Roasted Strawberry Longcake with Yogurt Whipped Cream
Serves 10 to 12

Shauna says: Rather than putting raw shortcake dough on top of raw fruit, I let the strawberries roast a bit first, then put the shortcakes on top of the bubbling fruit. They immediately begin to bake from the bottom and top, staying fluffy and moist in the center.

BERRIES:
2 ½ pounds fresh strawberries
½ cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
? tsp. fine sea salt
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

BISCUITS:
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for dusting
2 Tbsp. yellow cornmeal
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. fine sea salt
6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, diced
¾ cup cold whole-milk Greek yogurt
¾ tsp. pure vanilla extract
Coarse sugar, such as sanding sugar, turbinado or demerara, for sprinkling

YOGURT WHIPPED CREAM:
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
½ cup cold whole-milk Greek yogurt
2 ½ Tbsp. granulated sugar, or to taste
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1. Position rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 475°F.

2. Prepare the berries: Wash, dry and hull the strawberries. For smaller berries, halve them, and if they’re large, quarter them, so that the pieces are roughly the same size.

3. In a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, use your hands to mix together the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the berries and lemon juice and toss with your hands until there are no white powdery patches. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring the berries and scraping the pan halfway through the baking time, until the juices are bubbling and beginning to caramelize on the sides of the pan.

4. Prepare the biscuits: In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingertips to rub the mixture together until moist and fragrant. Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to blend. Drop in the butter pieces and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles fine, even crumbs. Add the yogurt and vanilla. Use a flexible spatula to gently fold the mixture until a soft dough forms—don’t overmix. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions.

5. After the berries have been roasting for 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 425°F. Drop the biscuits on top of the fruit. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with the coarse sugar. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the biscuits are golden and firm, about 20 minutes. Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

6. Prepare the yogurt whipped cream: Pour the cream into a large bowl. Using a handheld mixer, beat the cream on high speed just until it begins to thicken. Add the yogurt, granulated sugar and vanilla. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Dollop generously over each serving.

Excerpted from MIDWEST MADE: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland by Shauna Sever. Copyright ©2019. Available from Running Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.