For a twist on a classic summertime dessert, I’ve paired strawberries and blueberries and then roasted them until they achieved jammy intense ‘I want to eat this with a spoon’ levels of flavor! Add in some cinnamon spiced buttermilk biscuits and bourbon whipped cream and this berry shortcake is an indulgent treat you need to try right now.
Like many of you, I have made so many strawberry shortcakes over the years. Some warm weather, tasty berries, a deck or patio to enjoy it on, and it just seems the thing to do!
After all what’s not to love?
Fresh berries. Flaky biscuits. Soft and pillowy whipped cream. And the whole thing is about as low stress as it gets.
Sometimes I even make a Strawberry Shortcake Dip!
About the only difficulty is that you have to turn on the oven. But you can do that in the morning and enjoy the biscuits in the evening, so it’s all good!
I suppose you could even buy those little sponge cakes they sell in the supermarket right next to the berries if turning on the oven is too much; however, I’ve never been a fan of them myself. They are serviceable in a pinch, but not tasty. And we want tasty, right?
Of course we do!
So we are going to turn on that oven (in the cool of the morning) and make these yummy buttermilk biscuits and our shortcake is already going to be so much better! Because we’re worth it. And buttermilk biscuits are a snap to make. Just don’t work the dough any more than you have to once you add the liquid and you’ll have some great biscuits.
Just look at those beautiful biscuits all spiced with cinnamon and orange zest and tangy from the buttermilk. Cut them open and you’ll have a craggy surface perfect for catching berry juices and sturdy enough not to fall apart. (I cut the biscuits with the large sized cutter from my Biscuit Cutter Set.)
As for the fruit?
We’re stepping that up too! Popping the fruit into oven when you pull out the biscuits does a few things and all them good.
It:
- brings out their sweetness
- intensifies the flavors
- breaks down the blueberries so they join the party
- makes this amazing syrup
Now, I’m sure I’m going to go the macerating route again in the future, since it does make a nice shortcake. However, let’s just say that I made a basic macerated berry shortcake one night and made the roasted berry shortcakes a couple nights later, and I went from ‘this is nice and tasty’ to OMG. Really, I did! 🙂
My husband was a little skeptical about the whole process and wondering if it was going to work. But I had faith! After all, what is pie?
Pie is roasted berries in a crust and we all know how amazing pie is. Go check out my Midsummer Mixed Berry Pie and you’ll see. (Yes, blueberry week has continued into this week! I promise no blueberries in the next post. The next post is a manchego tapas. No blueberries in sight.)
Anyway, back to pie. No one raises an eyebrow at the thought of eating roasted berries in pies and crisps and other baked desserts. It’s all good. So I knew it was oing to work. What I didn’t expect was just how amazing it would be.
I’m going to say that with a basic strawberry shortcake, this recipe would still be amazing since you are still going to get the wonderful effects of roasting. Add in the blueberries though? Now you’re talking!
Here’s the thing: blueberries don’t macerate like strawberries. They have their thick peel between them and the sugar which means they stand alone and don’t add their juices to the shortcake unless you mash them up. Roasting them makes all the difference. Now they are broken down and their flavor is mixing into the syrup and we’ve moved to OMG.
All that’s left now is the whipped cream. And, yes, you can go buy a canister of whipped cream. Unlike the biscuits, canister whipped cream is pretty darn tasty. However, can you resist bourbon whipped cream? I couldn’t! 🙂
So I bought some heavy cream, pulled out my hand mixer (I have a KitchenAid hand mixer in yellow and I love it!), and my bourbon; and made bourbon whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup. The maple syrup intensifies the bourbon flavors and really brings them out. It is totally worth adding it to the whipped cream instead of powdered sugar.
There you have it! Roasted berries, cinnamon spiced shortcakes, and bourbon whipped cream! Your strawberry shortcake just got brought up to the next level and, personally, I like here. I’m going to be making roasted berry shortcakes every year from now on.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Roasted Berry Shortcake With Bourbon Whipped Cream
Ingredients
Cinnamon Buttermilk Biscuits
- 2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
Roasted Berries
- 4 cups blueberries
- 4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Bourbon Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp bourbon
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
Cinnamon Buttermilk Biscuits
- Preheat oven 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To the bowl of food processor, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and orange zest. Give it a couple of pulses to mix the ingredients. Add the butter to the processor and give it 5 1-second pulses, or until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal and the butter is in small pieces. Add the buttermilk and pulse just until the dough comes together.
- Once the dough has come together, transfer it to a lightly floured board and pat it until it's 1-inch thick, the shape doesn't matter much. Using a decisive downward stroke, cut 4 biscuits from the dough using a 2-3/4 inch biscuit cutter, or something of similar size. With each cut bring the cutter straight up with no twisting. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Reform the dough into a 1-thick shape and cut two more biscuits.
- Bake the biscuits for 13-15 minutes. Then transfer them to a cooling rack. The biscuits are best the day they are made.
Roasted Berries
- Reduce the oven heat to 350F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss together the blueberries, strawberries, maple syrup, and balsamic. Spread out the berries on your baking sheet. Roast for 18-20 minutes, or until the berries are soft and the syrup is thick. Stir the berries at the 10 minute mark.
- Let the berries cool until just warm or transfer them to the refrigerator to chill them. The berries will last up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Bourbon Whipped Cream
- Using a hand mixer, beat the heavy cream medium low for 1 minute, until the cream is getting foamy. Add the bourbon and maple syrup, and increase the speed to high. Whip until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes.
- Make the whipped cream shortly before serving the shortcakes.
Assemble the Shortcakes
- Cut each biscuit in half and place the bottom halves of individual shallow bowls or small plates. Spoon a portion of the fruit onto each biscuit, then add a dollop of whipped cream over it all. Place the biscuit tops on the whipped cream. If you want, add another dollop of whipped cream and a sliced strawberry on the top biscuit. Serve immediately.
Notes
- To help keep the biscuit cutter from sticking to the dough, rub the cutting surfaces with a little butter and then dust it with flour.
- If you are making the biscuits by hand, put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then cut in the butter with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the butter is in small pieces. Pour in the buttermilk and swiftly stir it in with a large spoon. Continue as in the recipe.
- For cutting the biscuits, I used the large cutter from my biscuit cutting set. And, for making the whipped cream I used my KitchenAid hand mixer.
- If you want to add the sliced strawberry, reserve 6 strawberries from the roasting. (Pick 6 especially red and even strawberries.) Slice each one nearly up to the top with 2-3 slices. Gently press the berries so they open up.
- The total time doesn't include the cooling time for biscuits or the fruit since that will vary.
Bethany says
This looks awesome! Yum!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks! We really loved it.
cakespy says
Bourbon whipped cream. You genius you!! This is amazing.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you! Never pass up an opportunity to add bourbon to a recipe. That’s a motto of mine. 🙂