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peach shortcakes
Fluffy biscuits piled high with sweet, juicy peaches and airy whipped cream—maybe these desserts should be called “tallcakes”?!
Prepare Ingredients
Gather Cooking Equipment
- Dry measuring cups
- Cutting board
- Chef’s knife
- 2 bowls (1 large microwave-safe, 1 medium)
- Oven mitts
- Potato masher
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Whisk
- Liquid measuring cup
- Fork
- Butter knife
- Cooling rack
- 4 serving plates
- Slotted spoon
Use dry measuring cups to measure out ¾ cup peaches and transfer to cutting board. Set aside remaining peaches. Use chef’s knife to roughly chop ¾ cup peaches.
In large microwave-safe bowl, combine chopped peaches, ground ginger, and 3 tablespoons sugar. Use rubber spatula to stir until well combined. Heat in microwave until peaches are bubbling, about 1½ minutes.
Use oven mitts to remove bowl from microwave. Use potato masher to crush chopped peaches (careful—bowl will be hot). Add remaining sliced peaches to bowl and use rubber spatula to stir until combined. Let sit until peaches are juicy, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
In liquid measuring cup, use fork to stir buttermilk and melted butter until butter forms small clumps.
Add buttermilk mixture to bowl with flour mixture. Use clean rubber spatula to stir until combined.
Spray inside of ½-cup dry measuring cup with vegetable oil spray. Use greased measuring cup to scoop batter and use butter knife to scrape off extra batter. Drop 4 scoops onto parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving space between biscuits. Sprinkle each biscuit generously with extra sugar.
Use oven mitts to remove baking sheet from oven and place on cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Let biscuits cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. (This is a good time to make your Whipped Cream.)
When biscuits are ready, split biscuits open with clean fork following photo, below. Transfer biscuits to individual serving plates. Use slotted spoon to divide peaches evenly among biscuit bottoms. Top each with spoonful of whipped cream and 1 biscuit top. Serve.
You can split open biscuits just like English muffins. Because the biscuits are delicate, using a fork is easier than using a knife. Turn biscuit on its side, then poke tip of fork gently around edge of biscuit to split open.
Food for Thought
Whip It Good
The Whipped Cream recipe warns you not to overwhip the cream. But what happens if you take whipped cream too far? (We know you’re curious!) Cream, like butter and vinaigrette (see the Shake Things Up experiment), is an emulsion. It’s made of tiny droplets of fat suspended in water. As you whip cream, tiny air bubbles become held in place by those droplets of fat, making it light and fluffy. But if you whip cream for too long, the emulsion of fat and water breaks! The droplets of fat clump together and separate from the liquid. The good news is that you’re on your way toward making butter. The bad news is that you’ll need to start your whipped cream over again, so be sure to keep a careful eye on your cream as you beat it.
