These’s nothing better than Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes! Here’s how I make mine!
It’s almost Spring, and I’m so happy to see strawberries again! Actually, they are in the grocery store year round, but now they are starting to actually TASTE like strawberries. Can I get an AMEN? And this means it’s time for some Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes. How can I resist? Those little guys just hop in my cart every time I pass by.
In addition to buying strawberries in season, another thing that makes these Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes so delicious is those biscuits. One sure way (in addition to grating your cold butter) to get little bits of butter in the dough is to pour melted butter into very cold buttermilk. You’ll immediately see tiny little balls of solidified butter, perfect of making fluffy biscuits. You can see this method in the video.
Of course, you also want to make sure your baking powder is not too old. If you don’t bake often, you might be surprised to see that you’ve got some pretty weak baking powder and this will definitely affect the rise of your biscuits.
And one more tip – When you are patting out the dough to cut out biscuits, pat it out to a 1 inch thickness, then fold it like a letter into the thirds, and then pat it out to 1 inch thickness again before cutting. I learned this little trick from The Baker Upstairs. Genius! This creates distinct layers in the biscuit. Nice fluffy biscuits with layers equals a happy baker.
Giving them a generous sprinkle of sparkling sugar adds an extra sweet crunch.
And for that Homemade whipped cream, there’s nothing like real vanilla bean flavor. See those flecks?!? I’m loving this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste from Nielsen Massey. It really makes the difference!
There really is no better way to kick off summer and berry season by making these Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes. Enjoy!
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
These Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes have a slightly sweetened fluffy buttermilk biscuit with red ripe strawberries and freshly whipped cream!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Strawberries
- 2–3 cups quartered strawberries (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the Biscuits
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk*
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- coarse sparkling sugar
For the Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Instructions
For the Strawberries
- Add sugar to the strawberries and let them sit while you make your biscuits. They will become soft and juicy.
For the Biscuits
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Place 3/4 cup buttermilk into the freezer for 10 minutes so that it is very cold but not frozen. Melt the butter and allow it to cool slightly. Then add the butter to the buttermilk and stir so you have tiny clumps of butter in the buttermilk.
- Add the buttermilk, butter clumps and egg to the dry ingredients and stir together into a dough. Do not over mix, and you may decide to ditch the spoon and just use your hands.
- Pour the dough out onto a well floured surface, and pat it out to about 1 inch thick. Fold it into thirds (like a letter) and pat it out to 1 inch thick again. This will give your biscuits layers and help them rise up to be nice and fluffy.
- Cut the biscuits out with a 2 1/2 inch round cutter and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the top generously with sparkling sugar.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes, or until the tops are just golden brown. While the biscuits are baking, you can make the whipped cream.
For the Cream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine heavy cream, sugar and vanilla and whip on low speed for 1-2 minutes. Then increase the speed and whip until soft peaks form. Do not over mix you will have butter!
Notes
*If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon white vinegar to milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Recipe adapted from The Baker Upstairs.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Strawberry Shortcake
- Calories: 306
- Sugar: 16g
- Sodium: 268mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 9.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4.9g
- Trans Fat: 0.6g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Fiber: 1.8g
- Protein: 4.7g
- Cholesterol: 59mg
These are gorgeous, your desserts are always styled so meticulously well Julie! And am ALL about that extra dusting of coarse sugar on the biscuits; such a lovely touch!
Thank you for your kind words Sarah. Can you believe I had these all ready to shoot and then discovered my camera battery was dead? I was worried the whipped cream might fall while it charged but it all worked out :0)
These loo k amazing! I’m having a houseguest from France in a few weeks and trying to get some things made ahead of time. Would the biscuits work out if I make them now and freeze them, then defrost them a little while before we eat them in a few weeks? If so, should I warm them up in the microwave before serving, or will all that wreck them? Thanks!
Hi Mary, how exciting to have a guest come visit you from France. I have not tried freezing these, and I think they might be better freshly made. I always feel like cheesecake is a dessert that does well when frozen. I have a few recipes on Lovely Little Kitchen you might like if you search cheesecakes. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the suggestion! A few years ago I started to see cheesecake in a few of the patisseries in Paris, but I’m not sure how well known it is in smaller cities and it would DEFINITELY not be as good as anything homemade here! I really appreciate you suggesting it – I had no idea it would do well frozen. Off to buy cream cheese!! BTW I get your emails and love your blog and your recipes! Thanks again.
These are so precious Julie! Looking forward to picking our own strawberries this year if weather holds out.
In the recepe it calls for the buttermilk and eggs how many eggs? It doesn’t say. Thank you
Thank you so much for catching my error. You need to whisk one egg into the buttermilk. Hope you enjoy!
i found your recipe on Pinterest and made it tonight for friends. My husband and I agree that this recipe is award-worthy and it will be our go-to for ourselves and to impress guests. Thank you!
Wow, thank you for your kind words! So glad everyone enjoyed this dessert!
Strawberry shortcakes came out beautifully! Thank you for the recipe!
So glad Vicky!
Can the biscuits be made the day before? I want to make this for a bridal shower but I doubt I’ll have time to bake them that morning. I would like to bake the day before and assemble right before the party.
Yes I think that would be fine. Just be careful not to over bake them and keep them in an airtight container. If you felt like they dried out a little, you could always just spread a little strawberry jelly on the cut side of the shortcake to add a little moisture (and flavor). What a wonderful idea for a shower! Enjoy!
I just made these to use for peach shortcake and I just wanted to thank you for the lovely recipe. They turned out so well! I have made a lot of biscuits/scones in the past and I don’t know why I never thought to try the folding method, worked great!
Hi Jana! That’s so funny that you made peach shortcakes, because I just made some a few days ago too (with raspberries)! So good. Loving peach season and just want to eat them with everything! Thanks for saying hi.
Is it possible to substitute the butter milk for 2% milk?
Lisa, I have not tried that before, but I think it will be fine.
Made these fabulous shortcakes tonight for our family’s Valentine’s dinner! My husband had a stroke 2 years ago at the age of 34 that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Since it’s always so busy on Valentine’s at restaurants, we do our dinner at home since it would be too much for him. These will be on our menu every year for sure!! Our seven year old had fun making the whipped cream too!
Hi Jessica! I’m so sorry about your husband’s stroke. That must have been a really difficult thing for your family to go through. I’m so glad you could all celebrate together yesterday. Love that you are making traditions as a family!
Mmmm I just made this for dessert and the biscuits were perfect!!
So happy to hear that Kristen! Yay for strawberry season!
Hello, the recipe called for 3/4 buttermilk. is that 3/4 cup of buttermilk?
Hi Stephanie, thanks for catching that error! Yes, 3/4 cup buttermilk is correct.
Hello, I am going to make this today. How far in advance can I make the whipped cream? Thank you.
Hi Krista, you can definitely make it a few hours in advance. When we have leftover cream, my boys like to dip strawberries in it the next day, and it is fine, maybe just a little deflated.
Thank you!
It was a hit. Two of my children wanted seconds. My friend said that she has never seen her daughter scrape her dessert plate clean.
Yay, success!!! Love that the kiddos enjoyed too!
How soggy do you think the shortcakes would be if I layered them into mason jars 3 hours before they would be eatin? I make shortcake every year for Easter. It’s at my mom’s this year and thought it would be cute instead of just ladeling the berries out of a bowl like always.
I think they would be just fine… maybe a little tiny bit soggy but still delicious. Let me know how it goes if you try it! Such a cute idea.
These were lovely! The perfect Easter dessert! Thanks for sharing!
I love the video!! I am going strawberry picking this weekend can’t wait to make this recipe with the strawberries!
Thank you Mia! That sounds perfect!
I’ve made this several times and has been a hit with friends and family. I usually add some grated lemon zest and a dash of vanilla to the biscuit recipe and also some freshly squeezed lemon to the strawberries when I macerate them. The biscuits are excellent warmed with butter and my morning caffeine fix too!
Definitely adding vanilla and lemon to my biscuits next time!!!
Thank you for the recipe! Do you usually use salted or unsalted butter?
Taylor, I usually just use salted butter for my baking, even though I know hard core bakers use unsalted… Hope you enjoy this recipe!
How many biscuits did your recipe make? I would like to make it for our son’s birthday and mother’s day!
Melinda, I believe this recipe will make about a dozen biscuits – depending on the size of your cutter and how thick you roll out the dough.
I forgot the egg (oops!) and these still turned out great. Thank you!!