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Brown Butter Strawberry Shortcakes

Father’s Day is coming up! Normally, I would write a sappy post about my dad (he’s a great guy–see here and here), but he’s a little Internet shy. I don’t blame him. So, instead of writing about him and a dessert he would love, I’m going in the opposite direction.

My dad doesn’t care for strawberries, so in order to keep him out of this post, I am bringing you Strawberry Shortcakes. But not just any old strawberry shortcakes–these little guys are made with brown butter. See those gorgeous golden brown biscuits? They’re full of the stuff.

So, how exactly does one make biscuits with brown butter? Well, logically, you start by browning the butter. Place a stick of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and then babysit it. No, helicopter parent it. It will melt and bubble and sputter for a few minutes, and you need to be swirling it frequently. Don’t leave the room, don’t check your work emails, don’t strike up a conversation with your roommate. You need to watch that butter. Just when you think it’s not going to do anything beyond splatter your stovetop, the solids in it will turn brown and give off an incredibly rich, nutty aroma. That’s how you’ll know it’s ready. Immediately pour it into a little bowl–don’t let it sit in the pan or it will burn. Burnt butter is not delicious.

Once that brown butter isn’t searing hot anymore, place it in the fridge. Unlike most recipes calling for brown butter, this recipe will not work if the butter is liquid. For our biscuits to be flaky (instead of brown butter-flavored hockey pucks), it needs to solidify and be very cold. This will take a few hours. I recommend browning the butter the night before you want to use it. That way there’s no waiting the next day.

Making brown butter biscuits is a lot like making Buttermilk Biscuits. Whisk together flour, baking powder, a few tablespoons of brown sugar (these are decidedly sweet), and a touch of salt. Use a pastry blender or your fingertips to cut the cold brown butter into the dry ingredients, before stirring in some cold half-and-half. I don’t recommend using milk in this recipe. When the butter browns, its water content evaporates. Using a liquid with a higher fat content helps restore some of that lost moisture.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Pat it out and give it a few folds to ensure flakiness before cutting it into rounds. Pat your leftovers back together and cut them again–you should get about a dozen biscuits. Place them close together on a lined baking sheet, brush them with more half-and-half and sprinkle coarse sugar over the tops. Bake them for 12-14 minutes, just until puffed and golden.

While the biscuits are baking, fold together a ton of sliced strawberries and a bit of sugar. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let them sit. This is called macerating–it will allow the berries to release a lot of moisture, creating a delicious strawberry syrup. The longer they sit, the more liquid there will be. The strawberries pictured only sat for half an hour, but you can do this up to a day in advance; just let the berries macerate in the fridge.

When your biscuits are cool and your strawberries are to your liking, whip some cream. Slice the biscuits in half and layer them with the strawberries and whipped cream–there are no hard and fast rules about how much of each, at least as far as I’m concerned. Just pile them up how you like them, and then dig in!

Y’all, these Brown Butter Strawberry Shortcakes are in. sane. INSANE. Beyond the absolute perfection that is the combination of strawberries and whipped cream, there are the incredible brown butter biscuits. They are lightly sweet, but rich from the brown sugar and the nutty brown butter. Layered with the berries and cream–well, they’re about as wonderful as strawberry shortcake gets. Even my dad might like ‘em.

Brown Butter Strawberry Shortcakes
makes 12 servings

Brown Butter:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

Brown Butter Biscuits:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup brown butter, solid, very cold
2/3-3/4 cup half-and-half, very cold, plus more for brushing
1 tablespoon coarse sugar (like turbinado), for sprinkling

Strawberries:
1 1/2 pounds (24 ounces) fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered (about 4-5 cups)
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Brown the butter. Place butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Let butter melt. Butter will bubble and crackle as the water content evaporates. Swirl the pan frequently for 5-7 minutes, keeping an eye on the color. When the solids are turning brown and the butter is nutty and fragrant, remove the pot from the heat and immediately pour the brown butter into a small bowl. Let the butter cool to room temperature before refrigerating until solid and very cold, several hours or overnight.

Make the biscuits. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt. Add cold brown butter. Use a pastry blender or clean fingertips to cut the butter into the flour until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Stir in 2/3 cup half-and-half. Add more half-and-half by the tablespoon (up to 2 tablespoons), until no unincorporated bits remain.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat it to 1/2-inch thickness. Fold it in half and give it a quarter turn (more details on this process here). Repeat patting and folding until you have done it 3-4 times total. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut biscuits. Pat scraps back together and cut a few more. Place biscuits close together on the prepared pan. Brush them with more half-and-half and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 12-14 minutes, until puffed and golden. Let biscuits cool in the pan on a rack until they reach room temperature.

While the biscuits are baking, fold strawberries and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for up to an hour. This may also be done a day in advance–just let the strawberries macerate in the refrigerator.

When the biscuits are cool and the strawberries are ready, whip the cream. In a large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar. Use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to whip cream until soft peaks form.

Assemble shortcakes. Slice biscuits in half. Lay the bottom half of a biscuit on a plate. Top with strawberries and whipped cream. Place the top half of the biscuit over the top. Spoon on more strawberries and whipped cream. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Serve immediately.

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing

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Thanksgiving, y’all. It’s happening in eight days. Are you ready? I know I am.

See, aside from taking a bus to Boston, there’s nothing I need to do. My parents are coming up to spend the holiday with my little sister and me, and we’ll be having the traditional turkey dinner at a restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts. No muss, no fuss. All we need to do is dress nicely and show up. It’s pretty great, especially if the idea of making a huge dinner doesn’t appeal to you. But, as you may have gathered by my having a food blog, the marathon cooking very much appeals to me.

For years I’ve said that my idea of the perfect day is preparing a Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. I know–I’m insane. Hear me out though. I have been obsessively reading recipes for years and have catalogued an extensive collection of Thanksgiving recipes. Given the chance to host Thanksgiving, I know every detail from how I’d serve Artichoke Dip as an appetizer to how I’d dry brine the turkey to which of my mother’s sweet potato recipes I’d use and how many pies I’d make. And of course, I know what kind of stuffing I’d serve–one made with biscuits and studded with sausage and mushrooms. Since it doesn’t appear I’ll be preparing any large turkey dinners anytime soon, I went ahead and tried my ideal stuffing recipe on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. After eating four servings over the course of the day, I can safely say that the Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing I’d been imagining for years is just as good as I had hoped. Crispy on top, moist in the middle, and made out of the perfect food (biscuits, duh), this is the stuffing of my dreams.

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing starts with a batch of cream biscuits. These biscuits require less work than their buttermilk-based counterparts and are just as delicious. They’re great with butter and jam or made into little sandwiches, but here they’re cut into small pieces after baking and left at room temperature until stale (12-48 hours). If you’re working on a tight deadline, I’ve written a shortcut for this step into the recipe.

Once the biscuit pieces are dried out, the stuffing assembly can begin. Brown some sausage. I like breakfast sausage because the sage flavor goes so well with other parts of the Thanksgiving meal, but use whichever variety you like.

Sauté some diced mushrooms, followed by onion and celery. Add the biscuits, sausage, and vegetables to a large mixing bowl. Toss in some herbs–parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (just as Simon & Garfunkel intended). Throw in a little salt and pepper and moisten everything with melted butter and chicken stock.

Pile it into a casserole dish (or your trusty cast iron skillet) and drizzle it with a bit more stock. Lay parchment and foil over the top to keep the stuffing moist, and bake for half an hour. Then remove the foil and parchment and bake for fifteen more minutes, just long enough for the top to get brown and crispy.

This stuffing, y’all. It’s freaking delicious. Deeply savory with tons of meaty sausage, earthy mushrooms, aromatics, herbs, and butter (always butter), it’ll be perfect alongside your turkey. The top is brown and crisp-crunchy, while the middle stays soft and moist. Oh my lord, is this good. Try it, and you will be wondering why we save this for one or two days per year. I know I am.

Sausage & Mushroom Biscuit Stuffing
biscuit recipe from Dinner with Julie
makes about 8-10 servings

Cream Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
2 cups heavy cream

Stuffing:
1 recipe cream biscuits (or other good biscuits), cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb breakfast sausage, removed from casings
6 tablespoons butter, divided
8 ounces cremini or other mushrooms, diced
2 cups diced white onion (about one large onion)
2 cups diced celery (about 6-8 stalks)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2-1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock, divided (I like Better than Bouillon)

Make the biscuits. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to stir in heavy cream. Knead a few times to incorporate any extra dry ingredients. Press biscuit dough into prepared pan and score with a sharp chef’s knife (I usually score 20 rectangular biscuits). Bake 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and starting to turn golden. Let cool in the pan on a rack until the biscuits reach room temperature.

Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the biscuits into 1-inch pieces. Place pieces in one layer on a baking sheet and leave uncovered for 12-48 hours, until stale. Alternatively, you may dry out the biscuit pieces by toasting them in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.

Make the stuffing. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large casserole or other ovenproof pan. Set aside.

Place stale biscuit pieces in a large mixing bowl.

Place olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned. Remove sausage to the mixing bowl that contains the biscuits.

Discard all but 1 tablespoon of sausage fat from the pan, and return to the heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter and melt. Sauté mushrooms 7-10 minutes, until cooked but not browned. Add them to the sausage and biscuit pieces.

Return pan to the heat and reduce heat to medium. Add celery and onion and sauté until translucent but not brown, about 10 minutes.

Add vegetables to the large mixing bowl, along with thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Toss all ingredients together. Pour in 2 cups of chicken stock and continue stirring until everything is moistened (there may be a bit of excess liquid–this is fine). Taste for salt and add 1/2 teaspoon more, if desired.

Press mixture into prepared casserole dish. Drizzle with an additional 1 cup chicken stock. Cover with a layer of parchment, followed by a layer of foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove parchment and foil. Bake an additional 15 minutes until browned and crispy. Serve immediately.

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days.

Buffalo Chicken Biscuits

Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

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Cinnamon rolls are amazing. (Duh.) Gooey cinnamon filling rolled into soft pastry and covered in frosting–what’s not to love?!

Well…the time commitment. Even supposedly “quick and easy” recipes take three hours. The problem is the yeast. It takes a while. Like multiple-long-rises a while. Add to that the fact that working with yeast strikes fear into the hearts of many casual bakers. I’ve learned that yeast is nothing to fear, but still. When I want cinnamon rolls, I want them *now.* Not in three or six or eight hours–NOW.

I clearly have some pretty serious breakfast pastry needs.

What if I told you that you could have some seriously good cinnamon rolls on your table in less than 90 minutes? And that you didn’t have to proof any yeast or let anything rise? Would you be interested?

Yeah, I thought so.

Enter Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls. All the sweet cinnamon goodness of classic cinnamon rolls, wrapped up in a delightfully easy cream biscuit dough and positively smothered in cream cheese frosting. Oh my word, are these good. And they’re miniature, because tiny food just tastes better somehow.

The dough base is the same as the one I used in my Scratch Biscuit Monkey Bread. It’s super easy: mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, and stir in 2 cups of cream (I said quick and easy, not healthy). That’s it. Seriously easy. I do not recommend using a regular buttermilk biscuit dough here–the butter in that dough must be kept cold, or your results will be bricks. No, thank you. This simple cream biscuit dough has no butter, so it doesn’t need to be kept absolutely frigid to bake up properly. Using this base, you can roll and flip and handle the dough as much as you want!

Once the dough is made, divide it in half. Take one half and roll it into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Then, take some butter that’s been spiked with granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and spread it over the whole thing, leaving only a thin border. Gently roll the long edge of the dough toward your body until you have a tight cylinder.

Cut the rolled dough into 1-inch rolls and place them close together in a buttered pan. Repeat that process with the other half of the dough, and then bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes at 400F.
Make a half-batch of my cream cheese frosting, and spread it over the warm rolls. Yes, this is a lot of frosting, but that’s how I roll. <–Ha! Roll.

Seriously, look at that.

If a metric ton of frosting isn’t your thing, you may halve the recipe. The frosting will melt into every nook and cranny of the cinnamon rolls and make everything super gooey and delicious. In fact, the frosting is so thick, I had a hard time seeing while cutting out individual rolls–but when they’re this good, I don’t care if they’re totally gorgeous. The tang of the frosting with the fluffy biscuit base and sweet cinnamon filling is just…everything.

So, the next time you have a craving for cinnamon rolls, make these Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls. In less than 90 minutes, you’ll be tucking into a full pan of amazingness, and you won’t have fretted over yeast or waited an eternity! These are perfect for any weekend morning or brunch party. Nobody can resist these sweet little rolls 😊

Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls
makes about two dozen miniature rolls

Filling:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream, cold

Frosting:
4-ounces (1/2 brick) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Set aside.

Make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to mash together softened unsalted butter, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, until it’s completely combined. Set aside.

Make the biscuit dough. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, and baking powder. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold in heavy cream, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Dough will be shaggy. Divide dough in halves.

On a floured surface, roll half the dough into a 14×8-inch rectangle. Use an offset knife (or butter knife) to spread half the filling onto the rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border at the edge. Starting at the long edge furthest away from your body, tightly roll the dough toward you until you have one large cylinder. Slice into 1-inch pieces, and place close together in the prepared pan. Repeat process with the second half of the dough.

Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes, until light golden and fully cooked. Let cool ten minutes while you make the frosting.

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar and salt, followed by vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Drop frosting in dollops over the top of the warm rolls. Spread with an offset knife to cover the entire top of the rolls. Let set for ten minutes before serving.

Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls are best served the day they are made, but may be kept covered at room temperature for up to three days.

Coconut Oil Biscuits

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I know what you’re thinking. “Coconut oil in biscuits? This girl’s lost her mind!”

But hear me out. Until last week, I felt the same way. Up to that point, every great biscuit I had ever eaten was made with butter and buttermilk, or occasionally, heavy cream. But while surfing Pinterest one morning, I came across a recipe for Coconut Oil Biscuits. At first, I was horrified. Coconut oil? In biscuits? No way. And they were vegan? I love experimenting with vegan recipes, but biscuits were sacred.

I kept scrolling. But the evil geniuses who designed the Pinterest algorithm had other ideas. The recipe kept showing up! I closed the app and went about my day.

But that Pin kept popping up in my mind. And the more I thought about it, the more I welcomed the idea. Biscuits made with coconut oil and coconut milk? I like coconut. I love biscuits. Was it so wrong to put them together? I gave in and decided to try it myself. I figured that if they were a real disaster, I could toss them and go back to my buttermilk biscuit-only mentality.

Very long story short, I shouldn’t have worried. Coconut Oil Biscuits rise high and are super soft and fluffy. And they don’t need any of the chilling, rolling, folding, or thwacking that my buttermilk biscuits require. None of those things are difficult or take much time, but there’s something really awesome about being able to make scratch biscuits in 25 minutes start-to-finish. Yes, if you turn the oven to 425F right now, you are only 25 minutes away from slathering jam onto a warm biscuit!

But before you go running to the kitchen, there are a couple of ingredients we need to talk about. First, the coconut oil. In buttermilk biscuits, the butter must be kept cold so that it only melts in the oven–this creates flakiness and layers. If it were at room temperature during the mixing, the resulting biscuits would be dense and dry because the butter “pockets” basically wouldn’t exist. But unlike butter, coconut oil is solid (and kind of hard) at room temperature, so it will cut into the flour easily without becoming gooey. And since the oil doesn’t have butter’s water content, it keeps these biscuits nice and moist. Hello fluffy, flaky magic.

The other thing we need to talk about is the milk. In buttermilk biscuits, the liquid is buttermilk (duh). Here, you could use regular dairy buttermilk, but why not add an extra dose of flavor (and keep the biscuits vegan!) by using coconut milk?! I use refrigerated coconut milk because of it’s textural similarity to dairy buttermilk. Doctored up with a teaspoon of vinegar, it creates tenderness just like its dairy counterpart.

Coconut Oil Biscuits bake up in just 10-12 minutes. They don’t really turn golden, but they definitely rise high. And they are so tender that you can lift the tops right off–perfect for topping with whatever your biscuit-loving heart desires!

For those wondering if these are super coconutty or not, well…they definitely have a coconut flavor, but as there isn’t much sugar, they are decidedly on the savory side. I like them with a little jam (raspberry is my favorite!), but I think a sweeter nut butter, like this one, would do well here. I could also imagine them slathered with some salted butter or made into little breakfast sandwiches.

No matter how you serve them, these Coconut Oil Biscuits are sure to be a new favorite.

Coconut Oil Biscuits
adapted from Gimme Some Oven
makes about 12 biscuits

1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup milk of choice*, plus extra for brushing
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil,* solid

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease a 9″ pie plate with coconut oil. Set aside.

Pour vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Pour in milk until you have 3/4 cup total liquid, and stir to combine. Place measuring cup in the fridge to chill while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut coconut oil into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Pour in milk mixture and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold everything together, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Use floured fingertips to knead a few times, until everything is fully combined. Pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter or sharp knife to cut biscuits. When cutting, press directly down–do not twist or saw. Pat dough out again as necessary.

Place biscuits close together in prepared pan. Brush the tops with additional coconut milk. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until biscuits have risen and are no longer doughy. The tops may not turn golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, and serve warm with your jam of choice.

Notes:

1. I use SO Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage. Any non-dairy milk will work, as will whole, 1%, and 2% cow’s milk. Do not use skim or fat-free cow’s milk.

2. I use Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.

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