fresh fruit does all the talking.
Shortcake Biscuits
makes 8 round biscuits
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold butter cubed
1 lightly beaten egg
1/2 cup cold heavy cream ( plus an extra tablespoon or so if dough seems dry)
raw turbinado sugar for sprinkling
4 cups of sliced strawberries
4 tablespoons sugar ( helps them to macerate and create a good sauce)
To start, slice your strawberries and mix them with the 4 tablespoons sugar. Set them aside and give them time to sit in their own juices while you make the biscuits. To make the biscuits put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixer and combine. Add your cold cubed butter a few pieces at a time with the mixer on low, (you could also cut the butter in by hand with a pastry cutter). Mix until it looks a little like sand and the butter is the size of peas. Add your beaten egg and cream and mix until just combined. It should be a little on the dry side, but still come together, if not add a couple tablespoons cream. Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface keeping it a fairly good thickness and cut your biscuits out with a round cutter or a drinking glass. Be sure not to turn your cutter back and forth as you cut or it will prevent them from rising as high.
You should get 8 biscuits out of your dough. You will probably need to roll it out twice for the right thickness for about 4 biscuits per time. Try to do it quickly so you don't handle your dough too much and melt the butter. Place on an ungrease cookie sheet and top each one liberally with turbinado sugar. If you want to ensure more of a shine you could also brush each biscuit with a beaten egg. Place them in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. When they come out transfer them to a cooling rack while you whip the cream.
Vanilla Whipping Cream
1 1/2 cups whipped cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whip the cold cream until soft peaks form.Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla and serve immediately on-top of the strawberries and biscuits.
Building the shortcakes
1. Cut each biscuit in half with a sharp serrated knife.
2. put a small bit of cream on the bottom half of each biscuit
3. pile about a half cup of strawberries on each shortcake
4. Top with more cream!!
5. Place the top half of the biscuit on the layer of cream and serve.
