- [Narrator] The only thing better than snacking
on perfectly ripe strawberries in the summer
is tossing them in some sugar
and spooning them over a tender biscuit
and velvety whipped cream.
Today, we're gonna make our favorite version
of strawberry shortcake.
(upbeat music)
There's a variety of shortcakes out there,
but we're going with the classic biscuit version
with strawberries.
The best shortcakes have a flaky but tender biscuit
that holds delicious fresh fruit and decadent whipped cream.
Don't worry. It will be very easy to make.
Let's start off on our strawberries.
We want to hole them
so that you keep as much of the berry as possible.
It's crucial to use a small, sharp knife
to cut around the stem and remove the leaves.
Then, we're gonna cut the larger berries in half or quarters
to try and get all the berries to be about the same size.
You can technically use any fruit that's in season,
like peaches, nectarines, apricots or cherries.
Any macerated fruit with sweetened cream
and a buttery biscuit makes for an effortless,
but elegant dessert.
Now, we'll macerate the strawberries.
It's like marinating, but for berries and fruit.
This is a simple process
where you add sugar to gently break down the fruit.
Other ways to macerate the fruit is with syrups or spices.
You can use things like some fresh mint, nutmeg, cardamom,
cinnamon, thinly sliced lemongrass, freshly grated ginger,
some sumac, or basil.
The possibilities are genuinely endless.
You could also use things like vinegars, liqueurs,
honey, maple syrup, or even vanilla.
These are all great options
for adding some extra flavor to your fruit.
We're gonna take our berries a little further
to really enhance the flavor.
In addition to the granulated sugar,
we're also adding some sumac for a little extra tang
and a pinch of salt to bring all the flavors together,
and we'll stir it to coat the berries completely.
If you don't have any sumac,
you can totally add a squeeze of lemon juice
for a similar effect.
We're gonna let this sit at room temperature
for about 30 minutes,
but then we'll refrigerate them until we're ready to serve,
up to overnight.
You already know we tested a ton
of different types of biscuits.
This is our flaky biscuit.
This dough is folded and laminated with fat
to create bunch of flaky layers.
This one is the drop biscuit.
This dough is gently mixed, usually with cream,
and dropped on a sheet tray for an extra fluffy texture.
This is the one I grew up with, the canned biscuit.
These guys are a little more dense,
but they're super quick and convenient.
This is the one we're calling a kneading biscuit.
This method is probably how most home cooks do it.
This dough has a little less butter and a little more liquid
to help bring the dough together.
This is an extra tender biscuit without all the layers.
Our favorite biscuit? This guy right here.
It's sort of a hybrid.
It's flaky and crispy, but it has an extra tender crumb,
and makes the ultimate vehicle for our shortcake.
We're still working on a name for this one,
so if you have any ideas,
please leave them in the comments below.
To make these biscuits,
we're gonna mix together our all-purpose flour,
baking powder, granulated sugar, salt, and some baking soda.
The all-purpose flour has a lower protein content,
which helps create a tender texture
for a light and fluffy biscuit.
We're using a European butter
'cause it has a higher fat content than American butter.
The additional fat creates a creamier
and more flavorful biscuit.
That's what we're looking for.
Irish butter can be a little more expensive,
and it does add a ton of extra flavor
that you may or may not want for your biscuit.
Just like any flaky pastry, we want our butter to be cold,
in this case, ice cold.
We're gonna freeze our butter and then use a box grater
to cut the butter into the flour mixture.
This will help to distribute the butter evenly.
We've talked about it before,
but it's super crucial to only use your fingertips
to gently toss the butter into the flour mixture
until all of the butter is completely coated.
Then we'll pour in the buttermilk
and use one of our favorite tools in the kitchen,
this bowl scraper.
We want to bring the mixture together
until this shaggy mass forms.
The dome will still look a little dry,
but don't be tempted to add any extra buttermilk.
Buttermilk has the perfect balance of fat and acid
for our biscuits, but we also tested dough
with sour cream, yogurt, and labneh.
Labneh is a crazy delicious strained yogurt.
They all produced similar textures,
but each of them gave an extra flavor boost,
if you're up for trying something a little different.
Now, we're gonna pour the dough onto our clean surface
and use a bench scraper
to help press it into a small square.
A flexible bowl scraper and a metal bench scraper
are great additional tools for your kitchen.
They really help keep the biscuits and your station clean.
Once we bring our dough into a really rough rectangle,
we're gonna use a rolling pin and press and roll the dough.
Once we roll the dough out into a flatter rectangle,
we want to fold it in thirds, like a letter.
Then we'll roll it out again.
We're gonna repeat this folding and rolling
for a total of four or five folds.
This folding technique is similar to laminating dough
for croissant-like layers, only it's much more rustic
when creating flaky layers for biscuits.
Once we've worked in all of our folds,
we want to carefully transfer the dough
to a parchment-lined sheet tray
and freeze it for about 30 minutes.
This will allow the flour to really hydrate
and ultimately help the biscuits bake evenly.
Once the dough is fully chilled,
we'll bring it back to our cutting board
and use a large chef's knife
to trim the edges and create clean sides.
This step is totally optional.
We're doing this for the stunning visual,
but you can definitely keep the edges.
They might not just get as much rise in the oven.
If you do trim the edges,
be sure to bake them off for snacking later.
Then, we want to cut the dough in half and then into thirds,
so that we have six mostly even-sized biscuits.
Then, we're gonna place the biscuits
back on the baking sheet,
keeping them about two inches apart.
We're gonna brush the tops with heavy cream
and sprinkle with some turbinado sugar
for an extra crispy top.
The heavy cream is gonna enhance
that stunning golden-brown color on top
and also helps our sugar to adhere to the biscuits.
If you don't have any more heavy cream,
you can also brush them with some melted butter,
a beaten egg, or even a little buttermilk as an alternative.
We want to bake the biscuits until they rise
and are perfectly golden brown around the edges,
which should take about 20 minutes
in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven or 190 degrees Celsius.
Then we want to remove the biscuits from the oven
and immediately brush the tops of each biscuit
with some honey.
These biscuits are not just texturally incredible,
they're also layered with flavor.
If you don't think you'll eat them all in a day,
you can cut the dough and bake as many as you'd like,
then wrap the remaining unbaked dough,
and freeze up to a month.
Make sure sure that the unbaked biscuit dough
is stored in the freezer.
Storing it in the fridge may cause the dough to oxidize
and discolor.
Now, we're gonna move on to our Chantilly cream.
Sure, you can use an easy canned whipped cream,
but why not make your own Chantilly?
It even sounds fancier.
Chantilly is basically a sweetened whipped cream,
and here's our favorite way to make it.
We'll mix together our heavy cream and rooibos tea.
Steeping our heavy cream with tea is a great way
to enhance the flavor
without changing the texture of our cream
or adding any additional sweetness.
Now we want to refrigerate the cream to steep
for at least two hours, but up to overnight.
We're gonna pour our steeped cream
through a fine-mesh strainer
set over a tall and narrow container.
Once we pour the cream through,
we're gonna discard the used tea leaves.
Now, we're gonna add the powdered sugar to the cream
and use a stick blender to bring the cream together
until medium stiff peaks form.
The immersion blender creates an amazing texture.
It's straight up like a fluffy cloud of sweet cream.
You can whisk the cream by hand
to get luscious whipped cream.
It just takes a lot more physical labor.
You can also obviously whip the cream
with an electric hand mixer, but it can be a little messy.
When whipping your own cream, make sure not to overdo it,
'cause there's always the possibility
of overmixing the cream and turning it into butter.
But when you whip cream correctly
and get perfect velvet peaks,
it makes the most decadent whipped cream
that works perfectly for our strawberry shortcake.
Onto the final part, assembly.
So we're gonna split the biscuit in half.
We're gonna spoon a generous amount
of Chantilly cream over the top,
and then we'll finish it
with our perfectly macerated strawberries.
Definitely remember to drizzle that delicious sauce
over the top.
Ta da! Easy piece of shortcake.
Looks beautiful.
It's light, fluffy, sweet, juicy, soft, and flaky,
everything you could ever want in a dessert.
It may be a shortcake, but it's definitely big in flavor.
Enjoy and stay safe.
- [Announcer] Oh, yes!
(upbeat music)