Brown Sugar Shortcake with Warm Bourbon Peaches

Brown Sugar Shortcake with Warm Bourbon Peaches
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4(357)
Notes
Read community notes

The juicier the peaches, the better this luscious summer dessert will be. Handle the dough lightly and make sure not to overbake it. Assemble the whole thing just before serving, and watch it disappear.

Featured in: Fruit and Shortcake, The Sum of Two Sweet Parts

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

    For the Shortcake

    • 230grams all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
    • 55grams dark brown sugar (or about ¼ cup packed), more for sprinkling
    • 15grams cornstarch (about 2 tablespoons)
    • 15grams baking powder (about 1 tablespoon)
    • 5grams fine sea salt (about 1 teaspoon)
    • 7tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
    • ½cup heavy cream
    • 1egg, well beaten
    • 1tablespoon melted butter

    For the Peaches

    • 2tablespoons bourbon, brandy or rum
    • 25grams dark brown sugar (about 2 tablespoons)
    • pounds peaches, sliced (about 4 cups)
    • cups heavy cream, whipped
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

643 calories; 42 grams fat; 26 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 23 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 605 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a baking sheet. In a bowl, combine flour, 55 grams of sugar, cornstarch, baking powder and salt, and whisk well. Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers. When butter is in pea-size pieces, mix in cream and egg until a soft batter forms.

  2. Step 2

    Dump batter onto a floured surface and knead until it holds together. Divide batter into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Press larger piece of dough into a ½-inch-thick round, roughly 8 inches in diameter. Place on baking sheet and brush with butter. Press remaining dough into a ½-inch-thick round and place on top of first dough round. It should be smaller in size. Brush with butter and sprinkle with more sugar. Bake until shortcake is golden brown and firm to the touch all over, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool.

  3. Step 3

    Meanwhile, prepare the peaches. In a medium skillet, heat bourbon and add 1 tablespoon water and 25 grams of sugar. Cook until sugar dissolves, then add peaches. Let cook until peaches are warmed through and release their juices, about 2 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Carefully cut smaller top round off shortcake. Place shortcake bottom on a serving plate and cover with warm peaches and their liquid (reheat fruit if necessary). Spoon whipped cream over peaches and place shortcake top over cream. Serve immediately.

Ratings

4 out of 5
357 user ratings
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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Do you have to peel the peaches or will the skins separate with cooking?

Is it necessary to bake the layers on top of one another? Can you bake separately?

This is very good. Even better after it's rested for a bit and softened.
A gluten-free version came out quite well also.

Used almond flour. Yum

This was relatively easy to make and really delicious. I made the shortcake in the morning and did the peaches before serving. I should have let them cool a little because the whipped cream melted a bit but no one complained!

I used cup-4-cup gluten-free all-purpose flour and loved how the shortcake turned out. Good flavor and texture, and so much nicer than anything from the store. I rolled the dough to just over 1/2 inch thick and cut out 2 1/2 inch rounds. The individual shortcakes with peaches and whipped cream looked great and were delicious. I will make these again!

I found the peaches to be a little bland, even with alcohol (I used brandy). I added a little cinnamon and nutmeg, as for a pie filling. Much better!

I had LOTS of problems with this recipe including it being WAY TOO SALTY. I suspect it was because I used weight instead of a measured teaspoon and was using fine sea salt. The shortcake didn't hold it's shape and I wished I had chilled the dough before baking. Overall - a FAIL for me.

I agree with the posters who say warm peaches and whipped cream don't mix. Didn't like the notion of baking two large rounds. Instead, I patted the dough out thick enough to cut just 6 biscuits with a large fluted biscuit cutter. I also made a brown sugar toffee sauce with a wee bit of whiskey. I cut the biscuits in half, filled them with lightly sweetened cold sliced peaches, drizzled the toffee sauce over them, topped them with whipped cream, and slapped on the top of the biscuit. Perfect.

Just OK. I didn't like the taste of the shortcake, it had a weird after taste to it. Also since the fruit is warm the whipped cream, which seemed to be more than what will fit in this cake, started melting immediately making a mess.

We’ve learned it’s easier to serve if the shortbread is baked biscuit-sized for individual portions. The peaches can be prepared ahead of time, but the shortbread is infinitely better fresh out of the oven! Then slice off the top edge of each shortbread to crumble over the whipped cream (it’s difficult to pierce a fork through two shortbread layers and whipped cream and peaches). Delicious!!

Added Amaretto instead of Bourbon, and 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Yum!

I haven’t tried it but I suspect a spice tea (with ginger or cinnamon or cloves, for example) could be the base for cooking the peaches and it should turn out nicely. Different, of course, but tasty. If anyone tries something like this, please let us all know how it goes!

I can't say much about the shortcake, as I haven't made it. Our local market bakes excellent shortcakes to serve with fruit all summer and I cheat and use those, warmed slightly in the oven. But the peaches are excellent! Cheating with quality store bought shortcakes, and just making the warm bourbon peaches with perfectly ripe, sweet, juicy local peaches is a summer treat that's fast and easy, 10 minutes or less from start to finish.

This is perfection and has become an annual tradition. I follow the recipe exactly as written and wouldn’t change a thing.

Based on other comments, I made the peaches well in advance, swapping brown sugar for Demerara. Absolutely yes to making the shortbread as individual biscuits. Once they cool a bit, a good bread knife slices right through. I also made a salted caramel whiskey sauce (2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 c Demerara, 4 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 c salted caramel whiskey, 3/4 c water), and let it cool a bit. Made whipped cream last. Created an incredibly delicious dessert! Total keeper.

I agree with other commenters, to cut the dough into individual biscuits (I used the rim of a pint glass). If you cut the dough smaller, err closer to 20-minutes for the bake time. I do not think the recipe is too salty; it's quite tasty. I added a little bit of cinnamon to the sugar for the peaches. And I sweetened the whipped cream - a touch of vanilla extract and a little bit of powdered sugar.

Tasty, but the peaches could use a flavor pop...maybe ginger or cinnamon. I would also recommend letting the shortcake fully cool before layering because our whipped cream got a little liquidy.

Really good! Made with cake flour because that’s what I had.

This was absolutely delicious! Made recipe as written, well, maybe an additional bit of bourbon. Left skin on peaches, beautiful color. Everyone loved it, it's a keeper. (And not too salty IMHO)

Not great. As other reviews mention, shortbread is salty, and why cook the layers on top of each other? And whip cream melts. A mess. And peaches not that flavorful.

Because this recipe is for shortCAKE, not short Bread. As for the salt, this amount is typical for recipes featuring the recommended quantity of flour. If it is too salty for your taste, cut it down by half.

Definitely let the peaches cool before serving. At warmest, just under room temp.

Too salty and it may be the salt or excess baking powder. I had doubts about the tablespoon of baking power.

Mmmm. Love this. I added a bit of almond extract to the cream before mixing it in (I love peaches and almond) and cut single biscuit-sized short breads out of the dough. Very tasty and low-fuss. I’d eat the biscuits on their own, but the peaches really make this outstanding.

Thanks for the comments. I used my flexible bench scraper to carefully move the top layer off. It does provide a soft and nice, absorbable bottom layer that will soak up the liquid. Made bourbon/sugar syrup early, pealed peaches but didn’t slice yet. Of course nabbed some shortcake crumbs and they are delicious. I know this will be wonderful.

Took the advice of others and made biscuit sized and still is way to difficult it eat as a layered thing. Individual parts of this are delicious and once we took the top piece of shortcake off it’s different ball game.

We’ve learned it’s easier to serve if the shortbread is baked biscuit-sized for individual portions. The peaches can be prepared ahead of time, but the shortbread is infinitely better fresh out of the oven! Then slice off the top edge of each shortbread to crumble over the whipped cream (it’s difficult to pierce a fork through two shortbread layers and whipped cream and peaches). Delicious!!

This turned out great, and the shortbread recipe can be used on its own for anything... fresh blueberries, strawberries, etc... My only note on this is absolutely let the peaches/juices cool a bit before layering because the heat from the peaches completely undid my whipped cream! (Still delicious, just didn't keep the form I hoped/intended). Let the peaches cool, the add your whip!!

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