Sweet Summer Strawberry Shortcakes

June 14th is National Strawberry Shortcake day so, of course, I had to make one of my favorite summer dishes to commemorate the day! I love everything about Strawberry Shortcake; the light, fluffy whipped cream, fresh juicy strawberries and the sweet biscuits.

I wanted to share with you my favorite recipe for this mouth watering summer-time dessert.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

For the Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbs. confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

For the Strawberries:

• 1 1/2 pounds strawberries stemmed and sliced
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

For the Shortcakes:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbs. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1 1/3 cold heavy cream
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbs. heavy cream (use to brush on shortcakes)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees; line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. While you are getting together all of your ingredients placed a metal bowl and whisk into your freezer so they can cool for the whipped cream (about 15 minutes).
3. Pour in the heavy whipping cream into the cold bowl begin to beat on low speed for 1-2 minutes; then add in the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract, beat for 2 minutes on medium; switch to medium/high and beat until stiff peaks begin to form.
4. Place the whipped topping into the fridge.
5. Slice up your strawberries, place into bowl, top with sugar and then combine; cover and place into the fridge.
6. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder; stir in the salt.
7. Add the cold butter cubes into the flour and begin to combine with a pastry fork or your hands (I prefer using my hands because I think I can control the mixture more). Once small beads begin to form in the flour/butter mixture, then set it to the side.
8. Take a small bowl and combine the cold heavy cream and vanilla extract (it’s important that the heavy cream be cold). Mix this into the flour/butter mixture until it’s just combined.
9. Lightly flour your counter top and knead the dough together so that there aren’t any dry or crumbly pieces left; however, be mindful that you don’t over-mix.
10. Form the dough into a circle (about 1 inch in thickness) and then cut into rounds. If you’re super fancy and have a biscuit cutter use that but I just used an upside down glass to cut the circles. Place the rounds onto the cookie sheet (about 1-2 inches apart).
11. Put the pan and biscuit rounds into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
12. Pull out the strawberry mixture and mix it up again then put back into the fridge.
13. Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes; keep a close eye on them as some ovens may cook quicker or slower than others and you don’t want them to be overcooked.
14. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
15. Assemble the shortcakes! Cut the biscuits in half; spoon the strawberries onto the lower half. At this point there should be a liquid that has formed in the strawberry bowl, I really like to pour some of that liquid over the biscuit bottom first. Top the strawberries with however much whipped topping you want. Add the other biscuit half; add more strawberries (and strawberry liquid) and top with more whipped topping. Add one strawberry, without the stem, on top.
16. Serve!

Thanks for stopping by to read how to make these! If you decide to give this recipe a try, I would LOVE to see your finished product!