Blueberry Shortcakes

photo courtesy of E.Hom (She cooked it and I took the picture!)

A lil birdie told me to try this super easy recipe for Blueberry shortcakes. The secret ingredients are lime juice and coconut milk... I woulda never guessed it!


The discovery of this tasty recipe happened when my sister and my niece were flipping through a magazine. And what once was a Mother's day treat has turned into a weekend brunch treat.  It's easy when you have all the ingredients, but I'm pretty sure that I ran to the store for vanilla extract and may be a lime or two. (I tend to get two because when I got one once and it turned out to be dried out. I had to weigh skipping it or going out to the store a-gain!)


I'm giving full credit to my super sister on this one. I don't even want to get in to the disaster that was when I tried to make it... Let's just say, the shortcakes were dry, the blueberry sauce was runny and... *brace yourself* I substituted cool whip for the whipped cream--I usually always prefer homemade whipped cream versus the cool whip.

Blueberry Shortcakes

SHORTCAKE:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

4 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3/4 cup heavy cream (If you dare, use about a 1/4 or 1/2 cup of coconut milk instead of heavy cream.)

1 egg slightly beaten

1 tsp of vanilla

lemon (or lime) zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor. Pulsate everything in 3-second intervals until everything resembles coarse meal. (Again, no food processor, just mix by hand meaning use your hands!)

Transfer everything to a large bowl. Stir in heavy cream, egg, vanilla, and lime zest mixing the dough by hand until it forms into a uniformed and slightly moistened dough. On a floured surface, scoop out half the dough and form a ball. Flatten the dough until your disk is approximately 3/4" in height. Press down the outside of the dough circle so the center is slightly taller. (If you need pictures, you should refer to the link at the end of this entry.)

Cut each circle in quarters. You should have enough dough to make 8 shortcakes total. Bake for 15 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or on an ungreased cookie sheet. Remove the shortcakes from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. While shortcakes are cooking, prepare the blueberry sauce and whipped cream.

BLUEBERRY SAUCE:

2 cups of blueberries (I think my sister's also tasted better because she was using fresh instead of frozen.)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

fresh juice from 1 lemon or lime (whichever you used for the zest)

Cook blueberries, sugar, water and lime juice on medium high heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. (The thing that I don't like about working with frozen fruit is the extra wetness that comes with it. If you've ever had your sauce turn runny and watery, it's probably because I didn't drain or press the fruit before I used it in the sauce. I might try eliminating the water part of the sauce recipe and add as needed.)

WHIPPED CREAM:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, make a batch of sweetened whipped cream by whipping heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer or by hand with a whisk until your cream has formed peaks.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Slice each cake in half horizontally. Place the bottom half on a plate. From there layer everything. Start by adding a couple spoonfuls of blueberry sauce on top of the cut side of the cake. Next add a dollop of whipped cream and then place the other half of the cake on top. Finish the shortcake off with a couple more spoonfuls of blueberry sauce and another dollop of whipped cream.

Inspirational link:

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/06/blueberry-shortcakes/