Cranberry Shortcake

"Cranberry shortcake?"

Don't sound so dubious, this will be delicious. I first made this dessert last year for some friends during one of our infamous card nights (Euchre, anyone?) But I've been eating this dessert for much longer than that--every fall that I can remember, the restaurant at the annual church fair serves up hundreds of these things. This is one of the stars of the fair, every year.

There are some truly heinous recipes for cranberry shortcake out there. Many of them are methods of using up leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. Imagine jellied cranberry sauce over pound cake or angel-food cake and you get the idea. This recipe uses fresh cranberries and has a great tart-sweet flavor. It's also incredibly easy to make.

My personal prejudice when it comes to any dish that calls itself "shortcake" is that nothing that could, on its own, be called "cake"--that is, angel food cake, chiffon or yellow cake, pound cake, etc.--should ever be involved. "Shortcake" means one thing, and one thing only: biscuits. This recipe calls for buttermilk biscuits, which I've included instructions for, but if you don't feel like going to that kind of effort, just use Bisquick--it'll be fine.

Ingredients
Fruit

2 cups of fresh cranberries
1 medium apple

1 banana
2/3 cup sugar

Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup buttermilk, cold (see note)*
1 large egg
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hardware

food processor

hand mixer or stand mixer

3 bowls (for whipped cream, biscuit dough, and cranberries)

baking sheet

Directions

For the Fruit:

1. Coarsely chop cranberries and apple. (Make this easy on yourself and pulse in a food processor. Who wants to chop 2 cups of cranberries?) Add sugar to taste and mix until blended.
2. Refrigerate cranberry mixture 2 to 3 hours to mingle flavors.
3. Dice the banana and add to mixture shortly before assembling shortcakes.

For The Biscuits:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt in large bowl.
3. Whisk together buttermilk and egg in medium bowl; add melted butter and stir until butter forms small clumps.
4. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Continue stirring vigorously for 30 seconds.
5. Using greased 1/2 cup dry measure, scoop up mound of dough and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (if dough sticks to cup, use small spoon to pull it free). Repeat with remaining dough, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create 4 biscuits.
6. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar evenly over top of biscuits. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 15 minutes before assembling.

For The Whipped Cream:

1. Using hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla on low speed until bubbles form, about 30 seconds.
2. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave trail, about 30 seconds longer.
3. Increase speed to high; continue beating until nearly doubled in volume and whipped cream forms soft peaks, 30 to 45 seconds longer.

To Assemble:

Split each biscuit in half and place bottoms on individual serving plates. Spoon portion of cranberry mixture over each bottom. Top cranberries with 2 tablespoons whipped cream, cap with biscuit top, and dollop each shortcake with some of remaining whipped cream. (Or, add more cranberries and even more whipped cream.) Serve immediately.

Makes 3-4 servings

*Don't feel like buying buttermilk? Add lemon juice to regular milk (at least 2% fat) in the ratio of 1 tablespoon to 1 cup, and let stand for 15 minutes. Use for an equal volume of buttermilk in any recipe.