Easy Strawberry Shortcake

8 Servings
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes with freshly made sweetened biscuits, homemade whipped cream and lightly sweet strawberries in less than an hour.

You can also make this Dessert recipe with Vanilla Poundcake or Yellow Cake and top it with Fresh Whipped Cream.

Strawberry Shortcake

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes are the most exciting part of strawberry season. Yes, there’s always the Strawberry Pie but strawberry shortcake is a very special dessert with the sweetened strawberries, fresh whipped cream and warm from the oven biscuits.

The only other strawberry dessert that hold a candle to this recipe is this New York Cheesecake topped with Easy Strawberry Topping.

This recipe for a sweetened biscuit topped with sugar crystals is the perfect flaky, shortbread style moistened cookie flavored mate to the juicy strawberries that are punched up with just a bit of lemon juice and the fresh whipped cream that makes the shortcake really creamy.

How to Make the PERFECT Strawberry Shortcake:

Dough: The dough is made in the food processor so it isn’t tough, with just enough sugar to make it sweet. It is combined until just crumbly so the all-purpose flour is mixed just enough to be combined and not enough for the dry ingredients to be overworked.

The Top: The top is sprinkled with sugar crystals instead of granulated sugar which totally make this dish. They’re crunchy and sweet and when added to the super tender biscuit, they add the PERFECT texture.

The Filling: The filling is simple, a slightly sweetened pile of strawberries topped with a classic whipped cream. The magic is all in the biscuit recipe. You’re going to love how easy these strawberry shortcakes are to make!

The Strawberries are not macerated in this recipe, they’re simply tossed with granulated sugar and allowed to sit so they can naturally release liquids. You can macerate them if you’d like but the presentation of the dessert will suffer.

The Whipped Cream is made using ice cold heavy whipping cream in a stand mixer or large bowl that is ice cold. The colder both of these are, the better your whipped cream will be. Adding a bit of vanilla or almond extract to your vanilla will also add a great dimension of flavor.

Sometimes whipping cream is sold as heavy cream or whipping cream in the store, you are just looking for cream that is 40% milk fat for the perfect whipped cream consistency.

Looking for more strawberry desserts? Fresh Strawberry Crumb Bars and 3 Ingredient Fresh Strawberry Sorbet are also delicious!

Sweet biscuits on baking sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you shape drop biscuits?

These biscuits were shaped by actually using a Mmedium Cookie Scoop. When using a spoon there will be smaller spikes and unevenness in the shape of the biscuits, while the ice cream scoop allows for a smooth texture. Simply sprinkle on the sugar crystals before baking. If you want a more perfectly shaped biscuit you can also use a biscuit cutter, but we like the old-fashioned look when making homemade strawberry shortcake. To ensure even baking you can bake the biscuits on a silicone mat or on a parchment-lined heavy baking sheet.

How do you pick good strawberries?

Buy local/organic berries or better yet, get them from a farmers market since they would’ve been the freshest. Avoid white/green coloring, those are unripe and picked too early. The deeper the red more flavor. Larger strawberries don’t necessarily mean they are better. How firm are they? Fresh strawberries are firm and look juicy. If they look wrinkly or slightly soft, they’re old.

Check the boxes if it looks like maybe a strawberry or two was removed from the package it is likely old. Produce employees routinely pick off moldy strawberries and leave the rest of the package (Check the weight to see if this happened if you are suspicious).

What toppings can I put on Strawberry Shortcake?

Use Homemade Cool Whip instead of whipped cream.
Use Vanilla Ice Cream in addition to the whipped cream.
If you are looking to mix up the flavors make this a berry shortcake by adding in raspberries and blueberries.
If you are craving Strawberry Shortcake but your strawberries are not in season make my easy strawberry topping in place of fresh fruit.
Add Easy Chocolate Fudge Topping or shaved chocolate on top.
Sliced bananas, chocolate fudge topping and vanilla ice cream turns this dessert into a banana split shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake on a plate

Tools Used in the making of these Easy Strawberry Shortcakes:
Sheet Pan: High quality, low in price and won’t warp at the higher temperatures.
Silicone Baking Mat: Protects the bottoms of the biscuits from sticking or burning.
Sugar Crystals: The crispy topping is made with this and it takes the dish over the top!

How to Store Strawberry Shortcake

  • Serve: Do not leave this Strawberry Shortcake with fresh whipped cream at room temperature longer then two hours.
  • Store: You can store the components of the recipe separately and assemble when ready to serve. Keep biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, and whipped cream covered tightly in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Slice and sweeten strawberries before serving.
  • Freeze: Freeze biscuits and whipped cream, tightly wrapped separately, for 2-3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator and prepare fresh sweetened strawberries to serve.
Strawberry Shortcake on plate

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Easy Strawberry Shortcake

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes with freshly made sweetened biscuits, homemade whipped cream and lightly sweet strawberries in less than an hour.
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar , divided
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter , cold, cut into small cubes
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup coarse sanding sugar
  • 2 pints strawberries , hulled and sliced
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • Add the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar baking powder, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse until the butter is in pea sized crumbles.
  • Add in the milk, pulsing until the dough comes together.
  • Using a cookie scoop, add the shortcake dough onto a silicon baking mat on a sheet pan and sprinkle each dough mound with ½ tablespoon of coarse sanding sugar.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes.
  • While the biscuits are baking, add the remaining two tablespoons of sugar to the bowl with the strawberries and stir together.
  • In a medium sized bowl add the heavy cream and beat with a hand mixer or in your stand mixer until soft peaks form.
  • Add in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and whip for an additional 15-20 seconds until stiff peaks form.
  • Once the biscuits are cooled, split them in half, top with strawberries and whipped cream (Using a spoon or a pastry bag with a #1 tip), then top with the biscuit top.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 486kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 235mg | Potassium: 450mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 1115IU | Vitamin C: 69.9mg | Calcium: 163mg | Iron: 2.1mg
Strawberry Shortcake Collage

Photo used in a previous version of this post.

strawberry shortcake collage
strawberry shortcake collage
strawberry shortcake, top biscuit slanted

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Making these tonite but using fresh picked blackberries (from my neighbor’s yard)instead of strawberries. Loved them the last time when I used strawberries. Someone even asked for the recipe!

    1. Highest praise when someone asks for the recipe right?!!! Thanks Cindy for making my day.

  2. This was so delicious & light inside & fluffy & crispy on the outside – not too sweet – perfectly tasted shortcake – perfect with strawberries – family loved it ! This is a keeper

  3. I found out how to get sanding sugar w/o buying it. I had a bag of sugar in the pantry for a few months and it had turned hard . So I got out the sifter and shook and pressed the lumps thru and the bigger grains stayed in the sifter. Just a money saving tip to pass on. Tried all your sloppy joe recipes and they are just wonderful.

  4. Hi this looks delicious!! Can you freeze the dough in its scooped shape and bake from frozen? Can you substitute the sugar crystals for granulated sugar?

  5. Made these tonight delicious and simple, will make again. The ice cream scoop worked well. I sprayed a little Pam in it so they would not stick to the scoop. I used parchment paper to bake them on.
    Thank You!

  6. Clearly my cookie scoop is not the same size as your cookie scoop. lol I actually ended up doing two scoops per shortcake. We will see how they turn out in about 3 minutes. **fingers crossed**

  7. While these are very good, the inside wasn’t all the baked and was gooey. I will try these again and maybe turn the heat down a notch, and push down on them after I scoop them onto the sheet tray.

  8. I haven’t made this yet, but am curious if you can substitute almond milk for the whole milk?

  9. Your photo looks like you used the cookie cutter method and is the result I am looking for. Did you roll the dough? What should the thickness be, and does this method change the cooking time. These biscuits look amazing!!

    1. I used a cookie scoop to shape my biscuits but you could definitely use a cutter but you would have to roll out the dough. I wouldn’t think you’d need to adjust the cook time any but just keep an eye on them around the 8-10 minute mark as oven temps may vary. Enjoy!

  10. This looks fabulous but I’m confused about the directions for the sugar. It says to add flour, 2Tbs. sugar, baking powder salt and butter and food process. Then for whipping cream add 2Tbs. sugar but the ingredients only list a total of 2 TBS. Please clarify.

    1. I’m so excited for you to try this! The 1/4 cup of sugar is split between 2T is step 2 and the other 2T in step 6. I hope this helps! Enjoy.

  11. My family always loves strawberry short cake and this mini version with the sugar coating with have them going wild! Can’t wait to try!!

  12. How long do you think these would stay fresh? My daughter wants them for her sweet 16 party but there will be a lot of people so I’m hoping to be able to make them in advance….

    1. If you’re making these in advance, my recommendation would be make the biscuits a day or two ahead of time and keep them in an air tight sealed container. I wouldn’t assemble them until the day of. Hope this helps!

  13. Local strawberries are so sweet and juicy this year I bought eight baskets~each was between eight and 10 pounds. Hopefully today I’ll slice them and bag most of them for the freezer.

  14. California strawberries are in season now and hitting the stores….I know what’s happening in my kitchen this weekend! And hey, that crunchy sugar on top….is the BEST IDEA EVER!

  15. What a great way to finish off our strawberries in the fridge!

    What do you suggest for those without a food processor or blender? Can I just “cut in” the butter like I do for biscuits, then fold in the milk afterward? Thanks! Looking forward to this decadent dessert!