Gluten Free and Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

With all the craziness of the Easter Holiday (mixed in with Earth Day and school activities with the kids) I've been a little behind in my blogging. My youngest son turned 5 the day after Easter, so not only were we up to our ears in Easter candy, but I had to make a school worthy birthday treat (thank you Gluten Free Goddess for that one) and he wanted strawberry shortcake for his special birthday treat.

Well, I grew up on the Bisquik version of strawberry shortcake where the dried out dough sucked up the juice of the strawberries, so I wanted to find a more gourmet version of what I grew up on. I happened to have a version in my Better Homes and Gardens Baking Book that I tried a gluten free lifetime ago, so I pulled it out and proceeded to put this recipe together. It is a long list of ingredients, but I really only changed the flour part of the recipe and it worked out splendidly. Instead of the applesauce and oil, you could use Spectrum shortening, but I never seem to have any on hand when I need it. I served it with a recipe for Orange Whipped Topping that I picked up out of a Thanksgiving edition of Optimum Wellness for their pumpkin pie, but I figured that if the shortcake had orange, that this would work well here. I sliced and layered mine, but this is one desert that needs no direction on assembly. Enjoy.



Shortcake: (all ingredients are measured by volume and before milling)

1 cup or 235ml brown rice flour-milled in coffee grinder
1/2 cup or 120ml gluten free oats-milled in coffee grinder
1/2 cup or 120ml potato starch
1/2 cup or 120ml finely ground walnuts (original recipe called for pecans)
1/4 cup or 60ml brown sugar
1 tsp or 5 ml cream of tartar
1/2 tsp or 2.5ml baking soda
1 1/2 tsp or 7.5ml guar gum
1/4 tsp or 1ml salt

1/4 cup or 60ml oil
1/4 cup or 60ml applesauce, unsweetened
1 tbsp or 15ml flax seed plus 3 tbsp or 45ml hot water mixed
2/3 cup or 160ml unsweetened hemp milk or non-dairy milk of choice
1 tbsp or 15ml fresh orange zest (about 1 orange or 3 clementines)
1 tsp or 5ml vanilla

Directions:

Mill flax seed and mix it with hot water in a small bowl and set it aside.

Place walnuts (or preferred nut) into food processor and mill until fine, but not super fine. Add in all other dry ingredients and blend until well combined, making sure to scrape the inside of the bowl just in case any of your nut bits are stuck on the bottom and sides.

Add in flax mix, oil, and applesauce and pulse a few times until the dough resembles course crumbs. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until moist, but don't over blend. The dough should be moist, but you don't want smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit along with your baking stone (if using). Spoon out the batter on the stone so that you make between 6-12 mounds of dough, depending on desired serving size. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown with darker brown peaks. Cool immedietly on a wire rack and serve warm or store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.



Topping:

1 pint of strawberries
1/4 cup of brown sugar

Mix together and let it set for at least 20 minutes before serving. The longer it sits, the more juice will come out of the strawberries to form the sauce.


Orange Whipped Topping:
Adapted from Optimum Wellness' magazine

1/2 block of store bought tofu or 1 block of homemade tofu
1 container (single serving) So Delicious plain coconut yogurt
2 tbsp or 30ml maple syrup or brown rice syrup
1/2 tsp or 2.5ml fresh orange zest (1 clementine's worth)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cut open shortcake and layer if so desired and serve.

This recipe is also a part of Real Food Weekly for the week of April 28th, 2011.