Ingredients
Method
Make the Biscuit Dough
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spill the blueberries onto a board. Use a serrated knife to roughly chop the berries, trapping them as they scatter off the board.
- Whisk together the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl.
- Pour the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ½ cup sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse once or twice to combine the ingredients. Pinch off pieces of shortening and drop them on top of the flour. Pulse the processor until the flour and shortening begin to climb up the sides of the bowl.
Fold in the Blueberries
- With the machine running, pour the buttermilk through the feed tube into the dry ingredients. The dough will clump together immediately. Stop the machine. The dough will be soft and gooey. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board or counter top and sprinkle a little flour over the top.
- Plop the berries on top of the dough. Sprinkle a little flour over the blueberries and fold into the dough, doing your best to evenly distribute them. If the dough is too wet to work with, you can add a little more flour, but this is meant to be a sticky dough.
The Roll & Bake
- Gently pat the dough into a rectangle about 4 x 8-inches, about ½-inch thick. Flour a 3-inch biscuit cutter and cut the dough into 12 circles reusing the scraps. Lift the shortcakes onto the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet into the oven.
- Bake until the shortcakes begin to rise and are just turning golden brown on the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- While the shortcakes are cooking, melt the butter in a small saucepan or a microwave oven. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar and the nutmeg until you have a thick paste. The sugar will not dissolve completely. Immediately brush the warm shortcakes with the paste. Cool shortcakes on the pan.
Whip the Cream & Assemble
- Cut the fruit into similar size pieces. For example, cut cherries in half and strawberries into fourths. Slide the fruit into a bowl. Pour in the tequila. Stir in the sugar and orange zest. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
- Use an electric mixer to whip the cream with 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form.
- Split the shortcakes in half horizontally. Layer half a shortcake, a scoop of ice cream, a spoonful of fruit, more shortcake, more fruit and a big dollop of whipped cream.