Strawberry Shortcake

Homemade strawberry shortcake is the quintessential summer dessert. This recipe makes fluffy gluten free and vegan shortcakes topped with juicy strawberry filling and light coconut whipped cream. Ultimately, it's the perfect after-dinner treat on a warm summer night!

Ingredients

There are a few key ingredients to perfectly golden brown and flaky vegan gluten free shortcakes.

The first is the right flour blend. We use gluten-free all-purpose and oat flour for these shortcakes. You can mix up a batch of your own homemade all-purpose gluten free flour for this dessert. Then you'll have some on hand for more gluten free baking.

Why not try Classic Chocolate Cupcakes next?

Or, if you're short on time, go for store-bought. We love King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill!

We also use oat flour in our gluten free shortcakes for a couple of reasons. First of all, it lends a delicious oat-y flavor to these vegan shortcakes, which really compliments strawberry filling.

It also gives a bit more weight and heartiness to the shortcakes. Oat flour is denser than all-purpose, so you don't want to go full-on oat, but ½ cup makes a big difference in the flavor department.

On to the wet ingredients.

We use non-dairy milk and vegan yogurt. We usually choose oat milk for this vegan shortcake recipe. We're already using oat flour. Why not go double oat?

Of course other dairy-free milks work great. Coconut, almond, soy, or even hazelnut milk would work well. Feel free to experiment with your dairy-free milk of choice!

However, if you do opt for coconut, we recommend the kind in a bottle/carton. The canned stuff may have too high of a fat content for these shortcakes.

We include vegan yogurt for a couple of reasons. First, it gives more liquid to moisten the dry ingredients. That's necessary for the dough to come together. Second, the yogurt adds substance and heft to the dough. It contains protein and fat that thickens up the shortcakes.

We use a small carton of vegan cashew yogurt. It has a delicious sweet vanilla flavor that doesn't overpower the shortcakes.

Instructions

This shortcake dough is egg-free and dairy-free and therefore will be a little softer than you might expect. But fear not! That's totally normal.

Vegan yogurts all have different amounts of liquid, so it all depends on which brand you use. You may need to adjust the dry or wet ingredients for the right texture.

If your dough is too wet, simply add more gluten free all purpose flour. Add it a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is soft but comes together into a ball.

Or, if your dough is too dry, add tablespoons of non-dairy milk. Keep going until the dough forms a soft ball. Be sure to mix each addition well before adding more.

Then use a cookie cutter or an inverted glass to divide your dough into circular biscuits. Fluted biscuit cutters make adorable shortcakes. Note that you may need to lightly flour the inner and outer rim of your cookie cutter - this will help the dough release from the cutter easily.

This recipe makes about 8 vegan biscuits. If you only need 4 or 6 to feed your crowd, you can make them thicker!

Before cutting, you'll roll the dough into a rough circle on a lightly floured work surface. For 8 shortcakes, roll it to about ½ inch thick. For fewer, give yourself another ¼ to ½ an inch.

And lastly, we like to sprinkle our shortcakes with a pinch of pearl sugar. It gives these vegan shortcakes a classic bakery style look.

To bake, spread out your shortcakes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. They tend to spread out a bit in the oven. You might not want one massive shortcake blob : )

Filling

The filling for these vegan strawberry shortcakes couldn't be simpler. The recipe also makes a delicious, juicy strawberry filling for other vegan strawberry desserts.

• Use it in this elegant vegan strawberry trifle from the Unconventional Baker. This dessert also happens to be gluten free.
• Use it in between layers of this vegan almond cake
• It would also make a delicious topping to ice cream!
• Use as a topping for vegan baked cheesecake

This is a two ingredient strawberry filling. You just need plump, sliced fresh strawberries and a couple spoonfuls of sugar. This filling is low-sugar because the strawberries are so naturally sweet.

Let it sit for a few minutes. It can sit for up to half an hour. This allows the berries to macerate. The result is nice and juicy to fill your shortcakes.

Topping

And now for the finale. No strawberry shortcake (and really no perfect dessert (or breakfast!), in my opinion) is complete without whipped cream. Despite being dairy-free, this whipped cream recipe is as simple as could be.

Remember to stick your can of coconut milk in the fridge before whipping. Ideally, it will chill for several hours. Even overnight works. This helps the fats in the coconut milk come together and whip up more easily.

This delicious dairy-free whipped cream only needs 3 ingredients. First is the full fat coconut milk. Then, a bit of powdered sugar. And then a drop of vanilla extract. Finally, get whipping on high speed until soft peaks form.

Assembly

Finally, pile it all together! Divide your vegan gluten free shortcakes between plates. Stuff with juicy strawberry filling and top with a heavy scoop of coconut whipped cream.

The whipped cream may get a bit melty with the warm biscuit, but that's completely fine - I prefer it that way!

More summer desserts to try:

• Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
• Vegan Gluten Free Four Berry Pie Bars
• Dark Chocolate Dipped Figs
• Apricot Oat Bars
• Triple Berry Granola Crisp

If you make these vegan and gluten free strawberry shortcakes, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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