Apple Shortcakes With Maple Whipped Cream

Name: Apple Shortcakes With Maple Whipped Cream
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (chilled and then spooned and leveled to measure); ¼ cup white sugar; 2 tablespoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ cup salted butter (frozen and then grated (see notes)); 1 ¼ cups cold buttermilk, plus additional tablespoon for brushing (shaken before measuring); 2 tablespoons butter; 3 cups peeled and diced Honeycrisp apples (cut into 1-inch cubes, about 3 apples); ½ cup real maple syrup; 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 cup cold heavy cream; 2 tablespoons real maple syrup; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

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Let's welcome fall with a seasonal spin to a classic Americana dessert -- apple shortcakes! These delicate, flaky buttermilk shortcakes are topped with a cinnamon-spiced apple filling and then finished with a big dollop of homemade maple whipped cream for an extra decadent touch. Every delicious bite tastes like autumn, making for one festive dessert that's perfect for any occasion.

A stack of apple shortcakes on a wooden plate with a box of apples behind it.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
Looking for More Fall Desserts?
📖 Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Ultra flaky, tender shortcakes. Thanks to a special dough preparation process, these apple shortcakes feature layers upon layers of flaky goodness that no one can resist.
Puts a fall spin on a classic summer dessert. Who said shortcakes are just for summer? With these apple shortcakes, you can enjoy this beloved dessert right into the fall.
Makes for a unique Thanksgiving dessert. Nothing against pumpkin pie or pecan pie, but sometimes it's fun to introduce a new dessert tradition. These apple shortcakes are still full of fall flavor, but everyone will love trying a new delicious dessert.

Bonus: If you love shortcakes, don't miss my strawberry-blueberry shortcakes as well!

Ingredients

As you can see, these apple shortcake ingredients aren't overly fancy or complicated, but please see a couple notes for best results.

Let's start with the buttermilk. While you can technically substitute regular milk, the shortcakes will lack flavor.

Don't have buttermilk on hand? Make your own homemade buttermilk! Add 1 ¼ tablespoons lemon juice or distilled white vinegar to 1 ¼ cups whole milk. After the mixture sits for five to 10 minutes, we have our very own buttermilk substitute.

The other ingredient to note is the maple syrup. Please use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup. Real maple syrup is much richer and more complex with caramel, vanilla and dried fruit notes. Pancake syrup just can't hold up, and it will affect the final dish.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Ready to start baking? Here's everything you need to know about making these apple shortcakes.

Step 1: Let's start with our shortcakes by stirring together all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt (photo 1). We add frozen grated butter (photo 2) and stir until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles (photo 3).

Mixing the dry ingredients and grated butter together in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: We're ready to pour in our cold buttermilk (photo 4) and stir again just until combined (photo 5). Don't worry if the mixture is a bit crumbly. It will come together in the next step.

Adding the buttermilk to the flour mixture in the mixing bowl.

Step 3: Now we turn out the dough onto a floured surface and use our hands to pat it into a rectangle (photo 6). I prefer not to use a rolling pin to avoid overworking the dough.

Turning the shortcake dough onto a floured pastry board.

Step 4: For an ultra flaky shortcake, we fold the dough like a letter several times. We begin by folding one side of the dough into the center (photo 7), and then fold the other side on top of our initial fold (photo 8). Now we gently flatten into a rectangle again (photo 9), rotate the dough (photo 10) and repeat the folding process three more times.

Showing the process of folding the dough like a letter on a pastry board.

Step 5: And just like that, we're ready to cut out our shortcakes with a cookie cutter (photo 11). We want six shortcakes. If you don't quite have six, combine the scraps, flatten and cut again.

Using biscuit cutters to shape the shortcakes on a pastry board.

Step 6: After cutting our biscuits, we carefully place them in a baking dish and brush them with additional buttermilk (photo 12). Now we pop them in the oven.

Brushing the shortcakes with buttermilk before baking.

Step 7: Now let's move on to our apple topping. For this process, we add chopped apples to a large skillet with butter, cinnamon, maple syrup and brown sugar (photo 13) and cook until the apples are nice and soft, about 10-15 minutes (photo 14).

Cooking the apple filling in a cast-iron skillet.

Step 8: For our final step, we make our maple whipped cream. This process is super easy -- we whip together heavy cream, maple syrup and a hint of vanilla extract until the mixture forms stiff peaks like so (photo 14).

Beating the maple whipped cream in a bowl until stiff peaks form.

And that's it! Now we assemble and devour the most delicious apple shortcakes.

Related: For more apple desserts, try my apple spice cupcakes or apple cinnamon rolls. This apple cobbler from Miss in the Kitchen is also great.

Recipe FAQs

How do you assemble shortcakes?

First, we use a serrated knife to split the shortcakes in half horizontally and then place the bottoms on the serving plate. We scoop some apple filling on top and then add a dollop of the maple whipped cream. Now we put on the top and repeat. Assembling these apple shortcakes is as easy as can be.

Can you make ahead of time?

Keep the shortcakes in an airtight container for about three days. When you're ready to serve, place in the cast-iron skillet, cover with foil, and place in a 350-degree oven until warm, about five to 10 minutes.

The apples will stay good for about three days while the whipped cream will keep for a day in the refrigerator. Before serving the maple whipped cream, quickly fluff it up with a whisk or fork.

What are the best apples to use for desserts?

I recommend using Honeycrisp apples for these shortcakes. These apples perfectly balance sweet and tart notes, which make them great for dessert because they're not too cloying and not too sour. Basically, the Honeycrisp is the perfect apple!

Expert Tips

For best results, we want to keep the shortcake dough as cold as possible. I like to place the butter and flour in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before preparing to help with this.
Check the expiration date on your baking powder. If it's expired, you absolutely need to replace it, or you won't get the proper rise.
Never grated butter? It's just like cheese! Simply run it on a box grater on the side with the large holes.
To prevent tough biscuits, we want to stir the dough just until combined and use a gentle touch as we shape each circle.
Do not twist the cookie cutter. Just press down and lift up. Twisting can cause the shortcakes to not rise properly.
While this step is optional, I like to place the shortcakes in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before baking to ensure the dough is nice and chilled before baking. This also gives you a chance to prepare the filling and whipped cream.
I recommend baking these apple shortcakes in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. The cast iron gets blazing hot for perfectly crisp bottoms.
Place the cut-out dough close together before putting in the oven. This also helps with the rising.

An aerial view of the apple shortcakes with a fall leaf to the side.

Perfect Pairing

With the maple and brown sugar in our apple filling, I especially love a barley wine with these fall shortcakes. Thanks to the high alcohol content, barley wines have a residual sweetness that make them great dessert beers, and they show off toffee, caramel and dried fruit notes to complement our apples. A Belgian quad is another lovely option.

Looking for a wine? A Madeira is wonderful with apple desserts. This dessert wine is full of rich, nutty flavors that match beautifully with our decadent apple filling. You also can't go wrong with a nice tawny port.

Or maybe you'd like a festive fall cocktail with your apple shortcakes. Try my sparkling apple cider margarita, apple cider old fashioned or apple Bellini.

When you need a dessert full of autumn flavors, I hope you try these apple shortcakes with maple whipped cream. You'll love every decadent bite.

Cheers!

A stack of apple shortcakes on a wooden plate with a cinnamon stick next to it.

Looking for More Fall Desserts?

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