Bright, lemony cornmeal biscuits. Topped with fresh berries and cream.
Note: includes gluten, option for dairy free
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 17 mins | Chilling Time: 20 mins | Serves 8
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3⁄4 cup medium-grind cornmeal
- 1⁄3 cup cane sugar
- 2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking power
- 3⁄4 teaspoons sea salt
- 1⁄2 cup coconut oil, hardened and cut into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1⁄4 cup almond milk, more for brushing
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling, optional
Ingredients
- 3 cups strawberries, sliced
- 2 cups whipped cream, or coconut whipped cream
- Mint leaves, optional
- Medium bowl
- Whisk
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheet
- Biscuit cutter
- Pastry brush
For assembly
Materials
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Using your hands, work the coconut oil in until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs, and milk and mix until just combined. The dough will be more moist and pliable than traditional biscuit dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper and pat into a ½-inch-thick rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds and pat or roll again until 1-inch thick. Freeze for 20 minutes.
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Step 3
Preheat
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the freezer and use a 21⁄2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out 3 to 4 biscuits. Re-roll the scraps as necessary to cut out 8 1-inch thick biscuits. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet.
- If desired, brush the tops of the biscuits with a little almond milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
- Assemble the strawberry shortcakes with the biscuits, strawberries, cream, and mint, if desired.
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Helpful Tips
- Make sure your coconut oil is cold.
- Cut the coconut oil into little pieces.
- Don't cut the chilling time short.
- Top dressed shortcakes with sugar.
- Assemble the shortcakes right before you eat.
The cold, solid oil is key for creating layered biscuits that will puff up in the oven. I like to measure my coconut oil in advance and pop it in the fridge for an hour before I start cooking. I don’t recommend freezing coconut oil, as it quickly becomes too hard to work with.
This is key! Once your coconut oil is cold, you want to keep it that way. Cutting it into small pieces means that you’ll be able to integrate it with the dry ingredients more quickly. That way, the heat from your hands won’t melt the oil as you work.
Colder dough yields puffier biscuits with better layering, so make sure to freeze the dough for a full 20 minutes before you cut out and bake the biscuits.
Highly recommended to sprinkle right before you bake. Enjoy!
Leftover biscuits will keep in an airtight container at room temperture for two days. They also freeze well for up to a month!