Hello everyone! Long time, no post. Sorry about that – finishing up school and getting my foot in the door with a big girl job has left me with less time than I thought I would have had. Anyways, here I am with a delicious, seasonal, and healthier version of the beloved treat, strawberry shortcake. The other day I went strawberry picking with my best friend and picked about 4 pounds of strawberries! I remember saying, what am I going to do with all these strawberries?! And my friend goes, make strawberry shortcake! So, here’s my version – thanks Allyssa for the inspiration 🙂
I’m not really a fan of the sweet shortcake that often times goes with this treat, but I do enjoy biscuits with my shortcake instead. And luckily for me, I had a bunch of new whole-grain flours in the house that I’ve been experimenting with instead of using the lifeless and nutrient lacking all-purpose flour. Learning to switch from the trusty ole all-purpose flour, to baking with whole-grain flours can be a challenge let me tell you. The additional fiber and protein in whole-grain flours not only changes the flavor profile of baked goods, but it also changes the chemical baking processes the mixture undergoes. From the mixing to the baking, whole-grain flours just do things differently than the standard all-purpose. But I won’t bore you with all that chemistry stuff – let’s talk about all the gains we get from whole grains/flours.
The trade off is, nuttier and heartier flavors, increased fiber content, increased protein content, increased vitamin and mineral content, NO carb/sugar crash (because whole-grains are lower glycemic), and you feel more satiated faster, which means you won’t feel the urge to go back for seconds and consume even more calories! So basically it’s a win-win, and everyone that tried these little babies absolutely loved them. They even appreciated the dynamic flavor each component brought to the dish, without missing the sweetness overload most strawberry shortcakes possess. And who needs all that extra sugar when you can drown your biscuit in fresh strawberries bursting with natural sweetness? Cheers to strawberry season – get pickin’!
Ingredients – Spelt and Millet Biscuits
Makes 9 biscuits
This biscuit recipe is something I personally came up with and they are absolutely delicious even on their own! I love the little bit of crunchiness the millet brings to this recipe. Even if you’re looking for a simple and healthier biscuit recipe, I highly recommend these!
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/4 cup millet (not millet flour)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold butter
- 1 cup cold milk of your choice (I used goats milk)
Method of Prep – Spelt and Millet Biscuits
- Oil-spray a large baking sheet and set your oven to 450 degrees F.
- Mix your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Cut your cold butter into small blocks (about the size of a dime), add them to the dry ingredients, and coat the butter chunks with the dry ingredients.
- Use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter chunks into about pea-sized chunks. At this point your mixture should look semi-sandy.
- Add the cold milk and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened – do not overmix!
- Liberally flour a countertop space and turn the dough onto the floured area, flour the top of the dough as well (your dough will be semi-sticky so using flour will help to tame this).
- Use your hands to shape the dough into an even and cohesive circle, that is about 1 inch in thickness.
- You could also use a rolling pin but hands work just as well.
- Find a medium sized cookie cutter or a small mason jar lid to cut perfect circles out of your biscuit dough. When doing so, try to get the most out of your dough so there is less you have to reroll from the dough leftovers.
- With the leftovers use your hands to slightly work the dough back into a cohesive ball and again flatten out the dough to 1 inch thickness, repeat cookie cutter steps until no dough remains.
- Brush the tops of your biscuits with milk, cream, or an egg wash and place them into your pre-heated oven as soon as possible.
- The trick is to make sure your dough is very cold throughout the entire process as well as before baking. It would be ideal to chill the shaped biscuits in a fridge or freezer before baking!
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the tops are nice and golden brown.
Ingredients – The Rest
- About 1 pound freshly picked, sweet strawberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean scraped (divided)
- 1 pint cold whipping or heavy cream
- Small bunch of fresh mint (optional- for garnish)
Method of Prep – The Rest
- Cut the stems off the strawberries, cut them into small slices, and place them into a medium sized bowl.
- Add the 2 tablespoons sugar or honey and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, mix until incorporated and let this sit a while in the fridge.
- As it sits, the strawberries will start to extract a wonderfully sweet juice which the biscuits will soak up!
- In a medium bowl whip the cold whipping/heavy cream until stiff peaks form – do not overmix.
- Stiff peaks is when you can lift your whip attachment up out of the whipped cream and the cream will stand up and keep it’s shape.
- If using the fresh mint as a garnish, chop finely into long strands with a sharp knife.
Assembling
- Once the biscuits are luke warm or cool, cut them in half and place the two pieces separately on a plate.
- Top the bottom half of the biscuit with the strawberries, smothering it with their sweet goodness.
- Dollop some whipped cream on top of the strawberries and garnish with the mint if using.
- Place the top of the biscuit half way onto the whipped cream as the picture shows.
- Enjoy!