as featured on the Cuisinart Stand Mixer Blog
by Jennifer Perillo
I’ve been all about strawberries ever since our season here in NYC started a few weeks ago. There are jars of ruby red jam strewn about the kitchen counter, they’ve been sprinkled over buttermilk pancakes, and then there’s the yummy snack of a handful of berries between meals.
Growing up my mom used to make a quick dessert by topping individual store-bought sponge cakes with some strawberries and a heaping mound of canned whipped cream. This week I decided to put a homemade spin on it. While I love sponge cake, I wasn’t in the mood to figure out a use for all the egg yolks I’d have left over. All the jam in the house has had me in biscuit baking mode. I recently came across an excellent by Dorie Greenspan. Since her recipe makes the best buttermilk biscuit I’ve ever had, I decided to use her recipe as a springboard to make sweet cream biscuits.
First thing is the sugar needed to be increased, I upped my measurement to 3 tablespoons. Then it's goodbye buttermilk and baking soda; Hello heavy cream – it is dessert after all. Sweet cream biscuits emerged from the oven in less than 20 minutes. They would become the perfect pastry base for my confection.
I tossed the strawberries with a touch of sugar while the biscuits were baking. The whipped cream came together while they were cooling but you can make it a couple of hours ahead if you’re serving this at a dinner party. Don’t worry about the leftover biscuits—they’re delicious the next day with some butter…and strawberry jam.
A few minutes sitting with a sprinkle of sugar draws out the strawberries natural juices. A splash of Grand Marnier while they’re macerating lends a grown-up flavor to this dessert.
Serves 4
½ teaspoon sugar
1 cup fresh strawberries, thinly sliced
4 cooled sweet cream biscuits, split in half
½ cup fresh whipped cream
1. Sprinkle sugar over strawberries in a small bowl. Let sit for at least ten minutes, and up to 30 minutes.
2. Arrange biscuit bottoms on four dessert plates or bowls. Top each biscuit piece with two tablespoons of strawberries. Spoon two tablespoons whipped cream over strawberries. Spoon two more tablespoons of strawberries over whipped cream. Place biscuit top on each shortcake. Serve immediately.
Makes one dozen 3-inch biscuits
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 12 pieces
1 cup plus 1 teaspoon of heavy cream
1. Heat oven to 425ºF. Put flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse one second to combine. Add the cold butter and pulse until mixture becomes sandy, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Add cream and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a scraggy-looking dough. Knead in bowl a few times until it comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and press into a ½-inch thick circle. Dip a 3-inch biscuit cutter into flour and cut out 12 pieces. Gently form ball and re-press scraps if necessary.
3. Place cutout biscuits onto an ungreased sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Serve warm with butter and jam, or let cool to assemble strawberry shortcakes.
I like my whipped cream with just a whisper of sugar, but feel free to add more to suit your sweet tooth.
Makes one generous cupful
8 ounces very cold heavy cream
1 teaspoon confectioner’s sugar
1. Pour cream into bowl of your Cuisinart Stand Mixer. Mix on high speed until it just begins to form soft peaks. Add confectioner’s sugar and continuing whipping for another 45 seconds to one minute until the peaks become a bit more firm, being careful not to over beat or it will seize. May be made up to two hours in advance and stored in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.