Raspberry Shortcakes With Double Ginger Biscuits Recipes

RASPBERRY SHORTCAKES WITH DOUBLE GINGER BISCUITS

Steps:

• For the biscuits: Whisk together the cream and the egg in a small bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, ground ginger, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is the texture of coarse meal with some larger pea-size pieces. Add the crystallized ginger and toss to combine.
• Mix the cream mixture into the flour mixture with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper and knead the dough, just 2 or 3 times, to get the mixture to come together. Pat it into a 9 by 6-inch rectangle. With a sharp knife, trim 1/4 inch off of each edge, then cut into six squares. Arrange the squares on a baking sheet or a plate about 2 inches apart. Freeze for 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Brush the tops of the frozen squares with cream and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Transfer to a fresh baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and puffed slightly, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet on a wire rack.
• To finish: Toss the raspberries with the granulated sugar in a medium bowl and let stand until juicy, about 10 minutes. To serve, whip the 2 cups cream with confectioners' sugar to soft peaks. Split the biscuits and fill them with whipped cream and raspberries.

TWO-BERRY SHORTCAKES

Steps:

• Make biscuits:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir just until a soft, sticky dough forms.
• Drop dough in 6 mounds about 2 inches apart on an ungreased large baking sheet and bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer biscuits to a rack and cool to warm, about 10 minutes.
• Make filling:
• While biscuits bake, gently mash half of berries with 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl, then stir in remaining berries.
• Make cream:
• Beat cream together with sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until it holds soft peaks.
• Carefully cut biscuits in half horizontally and arrange 1 bottom half, split side up, on each of 6 plates. Top each with berries, whipped cream, and other half of biscuit.

PERFECT BERRY SHORTCAKES

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and 3 Tbs. sugar in a medium bowl. Grate 2 Tbs. of the butter on the coarse holes of a box grater into dry ingredients; toss to coat. Repeat grating and tossing with remaining butter. Combine egg and half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with a fork to form large clumps. Lightly press clumps into a ball; add a teaspoon more half-and-half to the bowl if dough won't come together.
• Turn dough onto work surface; press into an 8-by-4- to 5-inch rectangle. Cut into 6 squares, placing them 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.) Before baking, brush tops with optional egg white for a particularly attractive sheen. Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Mix thawed and fresh berries with sugar in a bowl; let stand until sugar dissolves. With a hand mixer, beat cream to soft peaks, gradually adding 1 Tb. sugar, then vanilla.
• Split each cake crosswise; spoon a portion of berries over each cake bottom, then a dollop of whipped cream over berries. Cap with cake top and serve immediately.

RASPBERRY SHORTCAKES

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Transfer to a bowl and stir in cream, buttermilk, and raspberries until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide dough into 8 portions and shape into rounds. Place, 1 1/2 inches apart, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired, and freeze 15 minutes. Bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. To serve, halve and fill with whipped cream and berries.

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY SHORTCAKES

Steps:

• Make the shortcakes:
• Into a bowl sift together the cocoa powder, the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt, add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add the cream and stir the mixture with a fork until it forms a dough. Divide the dough in half, arrange each half in a mound on a lightly greased baking sheet, and bake the shortcakes in the middle of a preheated 425°F. oven for 12 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the centers comes out with crumbs clinging to it. Transfer the shortcakes to a rack and let them cool.
• In a bowl mash 3/4 cup of the raspberries with a fork, stir in 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar and the framboise, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and stir in the remaining 3/4 cup raspberries. In a small bowl with an electric mixer beat the cream until it holds soft peaks, add the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, and beat the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Carefully cut the shortcakes in half horizontally with a serrated knife and with a metal spatula transfer the bottom half of each to an individual plate. (The shortcakes are delicate and crumble easily.) Top each bottom half with half the raspberry mixture, divide the whipped cream between the 2 shortcakes, and with the spatula carefully top each serving with the top half of a shortcake. Sprinkle the shortcakes with the confectioners' sugar and garnish the plates with the mint sprigs.