Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Recipe: Lemon-Blueberry Shortcakes with Whipped Cream


This is what I do when I am stressed- I bake. I bake a lot. It relaxes me and keeps my mind off all the things which tend to stress me out since I must concentrate on the task at hand, everything must be perfectly measured and precise. I get to totally control the result- which of course gives me a great deal of satisfaction, I express a little creativity and I get a yummy sugar fix along the way- what more could I want? (actually, a great deal but I wont bore you with that today).

So enough about that- let's move on to the lemon-blueberry shortcakes. I adjusted my biscuit dough a bit by adding a little sugar to it, but they are as flaky as ever. The blueberry compote was quickly put together with a little lemon juice and sugar. I used a pint of blueberries, cooked 1/2 of them in the sauce then added the rest after the removing it from the heat. I added the berries in two additions in order to have more texture, while I wanted a sauce, I also wanted the flavor and texture of fresh berries. I always cut my biscuits with a small cutter, but you may make these as large as you wold like. I think it's hard to tell in the photo, but they are only 2" in a diameter, quite a bit smaller than usual- this of course is to justify eating more than one!



Shortcakes

2 -1/4 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling tops
1/4 lb. butter (1 stick) cold and cut into 1/4" pieces
1- 1/4 cups buttermilk

Blueberry Compote

1 pint fresh blueberries/ divided
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 cup heavy whipping cream (very cold)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 450 F

Compote:

1. In a small non-reactive pot, combine 1/2 pint blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon zest and juice. Cook over medium heat stirring, just until sugar is completely melted. Do not overcook. Remove from heat and add remaining berries mix and set aside.

Shortcakes

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and mix in with a pastry blender until the butter resembles the size of small peas. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

2. Add buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with a fork until just combined. Scoop dough out of bowl and lay on a floured surface. (it will be quite sticky)

3. With floured hands pat dough into a 1" thick rectangle. Sprinkle a little flour over the dough and fold over from short end three times. Repeat this process three times. Cut out biscuits with a floured cutter and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle shortcakes generously with sugar and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Whipped Cream:

1. In a large bowl, whisk cream, sugar and vanilla together until soft peaks form.

Assemble shortcakes by splitting in half, spooning blueberry compote and topping with whipped cream. Garnish with additional lemon zest curls if desired.

16 comments:

  1. This looks great! Baking is a great stress reliever. I find that I'm so focused on the task at hand while baking, that I can forget about all other stresses (or tasks I'm avoiding).

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  2. I love the flavors of lemon and blueberry together. I've been seeing some nice blackberries in the market lately; this recipe would be delicious with the blackberries, too.

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  3. Those are gorgeous! I bake if I'm stressed, or happy, or sad or... pretty much all the time.

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  4. i'm currently addicted to strawberry shortcake, but i suspect that i would like a blueberry version even better. this is a stellar recipe--you may find yourself solely responsible for a new addiction for me. :)

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  5. Lemon and blueberry is always a great combo and your shortcakes look great. I can't wait to try them myself!

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  6. I hear you, I bake even more when I am stressed. The shortcakes are beautiful and I bet they were wonderful to eat!

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  7. I also bake if I'm stressed - or really happy - or really sad...

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  8. Do you deliver? LOL! Looks scrumptous!

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  9. Lemon and blueberry shortcake is a great twist on the classic strawberry shortcake!

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  10. There look fabulous! But it's missing the directions for the biscuits. Help!

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  11. Anonymous: That is so weird...I wrote them, but you're right- they aren;t there. I will type them in again as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime look up my flaky buttermilk biscuits, they are the same. Thank you for letting me know.

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  12. Drool...what great flavor combinations and photos! Mmm!

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  13. hi katia ,i think you are
    fantastic ,i am sanaa(jordanian) i love cooking and i have my own wonderful reciepies i will try some of your reciepies and i believe they will be great!

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  14. Just want to thank you for a great recipe - tried this tonight to finish off our seafood dinner (lobster and scallops). I used a mix of berries as I could not find nice strawberries in my rinky-dink town - I used a combination of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries and doubled the recipe for the compote (we will use the leftovers on pancakes tomorrow morning...). Of course I forgot to sprinkle sugar on the shortcakes, but noone knew but me and our guests and my kids, and my husband, raved about it. I will do this again with summer fast approaching - quick, easy and thoroughly enjoyable. I have a youngster who is very allergic to eggs and it is nice to let him actually partake in dessert - he usually has to be satisfied with berries and cream while the rest of us eat cake...thanks for the great idea...

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  15. these look delish!!!! i am planning on making them today for a family get together. how many does it serve? i need to make enough for 7 people

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