Fresh Peach and Gingercream Shortcakes

(photo from epicurious.com)

Saturday was the great day of the brisket in the Riker residence - I will post the recipe soon, I promise, but first feast your eyes and taste buds on this. John picked this out from the August Bon Ape and it was great. The recipe was super easy to make and the results were scarfed down quickly. I will admit to not bothering with the crystallized ginger (I just assumed that it wasnt going to be found in these parts) so I substituted with ground ginger and the result was super subtle, yet tasty. I'm not a huge fan of peaches, so we also had strawberries around.

ingredients::

2 cups all purpose flour
13 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled salted butter, diced
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, divided
1/2 cup ginger ale
3 tablespoons plus 1 1/4 cups chilled heavy whipping cream, divided
4 large peaches,halved, thinly sliced

preparation::

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, 6 tablespoons sugar, and baking powder in large bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until very coarse meal forms (oatmeal-size flakes). Mix in 1/4 cup chopped ginger. Add ginger ale and 2 tablespoons cream. Toss until moist clumps form. Gather dough into 7-inch log. Cut crosswise into 6 equal rounds. Place on sheet, spaced apart. Shape each into 21/2-inchdiameter round. Mix 1 tablespoon cream and 1 tablespoon sugar in small bowl; brush over top and sides of shortcakes.

Bake shortcakes until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool on sheet.

Meanwhile, toss peaches in large bowl with 4 tablespoons sugar and remaining 1/4 cup chopped ginger. Whisk remaining 1 1/4 cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl to peaks.

Halve shortcakes horizontally. Place bottoms on plates. Top each with peaches, whipped cream, and shortcake top.