How to Make Strawberry Shortcakes with Baking Powder Biscuits

Making the best strawberry shortcake starts with making the best baking powder biscuits. Today I am sharing my mom's recipe for making our favorite biscuits. Use them as the base for mouthwatering strawberry shortcakes.

The Best Baking Powder Biscuits Make the Best Strawberry Shortcakes

These biscuits are tasty all by themselves or with some butter and your favorite jelly.  I love them warm from the oven when the butter melts into the tender nooks and crannies. Yum!

Making biscuits is a forgiving process.  Feel free to experiment when you make them either sweet or savory. Biscuits are an example of simple food at its best.  

One of the adjustments you might want to make as you adapt this recipe to your preferences is the amount of sugar.  The sugar in this recipe is specific to using these biscuits to make strawberry shortcakes, or as a simple breakfast treat with butter and jelly.

When making these biscuits to go with a savory meal, like beef stew, you may want to reduce the sugar or leave it out completely.  Also, think about adding a little shredded cheese or a bit of dried herbs.

Tips for Biscuit Making Success

Use fresh baking powder.  Baking powder that is caked in the container can produce biscuits with brown spots or have bits with a bitter, salty taste. You can try sifting the caked baking powder if necessary.

Use cold butter.  When butter in the biscuits melts in the baking process it helps your biscuits be light and flaky. Cold butter makes all the melting happen in the oven where you want it to happen.

Cut the fat into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives. I prefer my mixture to resemble coarse crumbs with just a few larger pieces spread throughout the mixture. This will give you flaky, tender biscuits with layers. 

Whisk your dry ingredients together before cutting in the butter and shortening.  You want your dry ingredients to be evenly distributed throughout your dough.

Avoid overmixing. Gluten starts to develop when you add the liquid to the mix.  Use a fork, or your fingers to mix the liquid into the dry ingredients just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Overmixing will produce tough biscuits.

Making Strawberry Shortcakes with Baking Powder Biscuits

Now that you have made your baking powder biscuits you'll want to make some strawberry shortcakes for dessert.

Slice fresh strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle them with granulated sugar to taste or you can thaw frozen, sweetened strawberries (which I will do in a pinch). The amount of sugar you use will vary with the sweetness of the strawberries you are using.  Try adding a tablespoon at a time.

Prepare your strawberries a couple of hours in advance so the berries will have time to produce enough juice to moisten your biscuits.

You'll also want to make some sweetened whipped cream.  This is not the time to use the whipped cream in a can.  It takes just a couple of minutes to whip up some heavy cream with a bit of vanilla and some sugar. Buy heavy cream instead of whipping cream for your strawberry shortcake.  Heavy cream has the highest amount of fat and will whip more reliably for you.  

Make sure your cream is cold.  Use your electric mixer for quick whipped cream.  Beat the heavy cream until it foams and begins to thicken.  Add vanilla extract and then the sugar, one tablespoon at a time.  Taste and continue beating until it is thick enough to hold itself up. Chill until you are ready to assemble your strawberry shortcakes.

To Make Your Strawberry Shortcakes

Slice your biscuits in half.  Spoon the juice from the strawberries onto the biscuits.

Generously top the bottom biscuit half with sliced strawberries.  Place the other biscuit half on top.

Spoon whipped cream onto the top of the shortcakes.  Enjoy!

The Baking Powder Biscuits Recipe

strawberry shortcake biscuits, baking powder biscuits, making strawberry shortcake

bread, dessert

American

Yield: 12 (2 1/2 inch biscuits)

Author: Donna Urso

Strawberry Shortcakes with Baking Powder Biscuits

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 15 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 35 M

This is a traditional New England-style strawberry shortcake recipe made with baking powder biscuits.

Ingredients

Biscuits

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup whole milk, (or 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream)

Strawberries

• One quart of fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar (add more to taste)

Whipped Cream

• one pint of heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (more or less, to taste)

Instructions

To Make the Biscuits

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
2. Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. whisk to combine.
3. Cut the butter and shortening into small pieces. add to the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until it resembles bread crumbs.
4. Add the milk. Using a fork, combine the milk with the dry ingredients until it just comes together. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball, picking up all the remaining dry ingredients in the bowl.
5. Flour your counter. Flatten the dough into a round shape, about 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2-1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut 12 rounds, reshaping the dough as needed.
6. Place the biscuits on an ungreased sheet pan. Dot each biscuit with a bit of butter or brush the tops with milk.
7. Bake in the oven on the center rack for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

To Make the Shortcakes

1. Slice fresh strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle them with granulated sugar to taste or you can thaw frozen, sweetened strawberries (which I will do in a pinch). The amount of sugar you use will vary with the sweetness of the strawberries you are using. Try adding a tablespoon at a time.
2. Prepare your strawberries a couple of hours in advance so they will have time to produce enough juice to moisten your biscuits.
3. You'll also want to make some sweetened whipped cream. Buy heavy cream instead of whipping cream for your strawberry shortcake. Heavy cream has the highest amount of fat and will whip more reliably for you.
4. Make sure your cream is cold. Use your electric mixer for quick whipped cream. Beat the heavy cream until it foams and begins to thicken. Add vanilla extract and then the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Taste and continue beating until it is thick enough to hold itself up. Chill until you are ready to assemble your strawberry shortcakes.
5. Slice your biscuits in half. Spoon the juice from the strawberries onto the biscuits.
6. Generously top the bottom biscuit half with sliced strawberries. Place the other biscuit half on top.
7. Spoon whipped cream onto the top of the shortcakes.

Notes

The size of your biscuit cutters will impact the number of biscuits and the length of time it takes to bake your biscuits

Recommended Products:

Biscuit Cutters

Pastry Cutter

Sheet Pans

Nutrition Facts

Calories

214.71

Fat (grams)

9.08

Sat. Fat (grams)

3.93

Carbs (grams)

29.5

Fiber (grams)

0.84

Net carbs

28.65

Sugar (grams)

5.22

Protein (grams)

3.94

Sodium (milligrams)

414.88

Cholesterol (grams)

12.61

Nutritional information is approximate. This nutritional information is only for the baking powder biscuits.

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©Just One Donna