Circle B Kitchen
Although the recipe says to work the butter into the flour with your fingers, it's perfectly acceptable to use your food processor for this. Place your dry ingredients into the food processor and pulse to combine. Then cut your butter into small-ish chunks and add to the processor. Pulse a few times until you have small pebbles of butter throughout the flour. You can then add your wet ingredients but I prefer to place the dry ingredients and butter into a large bowl and add my wet ingredients by hand so I can monitor the consistency of the dough and not overwork it. The less you handle the dough, the fluffier your shortcakes will be. It's very easy for the food processor to overwork/overmix.
Makes 6-7 shortcakes
The Shortcakes:
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (optional)
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top
Powdered sugar for dusting
Strawberry Filling:
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar or to taste
Pinch of salt
Whipped cream for serving
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
CcTo make the shortcakes: Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the butter and mix with your fingers until it is broken up and the mixture has the texture of wet sand. Add the buttermilk and gently mix it in. Stir in the chocolate chips. Shape the dough into 6 or 7 shortcakes on the baking sheet. Space them about 4 inches apart on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet on another baking sheet. (This keeps the bottom of the shortcakes from burning.) Sprinkle the tops of the shortcakes with sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool. If made ahead, store in a covered container.
Combine the strawberries, sugar, and salt.
To serve, carefully slice each shortcake in half horizontally. Top the bottom half of the shortcake with a spoonful of the strawberries and spoon some whipped cream over the berries. Place the top half of the shortcake over the whipped cream and serve.