Taste and Create: Buttermilk Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake

When it comes to strawberry shortcake I'm firmly in the biscuit camp. That's how my Grandmother and my Mom always made it, and that's how I make it. I don't mind eating versions made with sponge cake... but you'll never see it made that way in my house. Proper strawberry shortcake is assembled from split  just-out-of-the-oven biscuits graced with a dab of butter, over which are layered a LOT of sliced berries covered with a crown of whipped cream.

Our CSA fruit share this weekend included two quarts of strawberries again, which were so ripe we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get them home before they turned into juice. You can see that a few of them look suspiciously dark and mushy, and there was no keeping any aside for another dish later, so we quickly rinsed and sliced them and resigned ourselves to a strawberry shortcake blow-out.

For this month's Taste and Create I was partnered with our hostess, Nicole of For The Love of Food.  She literally saved my butt, because she had a really beautiful photo of and recipe for buttermilk biscuits... and I had all those berries to use! I usually make my biscuits with cream when they're going to embrace berries, but these buttermilk biscuits looked too good to ignore. Unfortunately, my annoying and badly calibrated oven was running hot, and crisped up the bottoms before the biscuits got a chance to really rise, but I must say they tasted lovely. Do visit Nicole's post to see how they ought to look!

Strawberry Shortcake With Buttermilk Biscuits

2 quarts strawberries
About 6 tablespoons sugar
2 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Fructose (or sugar)
1 teaspoon Salt
125 grams Butter (I believe that’s 1 American-sized stick of Butter)
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 cups whipping cream (for whipped cream)

Prepare the berries:
Pick through the berries and set aside a few for garnishing. Wash, hull and slice the rest of them and toss with sugar to taste. Chill until serving time.

Make the biscuits (recipe courtesy of For the Love of Food):
Preheat oven to 235°C (450°F).

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the Butter in smaller chunks and cut together with a fork or pastry cutter until there are just tiny little pea-sized crumbles. Then, add the butter milk and mix in, once it gets too sticky, use your hand to mix.

Spread a teeny tiny bit of flour onto your counter top - I mean a supper thin layer, we don’t want too much to transfer to the biscuits, we just don’t want the dough to stick. Ok, now make the dough into a ball, take your rolling pin, and beat it. Give it about 4-6 whacks and then fold it in half. Do this over and over until you’ve done it 10 times. Then, roll the dough out so that it’s about 2 cm thick (about 3/4 inch). Then, cut the biscuits with a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or metal measuring cup. You will have some dough left over, fold and whack, fold and whack - 2 times is enough. Then roll it a bit, and cut again, until there’s no dough left.

Place them on a baking sheet really close together (touching sides) so that they rise up and not out. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Assemble the shortcakes:
Whip the cream (I don't add sugar, but you can add a tablespoon of confectioner's sugar if you like). Split the warm biscuits and place a pat of butter on one half of each biscuit.  Spoon the strawberries over the buttered half and add a dollop of whipped cream. Set the tops back on and dollop more whipped cream over them. Garnish with a whole berry.

Comments

[Sophie]

This looks SOOOO good! Really, I'm drooling.
The photos are beautiful, and the biscuits look perfect to me.

[Manggy]

I know this!!! I saw it originally on Nicole's site. You both have just the most seductive pictures of biscuits (scones? lol) and strawberry shortcakes I've seen. Check out that recipe-- it's virtually sugar-free! Fantastic. But this isn't the time to talk of health and calories, right? ;)

:( You're not a fan of the spongecake type!! :( Kidding!

[adele]

These look exceptional.

I have to find a friend with a car so that I can go berry-picking. Maybe I'll use the promise of shortcake as a bribe. :)

[Patricia Scarpin]

those strawberries are the reddest I have ever seen, Ann!
What a fresh, simple yet delicious recipe.

[Bonbon Oiseau]

Thanks so much for your comments on my blog--love yours as well--beautiful recipe--my very favorite summer dessert!

[Bellini Valli]

I am making strawberry shortcake tomorrow for our mother/daughter dinner and a movie. I am in the cake camp though being a Canadian...I hope we can still be friends...wink....

[Karyn]

My favorite summer dessert! I also require biscuits. :-)

[giz]

Thos strawberries are totally gorgeous and scream "local". Ours are just coming into the markets and I just can't wait. The shortbread looks amazing.

[Aparna]

Can't taste the real thing, but the visual version is close. I cooked up some of the Nicole's pancakes and they were great.

[grace]

this is my perfect dessert. fresh berries, sweet cream, and soft-yet-spongy-enough-to-suck-up-all-those-strawberry-juices biscuits. yum.

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

Do you think some people are born with the biscuit-making gene? I certainly was not, and my biscuits often resemble hockey pucks. I keep trying, though -- and I also have strawberries from the farmers' market in the fridge, so I think it's time to try again.

[Ann]

Sophie, they were pretty tasty!

Manggy, I'm not saying I won't eat berries with spongecake... I'm just saying it's not strawberry shortcake without biscuits. :-)

adele, sounds like a fair trade to me!

Patricia Scarpin, they were very red, weren't they? Sometimes simple is best!

Bonbon Oiseau, it's a classic!

Bellini Valli, we'll always be friends. :-)

Karyn, a woman of taste and discernment, you are!

giz, I look forward to seeing what you'll do with your local berries.

Aparna, Nicole has some really terrific recipes!

grace, juice absorption is definiteyl a key factor in a good shortcake!

Lydia, I think it's like pie crust... if you do it often enough you get good at it. But it's not something you can make now and again with expectations of perfection. I don't make biscuits enough, clearly. :-)

[Aran]

hmmm... i love shortcake... i was looking at the juicy nectarines i got yesterday and thinking about a shortcake... talk about comfort!

[frenchtart]

my strawberries from the farm hardly make it home! i eat most on the drive home.

[Deborah]

I haven't had a strawberry shortcake in much too long. This one sounds delicious!

[Mansi]

These look so beautiful and delicious Ann! perfect execution of Nicole's perfet recipe:) I made panna cotta with strawberries 2 days ago, now I need to try this!!:)

[dhanggit]

this dessert is divine!! too bad strawberry season just ended in france i will have to wait next year to try this recipe :-(

[Elle]

There is no dessert more perfect in the summer than strawberry shortcake. It looks lovely!

[Susan from Food Blogga]

My mom made her with cake, but after seeing your splendid creation, I may have to switch to the biscuit camp. (Just don't tell Mom, OK?)

[Tim]

There really is no delicate way to eat something as stuffed full of cream as this, and nor should there be.

[Elvira36]

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