What's For Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake

The inspiration for this dessert was another direct result of reading Bon Appetit at the hair salon the other day; however, the nutritional statistics for their mixed-berry shortcake recipe left a lot to be desired. Not one to be daunted, a quick Internet search resulted in a shortcake recipe from Cooking Light with much more acceptable (for me, at least) calorie and fat counts. A recipe from Vegetarian Times provided an additional idea to substitute drained nonfat yogurt for some of the whipped cream, which also helped to cut the fat count down a little bit, too.

Strawberry Shortcake

makes six servings

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons raw sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (chilled), cut into small cubes

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

For the biscuits (adapted from this Cooking Light recipe):

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Spoon flour into a measuring cup, use a knife to level the flour and pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl.

3. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt to flour. Use a whisk to combine the ingredients.

4. Drop in the cubes of butter; use a pastry blender, knives, or fork to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Continue until it resembles coarse meal.

5. Pour in the buttermilk and stir to combine; the dough will be sticky.

6. Dump the dough onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough a few times. Roll out the dough into a 9" circle. Cut out 2 1/2" circles and place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

7. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

8. Remove from the oven and place the biscuits on a wire rack to cool.

For the fruit:

16 oz organic strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and quartered

1 teaspoon raw sugar

1. Toss the strawberries with the sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the citrus whipped cream (adapted from this Vegetarian Times recipe):

1 cup nonfat organic plain yogurt

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange juice

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. Line a colander with cheesecloth. Place it over a bowl to collect the liquid. Place the yogurt in the lined colander and allow it to drain for at least half an hour. Discard liquid when ready to use.

2. Whip the heavy cream in the chilled bowl of an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.

3. Gently fold in the thickened yogurt, orange juice, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

4. Store in a closed container in the fridge until ready to use.

To put it all together:

1. Slice a biscuit in half.

2. Place one half of the biscuit cut-side up on a plate.

3. Spoon a healthy portion of the strawberry mixture on top of the biscuit.

4. Add a dollop of citrus whipped cream atop the berries.

5. Top with the remaining biscuit half.

6. Serve as-is, or top with halved strawberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon.