Bisquick™ Strawberry Shortcakes

Recipe Tips

• tip 1

  A “short” cake has a high ratio of butter to flour and sugar. Stir the dough just until the dry ingredients are moistened and a soft dough forms. The shortcakes shouldn’t stick to the pan, but you can use baking parchment or a silicone baking mat if you’d like.

• tip 2

  Mixing sugar with the fruit, whether you stick with summer-favorite strawberries or play with juicy peaches and blueberries or raspberries and plum wedges, is a process called “macerating.” Macerating is similar to marinating, but it’s done with fruit—sometimes letting the fruit sit in flavored liquors, vinegars or syrups—or by sprinkling the fruit with sugar. The sugar draws the moisture out of the fruit, creating a fruity, sweet syrup.

• tip 3

  The first step in making a successful whipped cream for this Bisquick™ Strawberry Shortcakes recipe is to refrigerate the bowl (a deep metal one works best) with the cream and the mixer beaters. The colder the cream, the faster it will whip up—but make sure you stop when it becomes stiff enough to form soft peaks.

• tip 4

  Flavor the fruit or cream with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or 1 to 2 teaspoons orange liquor. When whipping the cream, be sure to add liquid when it starts to form soft peaks, or the cream might be too loose.

• tip 5

  In a time crunch? Use canned whipped cream instead of making from scratch.