Strawberry oatmeal shortcakes with maple vanilla cream

This old Bon Apétit recipe is an easy summer dessert that never fails to impress. A bit sweeter and more textured than a regular biscuit, these moist oatmeal shortcakes make a perfect foil for fresh summer strawberries. My friend David just turned me on to this wonderful maple vanilla cream, but you can’t go wrong with vanilla ice cream or real whipped cream either.

Shortcake ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter)
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (optional), for sprinkling over shortcakes

Strawberries

• 1-2 pounds fresh strawberries, cut (depending on what strawberry-to-shortcake ratio your prefer)
• 1-3 teaspoons sugar to sprinkle on strawberries (brings out the juice)

Maple vanilla cream

• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 t vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F (use 375° F if your oven runs hot; cooking these a little lower works fine too).
2. Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
3. Add cold butter pieces and use fingertips or a pastry cutter to rub in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Add milk; stir until dough forms.
5. Drop dough onto prepared baking sheet, making 6-8 large or 12-14 small biscuits. Sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons sugar.
6. Bake until shortcakes are golden and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
7. While shortcakes are baking, wash and cut strawberries. Put in large bowl and sprinkle with a bit of sugar to bring out their juice. Mix briefly and set aside.
8. To make maple vanilla cream, mix sour cream with maple syrup and vanilla extract. Set aside.
9. When shortcakes are ready, let cool for ten minutes. Use a serrated knife to cut shortcakes in half horizontally. Fill with strawberries and top with maple vanilla cream (or ice cream, whipped cream, or skip the cream and enjoy them plain).

Makes 6-8 large servings or 12-14 small servings.

Notes

• You can try greek yogurt instead of sour cream; it won’t be quite as as creamy and you may need extra maple syrup depending on tartness
• You can make the shortcakes a few hours ahead and store loosely covered. They are good same day but become drier overnight.

Here’s a link back to the post and pictures.