This dessert uses our shortcake dough, a biscuit dough that’s a little sweeter than the buttermilk dough. With this dessert, you get the feel of a cobbler but with a unique presentation, where you can see the beautiful berries nested in a buttery crust. I thought up the concept of biscuit nests when I was trying to figure out what to do with leftover biscuit dough after stamping out biscuits. This is a dessert recipe that you would also feel good about eating for breakfast, what is better than biscuits and berries for breakfast? Want it more of a breakfast or brunch meal than a dessert? Try out my Eggs in a Hole recipe.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour and 6 tablespoons of cubed butter. Incorporate the butter into the flour, working the dough between your thumb and middle and pointer fingers to “snap” the dough together, until the mixture resembles cottage cheese. It will be chunky with some loose flour.
3. Combine the white sugar and cinnamon. Add to the dough and stir.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the vanilla and milk.
5. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk mixture a little bit at a time, using your hands or a small rubber spatula to mix the flour into the milk mixture until the texture is “wetty,” tacky, and sticky. You may not need all of the milk mixture. You want the dough to be wet and messy but not sloppy.
6. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the bowl, creating a separation between the dough and the bowl. Sprinkle a bit more flour in this crease.
7. Generously flour a piece of parchment paper. With force, dump the dough from the bowl onto the paper. Flour the top of the dough and the rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a 2-inch thick round.
8. Flour a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Start from the edge of the rolled-out dough and cut straight through the dough, making five or six biscuits, about 2 inches apart.
9. Place the parchment paper with the dough onto a rimmed baking sheet. Remove the cutout biscuits from the centered dough round and line them up along the edge of the sheet. (It’s okay for the biscuits to touch each other.) Fill the holes in the dough with heaping servings of berries.
10. Brush the biscuits and the dough round with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Sprinkle all with turbinado sugar.
11. Bake the berry-filled dough and biscuits for 16 to 18 minutes, until the biscuit tops are golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.
12. To serve, slice the berry-filled round into pie-like wedges. Top each slice with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired. You can serve each portion with a biscuit or save the cutout biscuits for later.