Strawberry shortcakes are the best thing to come out of springtime in my opinion. When the strawberries are at their peak in late May and you can pile them onto a warm and flaky biscuit with a dollop of whipped cream or icecream, is there anything better? I found vanilla bean spiked crème fraiche at Trader Joe's and it worked beautifully in this recipe. You could add fresh vanilla bean to plain crème fraiche if you wanted to but I think these would be just as delicious without it. The TJs version I used had a very subtle vanilla flavor.
What you need:
1 cup self rising flour (King Arthur brand is my go-to) + more for dusting
1/4 cup salted butter, melted
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1 tbsp white sugar
Begin by stirring everything together with a fork until it forms a sticky dough. Flour your hands well and place a generous amount of dough onto your work surface. Pat the dough gently into a rectangle and fold over a few times eventually patting into a roughly 9x9 inch rectangle. I use a 3 inch round biscuit cutter and get 6 biscuits. This recipe is easy to double. Bake them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 400 for 12-15 minutes. They should be just slightly browned and will cook quickly so keep an eye on them.
Serve with freshly chopped strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
When making homemade whipped cream I use 1 cup whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 2 tbsp white sugar or confectioners sugar.
Make sure the cream and bowl you will be mixing in is very cold. I like to swirl a few ice cubes around in the bowl to chill it before adding the cream. This takes about two minutes of whisking so be patient but also keep an eye because you can easily over mix and separate the cream. Using an electric mixer or hand whisk beat cream at medium high speed for 1-2 minutes until it has thickened and doubled in volume, gentle peaks should form. Add the vanilla and sugar and whisk for another 15-20 seconds until your cream is set.