How to Make a Berry Shortcake

Join Bennett-Watt and learn how to make a Berry Shortcake recipe.

How to Make a Berry Shortcake Okay. So, were going to make our Berry Shortcake. First, were going to start with making our sauce. So, I’ve got some frozen berries because fresh berries are hard to find and tends to get a little expensive. So, I don’t mind using the frozen berries. So, I’m just using an unspecified quantity. It just depend how many people you’re serving and a little bit of sugar. Were going to sprinkle it on there just a little bit and then I’ll sweeten it up a little later. I’ll taste it once it’s melted. So, I’m going to put it on low heat since the berries are still little frozen. I’m just going to click it on low heat so I can come over here to make our shortcake part. I am using a scone recipe because I really like the scone recipe and it’s fairly simple. So, were going to start out with our butter and its cold and it’s chunked up. This is about to cup. You really want to start out with cold butter so you can get that nice flakiness. So, right here I’ve got four cups of flour, half cup of sugar, one tablespoon of baking powder, one teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt. So, I’m going to mix this until they’re really fine crumbs, meaning no crumbs right in between that area. If you wanted this fine as possible, let’s spin. Okay. In this bowl, we’re going to put two eggs and a small amount of butter milk. And I just start out with small just to get it incorporated. And if I need to add more then I will add more. Its better start out with little than to have too much. Okay. Now, I’m just going to mix this together until it comes together. And then I work it in with my hands the rest of they way. Adding just a little bit more, its still little dry, almost there where we just pull it together with our hands. Okay. I think its time that we can pull out our handy dandy little bowl scraper. I’m going to press it together in the bowl with the bowl scraper. I’m just pressing it together with my hands, just working it some more. Okay, right onto the table. There’s no fun in baking if can’t get your hands dirty. So, get your hands in there. Just pressing it down and then take it down to about one and a half inches high. Pay attention to our berry sauce here. I don’t want to forget about that. Actually, I’m going to turn it down a little lower. Okay. I’ve got cutters over here. I like to use cutters. Isn’t that look nicer, it’s about three and a half inches. I’ve got a parchment line sheet pan over here. Your problem is getting it off the cannery. You can do a floured surface, it doesn’t really matter. You can pick it up easily with the knife or with this or you even off set spatula would be helpful. You can do them little edge or you can get around the edge. It’s up to you. As they both look nice and you can keep working your dough until you use it all up. Trying not to mix too much flour in there if its too sticky, you can add a little bit of flour but you don’t want to really make it—add too much flour because that will make it really dry. Again, you can continue to work this or if you want to save it for breakfast, it would make a great breakfast too. It’s just a basic scone recipe. Okay. Over here I’ve got some cream and I’m going to brush it on the top of my scone. The cream isn’t browning so it gives a little extra color to it and I’m going to sprinkle some big sugar, adds a little extra sweetness and I like the crunchy texture it adds. And we’re going to put this in a 350 degree oven and let it bake for probably 30 minutes. You just wanted it to be golden brown. You want them to puff up. So, it could be anywhere in between 30 and 35 minutes. Okay. While our scones are baking, I am going to start with macerating our fruits. And that just means to soak it in some kind of liqueur or some kind of flavoring. So, I’ve got strawberries here and all our berries have been washed. We’ve got raspberries and they’ve all been picked through. You want to make sure you’re putting nice berries on this. You don’t want to put anything kind of moldy or anything like that so you definitely want to inspect your berries and rinse them. So, I’m adding blackberries and blueberries, let’s just toast them gently. I’m only going to add a little bit of sugar. If you want to taste your fruit, make sure there’s enough sugar in them. If its not, then you just add a tiny bit and then you just keep tasting it as its macerating. And you can use any kind of liqueur or you can use any kind of orange. You can use raspberry and you can use brandy. Whatever you prefer and if you don’t want to use alcohol, another alternative would be to do simple syrup which is a sugar and a water mixture. Its equal part so if you’re doing this, we say this small amount I’d cook off like a quarter cup of sugar and a quarter cup of water. You just bring it to a boil over the stove and then you remove it. You let it cool down. So, if you don’t want to have liqueur in this, that’s a nice alternative. You can always play without water with like a ginger or a mint. Anything like that and add just a little bit more. I’m going to cover my bowl with saran wrap. I’m just going to set this off to the fire and let it do its thing. Every once in a while I’ll toss it. So, you set right over there and our berry sauce is finished. All I did wad bring it to a boil, more like a simmer. You can bring it to a boil and then you want to make sure you turn it down really low. You want your fruit to defrost but you certainly don’t want to burn it. And what were going to do is we’re going to strain it. I’m just using a little strainer that you can use for anything like vegetables or pastas or anything. And I’ve got mix up of bowl here, keep enough up to catch to the sauce. So, the strainer is not sitting in it. It’s going to dump my sauce in there. Were just going to push it through the sieve, work it all together. When I make sauces and I tend to keep the same spoon for the same job because it turns red. But I’m going to use a heat proof spatula to help me mash it through there. I want to get some of the fruit pulp in there because that’s actually what makes the sauce a little thicker. Okay. It looks like we can get as much juice and pulp as we’re going to get out of this fruits. So, stir it. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to put it off to the side and let it cool. I’m going to put it in this pretty little jar. And there we go. We’re just going to let that set off to the side and we’re going to check on our scones. And these are done, they are ready to go. So, we’re going to pull them out of the oven. We’re going to stand back here on the cooling rack. So, we’re going to finish off our berry shortcake. First, we’re going to whip up some cream. This is heavy whipping cream. Teaspoon of vanilla and just a little bit of powder sugar, you don’t need a lot. We’re going to turn that up high and we’re going to let that whip to a medium – soft medium peak. Meanwhile, while that is whipping, I’m going grab one of our scones back here. Clean off the crumbs a little. Just going to slice that in half, don’t cut it on yourself. I’m waiting for the cream to whip. Okay. Whip cream is done. It’s a nice soft peak. Okay. We’re going to take our nice berry sauce. Then drizzle it over the scone and take some of our berries here. You can use your hands or you can use a spoon. I don’t mind getting dirty. So, I’m going to use my hands. Okay. I’m going to take my whip cream and pull off that on top like that. I love whip creams so I’m not afraid to use a lot of it. Use a few more berries. So, that is great summer time desert. Add a little more sauce and you just lay that on the side like that and there you go, berry shortcake.