How to Make Shortcakes

Shortcakes are really just slightly sweetened buttermilk biscuits, with a texture somewhere between a flaky biscuit and a crumbly scone. They're tailor-made for strawberries and whipped cream. This recipe makes four to six biscuits, depending on size, which is enough for eight to twelve strawberry shortcake desserts.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 c. chilled unsalted butters
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Stir or sift the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and add them to the dry ingredients.
4. Toss the butter pieces in the dry ingredients so each piece is coated well.
5. Use a fork, a wire pastry cutter or your fingers to work the butter and the dry ingredients together so the butter breaks into smaller pieces and the mixture resembles coarse meal. The pieces should vary from the size of peas to small olives. (See the Related eHow "How to Cut in Shortening" for more.)
6. Gradually stir in the buttermilk. You may not need all of it. Stir it in just until the mixture is combined and a fairly stiff dough forms.
7. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4-inch thick and cut it into even squares.
8. Place the squares on a nonstick or lightly buttered baking pan and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Test the center with a toothpick; if it comes out clean, the shortcakes are done.

Tips & Warnings

• Square shortcakes are easier to make, and there's no leftover dough. You could also form them into rounds.
• These slightly sweet biscuits work best for desserts, but you can use any biscuit as a "shortcut shortcake," except those shortened with animal lard. Unsweetened biscuits, even premade commercial ones from a tube, can be "helped" by brushing the outsides with cream and sprinkling them with sugar prior to baking.