Strawberry Shortcake
The restaurant trick is folding cold butter into the flour twice, creating flaky layers without turning the biscuit into pastry-shop fussiness; it works beautifully in a home oven. I macerate the…
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 6 ounces unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
- 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the center and heat the oven to 425°F. Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment. Measure the flour, 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt into a wide mixing bowl; chilling the cubed butter and keeping the bowl broad makes it easier to work quickly without warming the dough.
- Add the cold butter to the dry ingredients and rub it between your fingertips until most pieces are the size of peas, leaving a few thin flakes as large as a thumbnail. Those uneven pieces melt into steam pockets, which give the shortcakes a layered crumb; stop before the mixture becomes uniformly sandy.
- Pour in 1 1/4 cups of the heavy cream and add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla. Stir with a fork just until no dry flour remains, about 30 seconds. The dough should look shaggy and slightly sticky, not smooth; overmixing develops gluten and produces tough biscuits.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and press it into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Fold it in half, rotate it a quarter turn, and press it out again; repeat this fold once more, using the heel of your hand rather than kneading. Cut eight rounds with a floured 2 1/2-inch cutter, pressing straight down so the layers rise cleanly, and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared sheet.
- Brush the biscuit tops with 2 tablespoons of the remaining cream and sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar. Bake at 425°F for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes, until the tops are deeply golden and the sides look dry and lifted. A biscuit should feel light when picked up and sound faintly hollow when tapped underneath.
- While the shortcakes bake, place the sliced strawberries in a large bowl with the remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Fold gently with a rubber spatula, then let them stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. Stir once halfway through; the berries are ready when a red syrup gathers at the bottom but the slices still hold their edges.
- Pour the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream into a chilled bowl and whisk by hand or with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the confectioners' sugar once the cream begins to thicken, then continue only until soft peaks form that droop slightly at the tip. Stop immediately when the cream looks satiny; stiff cream turns grainy and overwhelms the berries.
- Transfer the baked shortcakes to a wire rack and cool for 8 to 10 minutes, until warm rather than hot. Do not assemble them straight from the oven, because excessive heat melts the whipped cream; do not chill them either, because a warm biscuit absorbs the strawberry syrup far better.
- For dinner-party service, use a serrated knife to split each shortcake horizontally. Set the bottoms on eight dessert plates, spoon over about 1/3 cup strawberries and a little of their syrup, add a generous spoonful of whipped cream, and cap with the biscuit top. Finish each plate with a few berries and a narrow spoonful of syrup rather than flooding the plate.
- Serve immediately while the shortcakes are still faintly warm and the cream is cool. If holding for up to 20 minutes, keep the biscuits uncovered at room temperature and the berries and whipped cream refrigerated separately; assemble only when guests are seated so the bottoms remain tender instead of soggy.
Watch the Strawberry Shortcake cooking video
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