Easy Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcakes

Strawberry Shortcake is a quintessential summer dessert.

Light and bright, with the tart sweetness of fresh berries contrasting with the flaky, buttery goodness that the shortcake brings.

But why limit ourselves to just using strawberries here?

Add in blueberries to make a colorful red, white, and blue dessert perfect for your July 4th table...Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcake, anyone? It's a patriotic dessert if there ever was one!

What you need

The list of ingredients in a shortcake biscuits recipe from scratch is similar to scones: flour, sugar, butter, milk, baking powder, and salt. You can think of a homemade shortcake as a cross between a biscuit and a scone, so a recipe for shortcake will look very familiar. Like biscuits, shortcakes have a 3 : 1 : 2 recipe ratio of 3 parts flour, 1 part liquid, and 2 parts fat (by weight).

The liquid used in a shortcake recipe is milk or cream to tenderize and add richness like with a scone. And while these shortcakes are sweetened like scones, but not enriched with egg, they're more flaky.

So the perfect shortcake will be sweet, flaky, and buttery. Perfect for soaking up those strawberry & blueberry juices!

How to make shortcake from scratch

The method for making homemade shortcake biscuits is the same as regular homemade biscuits then.

(no surprise there)

Step 1: Combine the dry biscuit ingredients

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl (photo 1, upper).

Step 2: Add in the butter

How you cut up your butter isn't as important as keeping it cold. That's so that the butter stays a bit solid as it mixes with the flour which produces that lovely flakiness.

Generally I'll grate frozen butter on a box grater (mostly because I don't have butter defrosted) and toss it in a little at a time. If you'd rather, cut the chilled butter into small ½-inch cubes. Either way will work.

However you cut it, toss the butter into the flour mixture, a little at a time. Use a pastry blender to further coat the butter with flour until you have a mixture resembling coarse crumbs (photo 1).

Step 3: Add in the milk

Add the milk and mix until the dough is just coming together.

Here you have to be flexible about the amount of milk to add as the actual amount will depend on the humidity of the day. Squeeze a small amount of dough between your fingers and if it is very crumbly, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time (2 tablespoons maximum). If the dough is too wet, you can knead in more flour when you turn out the dough (photo 2).

Remember, do not over mix the dough. You want to keep that butter cold and separate from the flour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and push together into a rough ball. Flatten the dough into a disk 1-inch high and 6-inches in diameter. Use a bench scraper to release the disk from the mat. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Step 4: Cut out the dough disks

Once the dough is chilled, unwrap and press it out into a disk 8-inches in diameter. Cut out circles with a 3-inch round cookie cutter from the chilled dough. You can make the shortcakes bigger if you'd like, but I find that this is a good size (photo 3).

Reroll the dough and continue to cut out circles as best you can. Remember to work quickly so the dough stays cold.

Step 5: Bake the shortcakes

Place the shortcakes about 2 inches apart on a half baking sheet pan covered in a Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper.

Brush the tops of the shortcakes with some milk using a pastry brush to add a little bit of shine, then bake them at 425˚F for 18 to 23 minutes (photo 4).

Step 6: Assemble the dessert

When it's time for dessert, split the shortcakes horizontally. Put some blueberries and sliced strawberries on the bottom half. Top with the other half, and add a dollop of whipped cream.

If you want to go an extra step and make strawberry syrup (see the Pro Tip below), drizzle some of that yummy strawberry syrup on the berries and on top of the whipped cream. Or better yet, put out separate bowls of berries, whipped cream, strawberry syrup, and sliced shortcakes and let everyone assemble their own. Win!

Questions asked and answered

Here are some questions you might have...

Pro Tip: Make strawberry syrup

Traditional Strawberry Shortcake recipes just call for shortcake, berries, and whipped cream. I like to take my recipe for Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcake one step further by making an easy strawberry-flavored sauce. And it's simple.

Simple syrup, that is!

Just heat equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cool to room temperature.

Add some sliced strawberries to the syrup. They'll start to macerate (that is, break down), releasing their juices and flavoring the syrup. Mashing the strawberries will further flavor the strawberry syrup.

Fresh, easy, and fun!

A fun and festive dessert

These red, white, and blue strawberry shortcakes are so delicious and are perfect as an Independence Day dessert. For any other time of year, you can use any juicy fruit to fill the shortcake...blackberries, peaches, mangos are but a few suggestions. Let your taste buds go wild!

Easy and fun, I hope you'll add this Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcake recipe to your list of summer desserts!