Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake can be a simple recipe when broken down into parts. This is a two-part Strawberry Shortcake recipe, and everything is homemade. This wonderful and delicious dessert deserves a place on your table for Sunday dinner or just when you have guests over. The two different parts are the strawberries and whipped cream, as well as the biscuits. You will want to make this over and over again.

Ingredients For Topping:

• 6-7 cups of quartered strawberries
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Ingredients For Biscuits:

• 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a bit for working on
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter cold and cubed
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• coarse sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Stir the strawberries and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar together in a large bowl. Cover the strawberry sugar mixture and set it in the refrigerator until it’s ready to use.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add the cubed butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter or pulse it several times in the processor. Cut until coarse crumbs begin to form.
3. Pour the buttermilk on top and fold everything together with a rubber spatula until it looks like dough. The dough should look shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots. Pour out the dough onto a floured work surface and bring it together with floured hands. Keep flour nearby so that your hands and work surface will always have flour on them. Flatten into 3/4-inch-thick rectangles. Then fold one side into the center and the other. Flatten again into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle and repeat this process four more times so that the dough will be flaky. In the end, you should have a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle that had been worked several times.
4. Cut circles out of the dough without twisting as you pressed down. Re-roll and flatten any scraps and cut more circles until you have at least 10 biscuits.
5. Arrange in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet so that the biscuits are touching.
6. Brush the tops with heavy whipping cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
7. Next use a hand mixer or a whisk to beat heavy whipping cream, two tablespoons of granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until soft-medium peaks form in a large bowl.
8. Slice the cooled biscuits in half and layer with the homemade whipping cream, and sugared strawberries you put in the refrigerator previously. Serve immediately.

Tips:

• Every part of this recipe can be made ahead of time and kept and the refrigerator for up to a day so that you can have ready-to-make strawberry shortcakes. Biscuits can be baked up to a week in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. Biscuits can also be frozen up to three months in advance.
• Milk can be substituted for buttermilk. Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar can be added to the cup of cold milk to make it taste like buttermilk. Whisk together 5 minutes before using in the recipe.
• The cast-iron skillet must be well seasoned and adding a little melted butter to the bottom and sides of it won’t harm the recipe.