Tomato Scallion Shortcakes with Whipped Goat Cheese

This recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  I absolutely love everything in this book.  Every recipe I have made has been delicious, and there are some I have made over and over.

Scallion Biscuits

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 – 2 tablespoons cut up chives (optional) I had them so I added them
• 1 cup whole milk

Tomato Salad

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• pinch of sugar
• fresh ground black pepper
• approximately 1 ¹⁄³ cups cherry tomatoes

Toppings

• 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 115 grams goat cheese, softened (I used a fig flavour goat cheese, so good!)
• 2 green scallions, thinly sliced

To make the biscuits, preheat the oven to 425ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the pieces of butter and with your fingertips, mix in the butter with the dry ingredients – until it resembles coarse meal.  Stir in the scallions and chives.  After add the whole milk and stir until evenly mixed.  Your biscuits should be 3/4 to 1 inch thick and about 3 inches wide.  Pat them out on the parchment and reshape if needed, with spacing of 2 inches apart.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate the pan halfway.

To make the tomato salad whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, sugar and fresh ground pepper in a bowl.  Slice the cherry tomatoes and add them to the mix.  Toss everything together.

To make the whipped goat cheese, use the whisk of an electric mixer and mix the whipping cream until peaks form.  Add the goat cheese, and beat together until its light and fluffy.  I found that the fluffiness for me went down significantly when I added the goat cheese.  Although it was not as fluffy, everything was still delicious.

Split the warm biscuits and assemble your shortcakes.  Add the tomato mixture on half the biscuit along with a generous topping of whipped goat cheese.  Sprinkle some scallions on top and enjoy!