When I was 5 or so, my dad took me to see some Strawberry Shortcake movie. About halfway through the movie, he told me we needed to get some popcorn. While we were in the lobby, he informed me that the movie was suddenly over and it was time to go home.
I knew it wasn’t over.
My father was a liar.
I was kind of devastated.
What kind of father, what kind of HUMAN pays good money to see such a cinematic delight and then doesn’t stay for the whole thing?!
Well, in the age of Netflix, I have discovered the wonders of my favorite childhood TV shows and movies. Not too long ago, I tried watching the very same Strawberry Shortcake movie with my daughter.
Ummmmm…I get it now. Children’s programming has improved (well, some of it…Caillou, you’d better run if I meet your little animated self in a dark alley because I will cut you before you can whine once!) by leaps and bounds since that dark day. Dad, I’m so sorry for all the mean thoughts I had that day. And just in case any of you are wondering, Rainbow Brite is a million times worse than Strawberry Shortcake.
So since I’m a grown-up now, it’s time for a grown-up strawberry shortcake. As a kid, we always had sweetened strawberries over angel food cake and called it strawberry shortcake, but I have come to discover (among other painful realizations, apparently…you guys can charge me for this therapy session if you want) that that is not actually strawberry shortcake and that real shortcakes are more like sweet biscuits or scones.
One of my favorite food combinations ever is strawberries and lemons (like here and here). So I decided in my grown-up strawberry shortcakes, I wanted lemon strawberry shortcakes. And speaking of lemons, have you guys ever tried Meyer lemons?! They are amazing.
They’re not just fancy things they talk about on Food Network competition shows and then you run out and buy them and wonder what the heck all the hype was about–they’re actually a hybrid of lemons and Mandarin oranges. Which makes them sweeter and fruitier and fabulous for cooking and baking.
For starters, I took my favorite scone recipe and swapped out the poppy seeds and regular lemon rind for the rind of a regular lemon. You’re going to need all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, very cold butter, and an egg.
Preheat oven to 400. Place baking rack in the middle-low position. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the lemon zest and whisk together again. Grate the frozen butter (a food processor makes that job super easy, but you can also just do it on a regular box grater).
Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture
and combine it with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a fork until everything appears moistened. Gently press the dough into a ball–it will take some time and some parts of the dough will be more moist than other parts, but continue pressing together until it forms a ball.
Lightly flour a surface (you can use the lined baking sheet if you want) and place the dough on top of the floured surface. Press into an 8″ disc
and cut into equal wedges with a butter knife. Separate the wedges and place them evenly on the baking sheet.
Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and add the zest of another Meyer lemon. Brush the butter mixture over each scone and then sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
(Yeah…if you’re waffling between the Silpat and the parchment paper, imagine how much fun it is to clean that mat.)
While the scones are cooling, slice 4 cups of fresh strawberries and sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar (more less, depending on how sweet the berries are) and stir to combine. Allow the berries to sit for a few minutes.
In a chilled bowl, combine 1 cup whipping cream, 1/2 cup cold buttermilk, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Beat with electric beaters until soft peaks form (this might be a tiny bit less set up than regular whipped cream).
When the shortcakes are cool, use a sharp knife to slice them in half and then spoon 1/2 cup of strawberries onto each bottom half (it’s okay if they spill out…that’s kind of the point). Top with the sweetened buttermilk whipped cream and then place the top half on the whipped cream. Serve immediately. Makes 8 shortcakes.
Meyer Lemon Strawberry Shortcakes with Buttermilk Whipped Cream
Recipe by Our Best Bites; shortcake recipe adapted from Allrecipes
Ingredients:
SHORTCAKES
2 cups all-purpose flour lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
3 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Zest of 2 Meyer lemons, divided (if you can’t or don’t want to use Meyer lemons, regular lemons will be delicious)
8 tablespoons very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 egg
FILLING
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup white sugar (depending on sweetness of the berries)
BUTTERMILK WHIPPED CREAM
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Place baking rack in the middle-low position. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the lemon zest and whisk together again. Grate the frozen butter (a food processor makes that job super easy, but you can also just do it on a regular box grater). Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a fork until everything appears moistened. Gently press the dough into a ball–it will take some time and some parts of the dough will be more moist than other parts, but continue pressing together until it forms a ball.
Lightly flour a surface (you can use the lined baking sheet if you want) and place the dough on top of the floured surface. Press into an 8″ disc and cut into equal wedges with a butter knife. Separate the wedges and place them evenly on the baking sheet.
Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and add the zest of another Meyer lemon. Brush the butter mixture over each scone and then sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
While the scones are cooling, slice 4 cups of fresh strawberries and sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar (more less, depending on how sweet the berries are) and stir to combine. Allow the berries to sit for a few minutes.
In a chilled bowl (if possible), combine 1 cup whipping cream, 1/2 cup cold buttermilk, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Beat with electric beaters until soft peaks form (this might be a tiny bit less set up than regular whipped cream).
When the shortcakes are cool, use a sharp knife to slice them in half and then spoon 1/2 cup of strawberries onto each bottom half (it’s okay if they spill out…that’s kind of the point). Top with the sweetened buttermilk whipped cream and then place the top half on the whipped cream. Serve immediately. Makes 8 shortcakes.
Questions & Reviews
Sooo…I made just the shortcake portion of this tonight for dinner. Yes, dinner. It’s hot and steamy out here in the Northeast and wanted something light and fresh for dinner. So I served these shortcakes with fresh fruit kebabs and vanilla yogurt for dinner. It was perfect.
But the craziest part? My husband…shhh…don’t tell anyone…said these shortcakes are better than his mother’s!!! I could NOT believe it! Every year my husband begs me to make strawberry and peach shortcake during the summer. His grandma made them for him every year while he was growing up. And last year, after his grandma passed, his mom started making them (from Grandma’s recipe). We visit them often and we eat it regularly. So I basically refused to make them, because I knew I’d be setting myself up for failure. I didn’t even think of Grandma’s shortcake when I was making these. But my husband is so excited that I will be making him some now. I’m excited to try the buttermilk whip cream.
You ladies always have THE BEST recipes. Seriously. I have a picky family to feed (did I mention my husband is Italian?) and every recipe I’ve made from your site has gotten into our regular rotation. You are miracle workers…in the kitchen! 🙂 Thank you!
Made this exactly as written except for subbing regular lemons for the Meyer so I didn’t have to make a trip to the store. Delicious! I was a bit leery of the buttermilk whipped cream but it was tangy and complimented the other flavors well. Did set up a bit softer than regular whipped cream but that was fine. Will make again. I liked grating frozen butter and will use that trick again.
I took my children strawberry picking this morning and made this shortcake when we got home. Holy Smoke! Delicious. The only changes I made to the original recipe were that I used King Arthur Gluten Free flour (cup for cup and I did NOT add Xantham gum) and added about 1 1/2 – 2Tbs lemon juice because the dough was a little dry and crumbly. Probably due to the GF flour. Anyway, they are amazing! No one would ever guess that they were GF. Truly, I’m not just saying that 😉
Omgoodness these sound simply scrumptious! Just pinned these to one of my boards. 🙂
So excited to try these! Thank you so much for sharing!
Made it twice already. Whole family loved it! Thanks.
Do you think I could use salted butter and just omit the 1/4 tsp of salt? And the zest from one lemon goes in the dough and the zest from the second lemon goes on top of the scone, is that correct? Thanks!
I made these last night and they were PERFECT! Thank you so much for all of the details you added in your instructions. It’s so helpful to know how it’s supposed to be while you’re making it… so that you don’t think you’re doing something wrong! Love you girls and your delish recipes that I make every week! 🙂
Had to read this post out loud to my husband. We both hate Caillou. But he hasn’t got anything on The Suite Life of Zachary and Cody. Shudder. I am seriously jazzed to try this out. Our family always does angel food. My grandma used to make shortcake with regular biscuits and they were too baking powdery with a sweet dessert
Made these last night…oh my!!! This may be the best shortcake EVER! I used regular lemons and I didn’t do the zest on the top (wasn’t sure if the family would like that much zest) but I did brush them with butter and sprinkled on sparkling sugar, love the look and the crunch. Thank you! What a great spring treat! In fact, I made them just for our family and my kids kept wondering who was coming over. I just wanted a yummy treat for us! And this was certainly it!!
So funny – and I totally agree … Caillou sucks! Thanks for the good laugh today … and the recipe looks good too!
I live in Canada and regular lemons are easy to find but I have NEVER in my life seen a MEYER lemon UNTIL TODAY. I read this post and then took my kids on our regular shopping trip and as I reached for a bag of clementines, there they were- Meyer lemons. So I bought a bunch. I’m ridiculously excited about making this. It’s been a long week.
Okay, I see Caillou and hwo whiny he is, and I raise you the absolute horror of my kids watching Max and Ruby. They suddenly become unable to speak in sentences, instead demanding things with one word outbursts. I might let Caillou get away if I saw him in a dark alley, but Max, you better watch it. (Also, why don’t they have parents, and why must Ruby raise her brother???) On another note, these scones look awesome (even though they aren’t Angie’s scones) and I will have to try them soon. Thanks!
We actually had to ban Max and Ruby at our house because one of our kids did that exact thing – drove me insane.