Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcakes

Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcakes with Flaky Biscuits and Macerated Strawberries

An Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake consisting of a flaky biscuit, sweetened whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Such a simple recipe that produces those classic shortcakes your grandmother may have served!

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This recipe takes the classic approach starting with flaky, buttery, homemade biscuits.

Use the freshest, reddest strawberries you can find. I add strawberry shortcakes to the bakery menu starting in June - our strawberry season. Most of us can get good strawberries year round - but nothing beats the taste of a strawberry picked yesterday at a local farm.

Tips for Making the Strawberry Shortcakes

Follow these simple steps below and you will have a tasty dessert in no time!

Macerate the Berries:

• Slice and macerate the strawberries by tossing in granulated sugar and letting rest for at least an hour. The sugar will draw moisture out of the strawberries and dissolve to make a sweet sauce to drizzle over your shortcake. This process will also soften your berries resulting in a more palatable texture for the dessert.

Make the Biscuits:

• Use cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes approximately ⅓ of an inch. Eliminate the salt in the recipe below if you use salted butter.
• Whisk or sift your dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, salt and baking powder). This recipe uses a lot of baking powder and you want it well distributed.
• Add the butter cubes to the dry ingredients and toss to coat. Begin cutting the butter into the dry ingredients using your hands or a pastry cutter. Break the butter down into smaller pieces and coat each piece with the dry ingredients. Continue working the butter into the flour mixture until there are still bits of butter about the size of a pea.
• Add 11 fluid ounces (1 ⅓ cup) of heavy cream to the bowl and toss with a rubber spatula. Work dough briefly with your hands until it starts to come together.
• Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly until no dry crumbs remain.
• Roll dough to ½ inch (dust work surface and/or rolling pin with flour if the dough begins to stick).
• Cut biscuits using a 3" round pastry cutter. You may also cut the biscuits into 2 ½ inch squares by using a knife or bench scraper.
• Roll out remaining scraps of dough and cut additional biscuits.
• Place half of the biscuits on a baking pan lined with parchment paper (or lightly butter the pan).
• Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter. Place the other half of the biscuits on top of the biscuits in the pan and brush with melted butter.
• Bake at 400° F for 12 - 15 minutes. Biscuits will be well risen and a dark brown when finished.
• Cool biscuits completely before assembling the shortcakes.

Assemble the Shortcakes:

• After the shortcakes are completely cool, pull the two pieces apart you baked on top of each other. Place the bottom of each shortcake on a serving plate.
• Whip 8 fluid ounces (1 cup) of heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar. Whip until stiff peaks are formed.
• Spoon a few strawberries and sauce (from macerating berries) over the bottom biscuit. Place a dollop (approximately 2 tablespoons) of the whipped cream on top of the strawberries. Place the top biscuit over the whipped cream. Place another dollop of whipped cream on the top biscuit and place a few more berries and sauce over the whipped cream.
• Enjoy your old-fashioned strawberry shortcakes!