Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Lemon Buttermilk Shortcakes with Berries



Thank you for all of your well wishes. We had a very happy Anniversary. Florida was our big celebration, so we just relaxed and enjoyed the day at home. Josh did surprise me with whole wheat French toast and berries for breakfast. He also bought me flowers and a card. He's really a great hubs:)

I did make Josh a special dessert to celebrate, Lemon Buttermilk Shortcakes with Berries. I found this recipe a few weeks ago on Former Chef and knew I had to save it for a special occasion.

The shortcakes were light and fluffy with a hint of lemon. I cut up strawberries and blueberries and drizzled them with agave nectar. I also added in some lemon juice and zest to bring out the lemon flavor. I let the berries sit for about an hour in the fridge so they were nice and juicy.

I cut the shortcakes in half and piled them with berries. We skipped the traditional whipped cream since we aren't huge fans. I think the fresh berries were sweet enough on their own, but Josh added a little vanilla ice cream. This is a perfect dessert for summer!



Lemon Buttermilk Shortcakes with Berries
Adapted from
Former Chef

(Printable Recipe)

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. Cold Butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup Buttermilk
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp Lemon juice
Milk, cream, or Half and Half-for brushing on shortcakes
Turbinado sugar

Strawberries
Blueberries
Agave Nectar
Extra lemon juice/zest

Prepare the berries. Cut strawberries and stir in blueberries. Drizzle berries with agave nectar, a splash of lemon juice, and a bit of lemon zest. Stir and let sit in the fridge for about an hour so the berries get juicy.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in the lemon zest with a whisk.

Cut in the cold butter until it resembles dry oatmeal. Use a fork, pastry cutter, or your hands. Pour in the buttermilk and lemon juice and mix with a spoon just until the dough starts to come together. Don't over mix the dough. If it is really dry, add more buttermilk, but just a little bit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. Do this quickly and don't over knead.

Roll out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter, glass or cookie cutter. You can form the scraps into a ball and roll out again. The recipe made 7 biscuits for me.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with milk, cream, or half and half and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve with berries. You can add whipped cream or ice cream if you wish!

66 comments:

  1. Looks fabulous! A great way to celebrate :) You two are so cute!!

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  2. That looks really terrific! I love summer berries!

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  3. Wonderful celebratory dessert!!

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  4. Strawberries are finally in season after a colder than usual Spring...I can't wait to dig into some strawberry shortcakes:D

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  5. What a special dessert for a special man! This shortcake is picture-perfect and even though I am a whipped cream fan, I think you called it when you left it out. The flavors of lemon buttermilk and fresh berries are the stars here!

    Belated congratulations on your anniversary.

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  6. A wonderful delcious summer dessert.

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  7. That's a wonderful creation! Deliciously seasonal!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  8. These are a work of art!

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  9. You're right... perfect for summer! All of our berries are good to go at this point. Lucky part of living in CA!

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  10. So beautiful and what a wonderful way to celebrate!! Such a sweet and thoughtful hubby!

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  11. What a beautiful presentation! This really looks delicious. Yum.

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  12. Nice take on the traditional strawberry. How can you not love whipped cream though!! I could eat it straight from the bowl!!

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  13. Just lovely! I would have mounded on the whipping cream, though, but that's just me.

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  14. Perfect summer dessert! Absolutely gorgeous, Maria!

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  15. These sound great! What a fantastic way to use up berries.

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  16. The berries look so delicious and love the lemon in the shortcake!

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  17. Lemon shortcake is so original! I'll have to give this a try. Florida is always a great idea for a celebration- congratulations, hope you have many, many more.

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  18. Your shortcake is so beautiful. What a great treat to celebrate your anniversary!

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  19. I love buttermilk biscuits, but have never thought of adding lemon. I'll have to try it! And if you ask me, our strawberry season is just cruelly short in my neck of the woods (East Coast).

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    Editor

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  20. Wow. This not only looks really, really tasty but very pretty too.

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  21. Happy Anniversary!! The shortcakes look wonderful. I love all the fresh berries.

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  22. That looks so fresh and delicious!

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  23. What a nice way to celebrate! Happy anniversary!

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  24. i lurve shortcakes, and this is quite a unique take on them! all that's missing for me is a massive shlop of whipped cream. and/or ice cream. :)

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  25. I love shortcakes that have more a biscuit like texture. These sound so great. I'd never thought of adding a lemon twist. Yum!

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  26. This would make my hubs a very happy man too

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  27. Beautiful! I love the agave nectar in there!

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  28. Oh, this is my favorite dessert. I love light and fluffy cakes and lots and lots of berries! Great job!

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  29. Such a perfect summertime dessert! I love how you used agave :)

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  30. they look amazing, and the berries are so bright and tantalizing :) i love strawberry shortcake!!!

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  31. Thank you for all of your comments! We enjoyed this dessert! Josh likes the shortcakes plain too!

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  32. I have a carton of leftover buttermilk after baking a cake with it and now you have helped me figure out what to do with the rest of it. Thank you! Time to head to the farmer's market for fresh strawberries.

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  33. They look wonderful! I have been working through a 2lb pkg of strawberries that hubby brought home.

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  34. What a great treat! Love the lemon in the shortcakes.

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  35. ummmmm delicious!

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  36. These look amazing! The berries are practically bursting out of the picture. And happy belated anniversary!

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  37. Yum! Delicious! What a great summer treat!

    Just a reminder to update your RSS for my new site:

    http://megansmunchies.com/

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  38. What a lovely anniversary dessert! Glad you had a great time on your vacation!

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  39. Sweet anniversary wuffles.

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  40. Yum! I love the lemon!

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  41. I couldn't think of a better celebratory dessert! Looks fantastic :)

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  42. This really does look like the perfect summer dessert! Happy anniversary! I would totally love it if someone made this for me.

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  43. Ooh, they're pretty and so simple! a great summer dessert, especially with the vanilla ice cream!

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  44. Yum! These look fantastic. I love this kind of dessert...or breakfast! Happy anniversary.

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  45. Oh this looks sooooo good!

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  46. This looks so fresh and delicious that it screams "summer!"

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  47. GORGEOUS dessert! So fresh and perfect for summer. Glad you had a nice anniversary!

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  48. Biscuit type shortcakes are my favorite over a yellow sponge cake. This dessert looks so delicious.

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  49. Happy one year anniversary! Sounds like you guys have had a great first year together.

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  50. mmmmmm they look and sound dreamy! I agree the fruit is plenty, no need for whipped cream :)

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  51. such vibrant colors - i love strawberry shortcake!! add in other berries and it's even better :)

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  52. Glad you had a great anniv. That was a wonderful way to celebrate. Totally delicious.You make a beautiful couple Marie. xoxo

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  53. hey sweetie- these look fabulous. I know you and I have a huge love of anything-buttermilk.
    thank you for your little comments here and there on our status: means the world to me. :-)

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  54. This picture and recipe look wonderful!! I love lemon and berries so i'm sure I'll love this!!

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  55. This sounds fabulous and looks beautiful!

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  56. Those shortcakes look fabulous, I love the fresh summer berries served with them. Nice way to celebrate :0)

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  57. So pretty! I love the addition of lemon!

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  58. Gorgeous - I love all these luscious bright berries.

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  59. I'm loving the ice cream instead of whip cream! Happy belated anni!

    Bren@flanboyanteats.com

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  60. I love berries! I wish I have one of this right now..

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  61. I could always use another way to use up buttermilk - this looks delicious!

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  62. That first photo is a gorgeous! The color of all those yumy berries are glorious! I gotta admit I'd have added a big dollop of cream on mine! :)
    ~ingrid

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  63. It just wouldn't be summer without berry shortcakes!

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  64. I've never seen lemon shortcakes - but I love lemon so I need to try these!

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  65. Beautiful photos, Maria! Sounds like a delicious summer dessert.

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