Tiny Biscuits with Crème Fraiche and Berries from Gale Gand

Size does matter. But gigantic is not always best. Sometimes, sometimes elegance comes in a small bundle carefully articulated. Here’s a perfect example.

We tend to bake “big.” Big cookies, big muffins, big shortcakes slathered in a mountain of whipped cream studded with strawberries. Here’s a different twist: tiny biscuits flavored themselves with honey and lemon zest, then topped with honeyed crème fraiche. The final adornment is either one kind of berry of your choice, or a sampling for color and flavor multiplicity.

This crafted recipe comes from Gale Gand’s Just a Bite. The book is now fourteen years old and just as positively relevant as it was way back in 2001. Good ideas never fade. Fresh berries are now abounding in the store. Try this variation for a desert of superior elegance and modest size.

Tiny Biscuits with Crème Fraiche and Berries

Yield: 20 to 25 biscuits

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 cup chilled heavy cream
2 tablespoons honey

For the topping:

1 cup crème fraiche
1 ½ cups ripe raspberries, blueberries, or cut-up strawberries, or ½ cup of each kind of berry
2 tablespoons honey

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Make the biscuits: Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and lemon zest together in a large bowl. Whip the cream with the honey until stiff and gently mix into the dry ingredients just until the mixture is moistened and comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead a few times to bring the dough together into a ball.

Reflour the work surface and flour a rolling pin. Roll the dough out 1-inch thick. Use the cutter to cut out biscuits and transfer them to the cookie sheet. Reroll the scraps and continue cutting until all the dough is used. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack.

When ready to serve, split the biscuits in half horizontally. Place the bottoms on serving plates. On each, place a spoonful of crème fraiche and top with one raspberry, one blueberry, and one piece of strawberry. Drizzle with honey. Place the top halves of the biscuits on top. Serve immediately.