Simple and tender gluten free strawberry shortcake that's loaded with fresh strawberries, piles of softly whipped cream, and sweetened just with maple syrup.
When friends gift us fruit, I bake. We received a bounty from friends this past week, including strawberries and raspberries, the first of which I used in simple and delicious gluten-free strawberry shortcakes. I adapted a recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and swapped oat and tapioca flour for the all-purpose flour in the original. These are meant to be just lightly sweet so a little bit of maple syrup was all they needed to give a hint of sweetness.
This recipe would be easy to make dairy-free: you could use your favorite non-dairy butter or the equivalent amount of coconut oil (make sure to put it in the fridge first so it's cold). Coconut milk and vinegar would make a worthy buttermilk substitute. And you could skim the cream off of your can of coconut milk and turn that into coconut whipped cream.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredients. The flour base is simply oat and tapioca flour mixed to form a light yet sturdy crumb without a lot of fuss.
- Strawberries. Fresh strawberries in season are one of the best things ever. So folding them into whipped cream and sandwiching them between buttermilk biscuits takes them over the top.
- Perfect for summer. This is a perfect summer dessert that draws from the natural sweetness of the fruit and is just right for hot days.
What You'll Need to Make Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake
- Oat flour: Naturally gluten-free oat flour is wonderful in baking recipes and brings a toasty, buttery flavor note
- Tapioca flour: Tapioca flour, or starch, is a great binder when paired with another gluten-free flour
- Baking powder and soda
- Fine sea salt
- Maple syrup
- Unsalted butter
- Buttermilk
- Whipped cream: Make your own whipped cream using heavy cream
- Strawberries
Substitution Suggestions
- Oat flour - substitute sorghum flour for oat flour, or try an equal combination of sorghum and almond flours.
- To make dairy free - substitute your favorite non-dairy butter for the butter. Make "buttermilk" by combining your favorite non-dairy milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar and letting sit for 10 minutes. Then proceed with the recipe. You can use whipped coconut cream in place of the heavy cream.
Storage Options
Gluten free strawberry shortcake is best eaten the day it is made. But if you would like to bake the biscuits in advance, store them in an air-tight container in the fridge, then bring to room temperature before filling with the cream and strawberries.
Recipe
Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
- 2 cups/210 g gluten-free oat flour
- ½ cup/70 g tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 5 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup cup buttermilk
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
- 3 cups sliced strawberries or fruit of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle in the maple syrup then slowly pour in the buttermilk, using just enough to hold the dough together. Turn out onto a piece of parchment lightly floured with oat flour and knead the dough together for about a minute.
- Roll and pat the dough into a small rectangle about ⅓-inch thick. Cut out eight 2-inch rounds (I used a small glass) and place on the prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, checking at 15 minutes to see if they are lightly golden. Check the bottoms to make sure they are not getting too dark; if so, remove from oven.
- Remove cakes from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. When ready to serve, split the cakes in half and fill with the cream and berries. Shortcakes are best served the day they are made.
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