Brown Sugar Shortcakes with Mixed Berries and Whipped Cream

I've been looking forward to making these brown sugar shortcakes from Baked Occasions since I first saw them on the recipe schedule. Getting to eat tender shortcake, whipped cream, and fresh berries is one of my favorite things about summer. I love shortcake - I suppose I already made that pretty clear in my rapturous praise of Matt and Renato's Strawberry Supreme Cake. These brown sugar shortcakes are almost as amazing as the cake was, which really means they're incredible, just not quite as mind-blowingly amazing. On the other hand, they are much easier and less time-consuming to make, and there's no buttercream frosting involved. These shortcakes are technically in honor of Flag Day, but today just happens to be Father's Day, and I actually like these even more than I liked the Dad's Black Cocoa Bundt Cake - because summer berries + whipped cream + buttery shortbread >>> chocolate cake. So while these cakes might be in Baked Occasions for Flag Day, I certainly advocate baking them as often as possible during berry season.One of the reasons I love sharing what I bake with other people is I get feedback. I know what I  think about something I've made, but I realized a long time ago that not everyone shares my opinion on how something tastes (otherwise crispy chocolate chip cookies and gingersnaps wouldn't exist). These brown sugar shortcakes received rave reviews from everyone - small children and adults alike - which means I can confidently promise these will be happily devoured by all and you should bake them straightaway. Also the recipe header says, these don't transport very well once assembled, but the shortcakes are delicious on their own and make a pretty fantastic "snack" or dessert even without berries or whipped cream. Shortcakes are a bit like scones, so far as I can tell. The major difference is shortcakes have even more fat content, which comes from multiple sources (butter, shortening, cream, and egg yolk) compared to scones, which get their fat content solely from butter and cream. That and shortcakes are American while scones are English. Now it makes perfect sense why these are in honor of Flag Day - right?I doubled the recipe for these, because I was taking them over to a friend's house and I wanted to be sure there were enough for everyone to have two. In principle, I understand that one shortcake is the standard serving size, but in practice a double stack of shortcake, whipped cream, fresh berries, and caramel sauce is even better. Also, these didn't really rise much (and then they fell a bit after cooling), so I posit that eating two at once is a completely reasonable way to enjoy these. On the other hand, they are incredibly filling and one was plenty for me.I found Matt and Renato's instructions for preparation to be perfectly timed for letting the butter and shortening chill in the freezer while getting the cream, vanilla, and egg yolk whisked and chilling in the fridge, then stirring together my flour and sugar. Rubbing the cold butter plus shortening into the dry ingredients was really easy, as was drizzling in the wet ingredients. My dough didn't come perfectly together (the recipe says the dough should hold together without any crumbling), but I didn't want to risk overworking it and it didn't seem overly dry. With my doubled recipe, I wound up with about 15 rounds, each 2.5-inches in diameter and about 1-inch tall. I froze them for only 15 minutes before baking; since they didn't rise much and did fall during cooling, maybe I should have frozen them for a little longer. After brushing them with the cream and egg white glaze, I sprinkled the last of the bourbon sugar from May's Derby Cookies on top. Mine needed only 12 minutes in the oven and smelled absolutely divine.Adding sugar to my already ripe berries felt rather criminal, but in the spirit of testing the recipe in full, I did make some strawberries in the brown sugar syrup. Although my strawberries definitely didn't need the extra brown sugar, I loved the addition of orange zest with the shortcakes. It complimented everything really well, so if you have ripe berries I recommend just tossing them in some orange zest and letting them sit a bit. If your berries could use some oomph, then by all means add the brown sugar (and Grand Marnier).For breakfast, I enjoyed these with some plain Greek yogurt in place of the whipped cream, which was almost as delicious as having them for dessert. Any leftover brown sugar shortcakes will keep about 4-5 days in an air-tight container or they can be sliced in half and frozen for future enjoyment.

Find the recipe over at Baked Sunday Mornings and see what other people thought of these!

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