Vegan Strawberry Shortcakes
If you grew up in the 80s or early 90s, then you probably remember Strawberry Shortcake. I loved strawberry shortcake. In fact, I wished I could be her at one point, living in a giant strawberry with my pets and baking things. I had the strawberry shortcake movie when I was little and I would sit and watch it over and over. And I had the dolls. She was pretty awesome. So now whenever someone mentions strawberry shortcake, I think of the character first, then the dessert. But the dessert is pretty darn delicious. I even liked the store bought stuff people used to serve back in the day with the store bought sponge cakes and cool whip. But now I have leveled up. I like to make my own biscuits and coconut whipped cream.
So last week I was craving strawberry shortcake and I went for it! You could go the cake route, but I make my own biscuits instead as I mentioned earlier because I feel like they hold up better and offer more texture. I actually use my scone base as the recipe and it is so rich, delicious and flakey! This is the scone recipe that I use in the deli I work in and they always sell well. If you wanted to make these gluten free you could use Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour 1:1 it works just as well, I have tried it before.
For the whipped cream, I made a simple lightly sweetened coconut whipped cream that was 100 times better than the cool whip I grew up eating on strawberry short cake. I am kind of obsessed with coconut cream in case you hadn't noticed, I do use it a lot in my recipes, even for frostings. I know you can just whip up the cream and leave it like that but I like it a little more stable, so I added in coconut butter to keep it from melting on the shortcakes.
I cooked the strawberries with a little maple syrup, to make them all jammy and yummy for the shortcakes. These turned out sooo good! I think they might have been the best strawberry shortcakes I have had, nothing like the ones I ate growing up, leveled up from those like 10 times! If you have strawberries on hand, definitely give these a try!
Vegan Strawberry Shortcakes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3 cups fresh organic strawberries
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp arrowroot starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 Tbsp maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp solid coconut oil, cut into chunks
- 1/4 cup cold full fat coconut milk (chilled in the fridge is best), mixed well
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Coconut whipped cream:
- 1 1 15 oz can full fat organic coconut milk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- pinch sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut butter (NOT OIL), warmed to liquid
Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan, toss together the berries and maple syrup, and cook over medium heat until the berries are starting to fall apart. Add the arrowroot and lemon juice mixture and vanilla, stirring constantly and cook just until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees with the rack at the center position.
- Meanwhile, to make biscuits, in a large bowl, combine the flour, pecan meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the oil with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture starts to clump into pea sized pieces. In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the coconut milk. Add the milk to the dough, along with the pecans, and stir a few times, but do not over-mix. The dough should hold together when squeezed, but still be clumpy. Place dough on a floured work surface, and pat into a 1/2 inch tall rectangle. Cut into 4 squares, then shape them into circles and place on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Place biscuits in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until starting to brown and done in the middle (but not over-baked).
- Remove biscuits from the oven and let cool.
- For the whipped cream, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour into a bowl and place in the freezer until it is thick like whipped cream (whisking every so often), about 45 minutes to one hour.
- To assemble, slice a biscuit in half (carefully), spoon some strawberries and coconut cream over that and top with another biscuit and more coconut cream. Repeat with the other 4. Serve!
