This timeless dessert features fluffy, lavender scented biscuits, layered with lavender macerated strawberries and topped with softly whipped cream! It’s a dream!
Strawberry season has arrived and we can’t get enough! Give this classic Summer dessert an elegant facelift with a touch of aromatic lavender flowers! This Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Sugar is a lovely dessert to be served at barbecues, pot-lucks and family dinners all Summer long. Be sure to check out our quick How To Make Lavender Scented Biscuit video in the post below!
For another yummy strawberry recipe, try this Strawberry Shortcake Crumb Cake!
Everything You’ll Need to Make This Recipe:
- Lavender - Dried lavender flowers can be purchased online or in medicinal botanical shops. (Where we live, here in Denver, we are lucky to have a beautiful plant and medicinal botanical shop right down the street!). To incorporate the lavender into the biscuits and strawberries, we made a simple lavender sugar. Read more on How To Make Lavender Sugar, below!)
How To Make Lavender Sugar (3 Ways!)
Lavender Sugar is this Strawberry Shortcake recipe's secret weapon. Better yet, this special touch requires only two ingredients and can be made in seconds! This recipe calls for a small amount of dried lavender flowers. (Please, make sure they are culinary or medicinal grade, to ensure your lavender is safe for consumption!) Feel free to adjust the quantity of lavender to suit your own taste - but, be careful! Lavender flavor can become overwhelmingly perfume-like if not treated with a daft hand! If you are lucky enough to have access to fresh lavender, we suggest you use double the suggested amount in this recipe.
You can make lavender sugar using a food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle! Here's how:
- Food Processor: Combine sugar and lavender in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Process on high-speed for 15 - 20 seconds or until lavender is finely distributed throughout the sugar. Note: This method will result in a finer sugar, similar to powdered sugar. However, the sugar's finer texture does not effect the results of this recipe.
- Spice Grinder: Combine 1 - 2 Tablespoons of the sugar with the lavender into a spice grinder. Process for 15 - 30 seconds or until the lavender and sugar have become a powder. Toss the powdered lavender sugar with the remaining granulated sugar until thoroughly combined.
- Mortar & Pestle: Combine 1 - 2 Tablespoons of the sugar with the lavender in a mortar. Use the pestle to grind the lavender into the sugar until the lavender and sugar have become a powder. Toss the powdered lavender sugar with the remaining granulated sugar until thoroughly combined. Note: This method works best when using dried lavender.
How To Make Lavender Scented Biscuits
Lavender Scented Biscuits make the perfect vessel for this Strawberry Shortcake and are so easy to make! Check out this quick video to see how easily they are prepared! Ours baked up to a perfect golden brown after about 25 minutes in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven (205 degrees celsius). Be sure to keep reading for our Secrets for Success for foolproof biscuit baking!
Secrets for Success: How to Make the Fluffiest Biscuits
For the best results and best-tasting biscuits, follow these simple guidelines:
- Keep your ingredients cold! - Cold dough is essential for fluffy biscuits! Work quickly!
- Do NOT overwork your dough! - Biscuit dough becomes tough easily! Barely knead the dough until it holds together. Then, gently pat the dough down with your hands (not a rolling pin) !
- Freeze the biscuits before baking! - Baking the biscuits from freezing will result in flakier layers for tall biscuits that are not greasy and do not spread in the oven! In fact, you can go ahead and freeze the biscuits several days ahead of time and bake straight from the freezer when the Lavender Strawberry Shortcake mood is just right!
- Glaze the biscuits with a little extra buttermilk and a sprinkle or lavender sugar right before baking! The top will stay soft, caramelize beautifully and have a little glisten!
- Bake the biscuits on the same day they will be eaten! - Lavender Scented Biscuits are best fresh! Bonus points if they're still warm for dessert!
Strawberries & Cream
The star of this dessert is, of course, the luscious strawberries! To prepare the strawberries, first slice the berries into bite-sized pieces. We like to slice the strawberries in thick coins for easy stack-ability! Then toss the sliced strawberries in lavender sugar! That's it! While you are baking the biscuits, the flavors will meld and the Lavender Sugar will coax out the strawberries' juices to create a decadent syrup. Depending on how sweet your berries are, you can adjust the amount of sugar to suit your personal preferences. We recommend using between two and six Tablespoons of Lavender Sugar per pint of berries.
As for the whipped cream, freshly whipped is always better! Skip. The. Can! For this Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Sugar recipe, we like our whipped cream barely sweetened and whipped soft! Be sure to keep the cream super cold (straight from the fridge) so it whips up nice! On a super hot day in my kitchen, I will pop my metal mixing bowl right in the fridge or freezer for a while before whipping. It really makes a world of difference!
Share Your Success!
We know you will love this Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Sugar! It's such a yummy, floral twist on an American favorite! When this recipe makes its way to your table, be sure to drop us a star rating! And, as always, mention @foodworthfeed or tag #foodworthfeed in your Instagram posts and stories! We’d love to feature you on social! We love having a seat at your table, you’ll always have one at ours. Cheers!
More Spring Baking Recipes
Looking for more strawberry recipes? Try our Cucumber Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette or our Strawberry Rhubarb Whiskey Sour!
Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Sugar
Special Equipment
- Food Processor, Spice Grinder or Mortar & Pestle
- Bench Scraper
- 2½ Inch Biscuit Cutter (About 6 centimeters)
- Electric Mixer or Stand Mixer
- Pastry Brush
Ingredients
Lavender Sugar
- ½ Cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons dried lavender flowers culinary or medicinal grade, See Note: a.
Lavender Sugar Strawberries
- 1 quart strawberries sliced
- 2 - 6 Tablespoons Lavender Sugar as desired for sweetness
Lavender Scented Biscuits
- 2 Cups all-purpose flour plus more as needed for preventing sticking
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 Tablespoons Lavender Sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon fine kosher salt*
- ½ Cup unsalted butter cold, cubed
- ¾ Cup vanilla yogurt cold, See Note: b.
- 7 Tablespoons buttermilk cold, divided
Whipped Cream
- 1 Cup heavy cream cold
- 2 teaspoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Lavender Sugar
- Gather, measure and prepare the Lavender Sugar ingredients as listed.
- Using a food processor, spice grinder or mortar and pestle, combine the sugar and lavender flowers together until well incorporated. See the How To Make Lavender Sugar post text for more information. Lavender Sugar will be divided to be used in the Lavender Sugar Strawberries and Lavender Scented Biscuits.
Lavender Sugar Strawberries
- Gather, measure and prepare the Lavender Sugar Strawberries ingredients as listed.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sliced strawberries and as much Lavender Sugar as desired for sweetness. Set aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 6 or more hours in the refrigerator.
Lavender Scented Biscuits
- Gather, measure and prepare the Lavender Scented Biscuits ingredients as listed. For the most consistent results, we recommend using metric weight measurements whenever possible. To view metric measurements, toggle the US Customary/Metric switch at the top of this recipe card. Check out our How To Make Lavender Scented Biscuits video for a visual demonstration.
- Arrange a rack in the center third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit (205° celsisus).
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, Lavender Sugar and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add cold butter to the flour mixture. Using your thumbs and forefingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly, pea-sized pieces are formed.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine vanilla yogurt and 6 Tablespoons (89 milliliters) of buttermilk. Stir to combine.
- Use a rubber spatula to create a well in the center of your butter and flour mixture. Pour yogurt and buttermilk mixture into the well. Use a rubber spatula to fold until dough is combined. Do not overwork. Dough will be sticky.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured hands, knead dough once or twice until just combined. You may need to use a bench scraper to scrape the dough from your work surface. Be careful not to overwork the dough. With floured hands, gently press the dough into a square.
- Sprinkle about ½ Tablespoon of Lavender Sugar over the square of dough. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough into 4 equal-ish squares. Stack the squares into a tower, one on top of the other. This method helps to create flaky layers in your biscuits. With lightly floured hands, gently press the stacked dough into a rectangle about 1 inch (2½ centimeters) thick. (The rectangle needs to be about 5x8 inches or large enough for 6 biscuits).
- Using a biscuit cutter, cut six biscuits from the dough. (You can gently shape the scraps into one additional, slightly misshapen, biscuit.) Transfer the biscuits onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Freeze the biscuits for at least 20 minutes. (For long-term freezing, See Note: c.)
- Remove the frozen biscuits from the freezer. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the remaining buttermilk. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with the remaining ½ Tablespoon of Lavender Sugar.
- Bake biscuits for 20 - 30 minutes, turning halfway, or until the tops are golden brown. (In our oven, these biscuits took 25 minutes exactly).
- Allow the biscuits to cool slightly before serving.
Whipped Cream
- Gather, measure and prepare the Whipped Cream ingredients as listed. For the most consistent results, we recommend using metric weight measurements whenever possible.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a medium mixing bowl with an electrical mixer), add the heavy cream. Begin whipping on slow speed and gradually increase the speed to medium high until soft peaks form.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip on low speed until just combined. Do not overwhip. We recommend softly whipped cream for this recipe. Keep Whipped Cream Frosting very cold in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Assembling Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Sugar
- This recipe can be elegantly plated for a dinner party or left as a build-your-own dessert for a barbecue or buffet. To assemble a Strawberry Shortcake, use your fingers to gently split a Lavender Scented Biscuit.
- Top the bottom half of the biscuit with a generous portion of Lavender Sugar Strawberries. Use a spoon to drizzle some of the strawberries' accumulated syrup over the biscuit.
- Top with the other half of the biscuit and soft whipped cream, as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
*Unless otherwise noted, foodworthfeed recipes are developed using Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt. If using iodized or table salt, reduce quantities by about half.
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