peach shortcakes

eddy and i had our neighbor friends come over and my friend and i made these for us and the boys. it was a pretty quick recipe all-in-all and the shortcakes were quickly devoured!

ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, cubed
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. milk, divided
3 large fresh peaches (1-1/4 lb.), sliced
1-1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup thawed cool whip whipped topping

directions:
heat oven to 425ºF.

mix flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, baking powder and zest in large bowl. cut in cream cheese with 2 knives or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. stir in 1/3 cup milk until mixture forms dough.

use floured hands to divide dough into 8 pieces; shape each into ball. place, 3 inches apart, on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray; flatten to 3/4-inch thickness. brush tops lightly with remaining milk; sprinkle with 2 tsp. of the remaining sugar.

bake 12 to 15 min. or until golden brown. meanwhile, combine peaches, remaining sugar and lemon juice.

cool shortcakes slightly; split in half. fill with peach mixture and cool whip just before serving.

my comments:

i didn't know what lemon zest was before this recipe. lemon zest is tiny shavings of the yellow part of the outer peel of the lemon. if you don't have an actual lemon zester you can use a small grater but only graze the surface of the lemon. like i said, lemon zest is tiny shavings not a grated lemon peel. 

i loved this dessert recipe so much! i got it from the kraft recipes website when it showed up on the main page with tons of reviews and a 5-star rating. you can find the actual recipe here. try it out and let me know what you think! ♥