The Best Strawberry Shortcake

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The one recipe you absolutely must make this summer: Strawberry Shortcake Dessert.

I guarantee nobody in a jillion years will ever guess this stack of syrupy sweet shortcake goodness makes the clean eating cut either.

So just what makes a Strawberry Shortcake Dessert clean? No dairy, no wheat, no refined sugar.

Thanks to doubling down on the strawberries, it also has a lot more antioxidants than the conventional strawberry shortcake recipe. And besides, extra strawberries make it extra tasty!

Although it’s as American as apple pie and a quintessential summer treat, this was my very first attempt at making a strawberry shortcake dessert. I made it on Memorial Day after being inspired by the stunning version featured in the June issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

BA’s Best Strawberry Shortcake recipe looked and sounded so incredibly delicious that I actually made a special trip to the grocery store just to buy the strawberries. Turns out driving to the store was actually more time-consuming than make the dessert!

If you have never made a strawberry shortcake dessert you will be blown away with how easy it is is. For some reason I had always been a bit intimidated to make this particular dessert in the past, but turns out it really is very straightforward to make. And not all that time-consuming either.

2 Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Shortcake Dessert

The Bon Appetit version called for ingredients I don’t cook with (such as all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, heavy cream, etc.), I simply swapped out clean ingredients, doubled the amount of strawberries the recipe called for (more antioxidants!) and then followed their basic recipe to a T, right down to hard boiled egg yolk trick.

I really wasn’t so sure pulsing hard boiled egg yolks in with my flour would actually work, but apparently this is an old Northern European baker’s secret. Since I am crazy for egg yolks lately I had no objection to giving the egg yolk thing a try. By the way, I soft-boil my egg yolks and then use them in salad dressings as a nutrient-booster to increase my intake of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K along with B-vitamin choline and antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. Just be sure to use pasture-raised egg yolks! 

In addition to the egg yolk trick I also borrowed BA’s ice cream scooper technique, which not only expedited the shortcake-making process, but also made for picture-perfect cutie-pie cake biscuits (that did not fall apart, by the way).

I normally like to gussy my recipes up with extra flavors here and there, I have to agree with BA on this one, simple is best. No need to complicate perfection with mint garnishes or anything else. Strawberry shortcake really is best just plain and simple….

Clean Strawberry Shortcake Dessert

• Cook Time: 28 minutes
• Total Time: 28 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

• 2 hard boiled pasture-raised egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cup 1-for-1 gluten free flour, like this one from King Arthur
• 3 tablespoons masa harina (finely ground corn flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons coconut palm sugar, try Nutiva Organic brand
• 6 tablespoons chilled organic coconut oil, such as Barlean’s
• 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut “cream” (see notes below)
• 2 pounds organic strawberries (hulled, halved, quartered if large)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot
• 1 cup coconut whipped cream

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulse the egg yolks, both flours, baking powder, salt and 3 tablespoons of the coconut palm sugar in a food processor to combine. Add the coconut oil and pulse until coconut oil is well-incorporated into the flour, but do not over-mix. Add in 2/3 cup of the coconut cream, then pulse 2-3 times to barely incorporate. Transfer dough to a work surface and gently fold on top of itself several times just to ensure oil is thoroughly blended.
2. Use a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, make 8 balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Do not flatten. (Note: if you do not have an ice cream scoop you can measure out mounded scoops with a 1/4 cup measuring cup instead.) Cover and place in freezer until cold, about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, add the strawberries, 1/4 cup of the coconut palm sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl; gently toss to combine ingredients. Transfer half of the strawberries to a large saucepan and add 1 tablespoon water; bring strawberries to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until strawberries are just starting to break down and become jammy and liquid syrupy, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice with arrowroot; pour the lemony arrowroot mixture into the cooked strawberries, mix well to combine. Add the cooked strawberries to the uncooked strawberries, gently toss to coat and set aside.
4. Remove the shortcakes from the freezer, brush the tops with the remaining 2 tablespoons of coconut cream and sprinkle a little coconut palm sugar on each top. Bake until golden and sides are firm to the touch, 28 to 30 minutes. Let cool.
5. To assemble, you can either split the shortcakes in half or use each shortcake like a slice of sandwich bread, ladle the strawberries on top, add a hefty dollop of coconut cream and close with shortcake. Serve at once.

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Notes

Coconut “Cream” is the thick, rich and non-watery part of canned coconut milk. To get the “cream” you need to refrigerate your coconut milk for 5 or 6 hours or pop it in the freezer for at least an hour. Once the coconut milk is cold, carefully remove the top with a can opener and use a spoon to scoop out the hardened coconut “cream” off the top. The “cream” is what you will be using for the Strawberry Shortcake. You can reserve the liquid water for smoothies. Also, for what it is worth, I always seem to have the easiest time getting the cream from Thai Kitchen brand.