Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
For the Strawberry Filling…
3 cups strawberries, de-stemmed and sliced thick
½ cup turbinado sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
PREPARATION
Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and gently stir. Let soak for at least 30 minutes.
For the Orange Basil Biscuits…
INGREDIENTS
3 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, cold & cut into cubes
1 ½ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons orange zest
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, sliced into thin strips
PREPARATION
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and gently mix. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or a fork until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas. (Or pulse several times in a food processor.) Combine the cream, zest, orange juice and basil in a measuring cup. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the cream mixture into the well. Mix with a fork until the dough is evenly moistened and just combined; it should look shaggy and still feel a little dry. Gently knead by hand five or six times to create a loose ball.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into an 8-inch square, ¾ to 1 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment, cover with plastic and chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Heat the oven to 425ºF. Remove the dough from refrigerator. Cut the dough into 6-10 even shapes of your choice, circles, squares, triangles, etc. and spread them about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet. Bake until the biscuits are medium golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.
For the Pesto Sweet Cream…
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons sugar
PREPARATION
In a blender or with a hand held food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth, strain mixture with cheesecloth for fine pesto cream or use as is for a chunky, denser sweet cream.
To assemble biscuits…
Slice baked biscuits in half, spoon strawberry mixture on one half, cover with other half and drizzle with sweet pesto cream.