A great strawberry shortcake always starts with the biscuit. These sweetened buttermilk biscuits are so soft and slightly dense. They make the perfect base to soak up the strawberry syrup too! Stack the sliced strawberries high and the homemade vanilla whipped cream even higher!
Who else is ready for a scrumptious strawberry shortcake with some sweet, freshly picked strawberries? I am for sure! We have a local strawberry u-pick place near us and I have to go at least once or twice every year with last year being the only exception. I was knee-deep in cookies for my Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook, but I’ll definitely be there this year no matter what!
I love a sweet biscuit to pile fresh berries on. I spent a couple of days working on what I would call the perfect buttermilk biscuit for shortcake. I learned a few things along the way too.
- Too much butter or shortening will cause cracks in the tops of the biscuits.
- Overworking the dough will also cause cracks in the biscuits and one tough biscuit
- I prefer freezing the butter and grating it instead of using a pastry cutter to work it into the flour
- Brushing heavy cream on the tops of the biscuits make them shiny and helps brown the tops of biscuits up.
Another game changer for a strawberry shortcake is a vanilla whipped cream. A plain whipped cream is great. I had it every time I had strawberry shortcake growing up, but the vanilla just adds another layer of flavor to a pretty simple dessert. Plus it only takes a 1/2 of a teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste added in with the heavy cream and powdered sugar. You have to try it!
I did a ton of recipe testing for these biscuits. I’m far from an expert so I was going for practice makes perfect. I had SO many biscuits hanging out that weren’t quite up to par, that I took down a bag of them to my mom and still had SO many. I did what anyone with too many biscuits to eat should do, I froze them!
Can you freeze biscuits that are already baked? YES! Wrap the completely cooled biscuits in tin foil or plastic wrap, pop them in a freezer bag, and freeze them. They should last 2 – 3 months.
Can you freeze the biscuit dough? YES! Cut the biscuits out, place them on a baking pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the freezer until they’re frozen and then pop them into a freezer bag until you’re ready to bake them. They may take a few minutes longer baking in the oven if they’re frozen.
Want to try a boozy shortcake? This Redd’s apple fruit shortcake is amazing!
Love strawberries? These recipes are my favorite!
- Fresh Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Strawberry Lemon Blondies
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad
- Strawberry Pound Cake
- Fresh Strawberry Syrup
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter frozen or very cold
- 1 cup buttermilk cold
- 1 - 2 teaspoons heavy cream
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups strawberries hulled and sliced
- 2 - 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar to taste
Instructions
- Add sliced strawberries and the 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Stir to cover the strawberries with the sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour until the juices are released.
Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Using a box grater, grate the butter into the dry ingredients. You can also use a pastry cutter and cut the butter into the flour until the butter has been into pea size crumbles.
- Add the buttermilk and stir until the flour is just incorporated. Give it a knead a few times with your hands if it didn't come together fully by stirring it.
- Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Press the dough out until it's about an inch thickness. I used my hands and pinched together any big cracks as I was pressing it out. You can also lightly flour the top of the dough and roll it out.
- Using a biscuit cutter (mine was 3 1/2 inches), cut out 6 biscuits with it. Place onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush the heavy cream on top of the biscuits.
- Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. The edges should be golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool.
Whipped Cream
- In a large mixing bowl, add in the heavy cream. Beat with a hand mixer on medium until it thickens to a soft peak.
- Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
- Add the whipped cream in a piping bag with a large straight tip.
Assemble
- Cut the cooled biscuits in half. Add strawberries and juice. Pipe a layer of whipped cream. Add the top biscuit. Add a small dollop of whipped cream on top and a strawberry.
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