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Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached white flour
  • 3/4 c. cake flour
  • 3 Tbls. white sugar
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 6 Tbls. cold unsalted butter
  • 1 c. heavy cream
  • 1-1/2 Tbls. melted butter
  • 1-1/2 Tbls. sugar
  • 2 pints strawberries, sliced
  • 2 Tbls. white sugar

Lemon Cream

  • finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
  • 2-1/2 Tbls. white sugar
  • 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 Tbls. unsalted butter
  • 1 c. heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour and cake flours with the sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the 6 Tbls. cold butter until it is the size of small peas. Stir in the cream until dough forms. Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just until it comes together.

Roll the dough into a 7-inch round, about 3/4 inch thick. Using a 3 –inch biscuit cutter, stamp out 5 biscuits. Gently gather up the scraps and re-roll them; cut out 1 more round so you have a total of 6 biscuits.

Transfer biscuits to a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter (1-1/2 Tbls.) and sprinkle the sugar on top. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until biscuits are golden. Let cool.

To make the cream: Set a mesh strainer over a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, combine half of the lemon zest with the lemon juice, sugar, egg, egg yolk, salt and 1 Tbls. of the butter. Cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly until thickened (about 5 minutes). Immediately strain the curd into the bowl. Whisk in the remaining lemon zest and 2 Tbls. of butter.

Press plastic wrap directly onto surface and refrigerate until cool.

In a medium bowl, softly whip the cream. Fold the lemon curd into the whipped cream and refrigerate at least an hour.

Prepare the strawberries. In a medium bowl, toss the strawberries with the sugar and let stand for 15 minutes.

To serve, split each biscuit in half. Mound the lemon cream on the bottom biscuit, top with strawberries and replace the top.

Serve immediately.