Studded with chunks of sesame halva and bittersweet chocolate, these strawberry shortcakes from baker Samantha Seneviratne are delicious enough to eat all on their own, but when layered with cream and strawberries, they really shine. If fruit with chocolate isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to omit the latter.
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What you’ll need
Bench Scraper
$8 At Amazon
Pastry Brush
$6 At Amazon
Whisk
$10 At Amazon
Ingredients
8 Servings
Biscuits
1
¼
1
¼
1¾
¼
2½
½
¼
6
4
3
assembly
1½
2
6
1¾
Preparation
Biscuits
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400°. Whisk egg, buttermilk, vanilla, and ¼ cup cream in a small bowl to combine. Whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, work butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add halva and chocolate; toss to combine. Drizzle in egg mixture and stir with a fork until crumbly but incorporated.
Step 2
Turn out dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Knead once or twice to bring together, then pat into a 6" square. Using a bench scraper or a knife, cut into 8 equally sized rectangles; space apart. Brush tops with cream, then sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Step 3
Bake biscuits until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 20–25 minutes.
Do ahead: Biscuits can be formed (but not baked) 1 month ahead. Freeze on baking sheet until solid, then transfer to freezer bags. Bake from frozen.
Assembly
Step 4
While the biscuits are baking, combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit, tossing occasionally, until juicy and glossy, about 10 minutes.
Step 5
Whisk cream and remaining 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar in a chilled large bowl to medium-stiff peaks.
Step 6
To serve, split biscuits and spoon some whipped cream and berries over bottoms. Top with remaining biscuit halves and spoon remaining whipped cream and berries over.
Leave a Review
Reviews (12)
Back to TopWhere is the halva?
Shelley W
Ventnor, nj
6/13/2023
Delicious! Excellent texture and fantastic flavor. I got a package of halwa recently and was excited to use it; I found that the flavor did come through but isn’t overly strong. Like others noticed, the dough was very wet. I added 1/4 cup flour and refrigerated them for 15 minutes before baking, but they still spread significantly and didn’t rise much. We weren’t able to cut them in half laterally like most shortcakes but instead cut them in half vertically and just stacked the two halves. I would definitely recommend lessening the liquid too to prevent that!
Ash
Monroe, WA
1/15/2022
I just made the dough (which was delicious raw) and agree it was very wet and so sticky - I added more flour too - but perhaps not enough as I am not a seasoned baker and didn't want to over do it, they are currently in the freezer chilling! I hope they work out as they are a birthday request for my daughter.
Lydia
Charlottesville, VA
8/28/2021
Yes to this. Made with gluten free flour and it worked great. Batter was gooey, but I chilled in freezer for a bit and that helped. Loved this recipe - will make again!
Anonymous
Minneapolis, MN
8/28/2021
I really enjoyed this recipe! What a lovely texture :) I did, however, find the dough much too wet and decided not to add the full amount of egg mix to the dry ingredients so that the dough could be handled. I also decided to leave out the chocolate chips in order to make sure I could taste the halva - it worked. Delicious!
AJ
London, UK
8/11/2021
Not sure if the halva really adds much to the shortcakes, I didn't really taste it, the whole product is very good though. The chocolate in particular added to the shortcakes is incredible but I think it also overpowers the halva. Had to add a lot more flour (like maybe 1/4 cup) than specified to get the biscuits to be able to be handled at all, they were so gooey. Will be making this again but might omit the halva since I don't think I'll miss it (though I loved the idea of it).
Steph
Los Angeles, CA
8/8/2021