Florence Fabricant decided to take advantage of the lush peaches and excellent blueberries that will be at their zenith in flavor during late July. There are already fine peaches and berries in the market so you can make this right away. It is from Mrs. Fabricant's new book in progress. Serves six.
Blueberry-Peach Shortcakes on Cornmeal Biscuits
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
8 Tbsp. cold butter, cut in pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups sliced, peeled ripe peaches (4 to 5 medium peaches)
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Light brown sugar
1 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil.
Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a food processor and process to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is uniformly crumbly. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Using a fork or your fingertips, lightly stir in the buttermilk, moistening the ingredients enough so they can be gathered together to form a ball of soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board.
Pat the dough out until it is evenly about a half-inch thick. Cut into six four-inch rounds. You can re-form the scraps and cut those for extra shortcakes. Arrange the dough rounds on the baking sheet and bake until medium brown on the bottom and just coloring on the top, 14 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on racks.
Toss the peach slices with lemon juice. Sweeten to taste with light brown sugar. Rinse and drain the blueberries and mix with the peaches. Whip the cream with one tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar. Up to this point the recipe can be made several hours in advance.
To serve, split each of the shortcakes in half horizontally with a sharp knife. Spread the bottom halves with some of the whipped cream, top with peaches and blueberries, and spread the undersides of the top halves with the rest of the cream, then cover the fruit with them. Dust the tops with sifted confectioners sugar before serving.
