Easy Vegan Strawberry Shortcake (Oil-Free!)
This homemade Easy Vegan Strawberry Shortcake is so much better than storebought and is oil-free and naturally sweetened! You only need 8 ingredients and about 30 minutes to make this delicious summer dessert!
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups (256g) regular all-purpose flour
- 2 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (150g) full-fat room temperature coconut milk (SEE Notes below)
- 3 tablespoons (60g) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon (5g) apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups whipped cream (SEE Notes below)
- 2 cups freshly sliced strawberries (SEE Notes)
NOTE
- I always recommend to use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed, since we all measure differently. This is especially important here so that your dough is the right moisture level, etc. Otherwise you run the risk of adding too much flour when scooping. No need to compare cups to the weight, just use the bowl and scale.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- First, make sure you are using a fresh can of room temperature, NOT COLD, full-fat coconut milk. With full-fat coconut milk, the coconut cream will separate from the water in the can. You need to scrape out all of the water and cream from the can into a blender or another bowl and either blend until smooth or whisk very well. You don't want lumps of milk and uneven water or the texture of the biscuits will be off.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- To a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk very well.
- To a separate small bowl, add the coconut milk, syrup and apple cider vinegar. Whisk until smooth and evenly mixed. Pour the liquid over the flour mixture and use a spoon to stir until it comes together mostly in a shaggy, rough looking dough, as pictured. There will be some loose pieces. At this point, use your hands to mold the dough together inside the bowl, flipping and rotating it until all the pieces and dough comes together into a smooth ball. At the same time, being careful not to overwork the dough, should take just a few seconds! The dough will be slightly sticky but should be easy to handle. DON'T taste the dough, just don't. Otherwise, you will eat it all.
- Lightly flour a work surface, you don't need much, as the dough should be very easy to work with. Place the dough on the surface and pat it down into a round shape about 7 inches round and the thickness should be between 3/4 and 1 inch (see photo). Use your hands here, do not roll the dough out with a rolling pin, as that flattens out the lightness and air. Again, you are only forming it into the shape, not kneading. Measure to make sure you have the right thickness so you get 6 tall biscuits.
- Use a 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter and press down into the dough and lift up. You should get 4 biscuits the first time. Piece the excess dough together back into a ball and gently pat it back down to 3/4 to 1 inch to get 6 biscuits total. If you make more than 6 biscuits, that means you flattened the dough too much and your biscuits will be thinner.
- Place each biscuit on the pan, just touching each other, as pictured.
- Lightly brush the tops of each biscuit with extra coconut milk.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until risen and have a light golden brown color on top. Be very careful about overbaking or they can turn dry.
- Cool 10 minutes and then slice each biscuit in half. Spread with whipped cream and sliced strawberries. Add the top biscuit and put more whipped cream and strawberries on top! These are best eaten the same day.
Notes
- Macerate Strawberries: Unlike traditional strawberry shortcake recipes, I did not macerate the strawberries. This basically means letting the strawberries sit in a bit of sugar to get them extra juicy and sweet. They are already naturally sweet and delicious! And then, when you top them with sweet cream and a shortcake, well, that is plenty sweet and juicy for me. But feel free to soak your strawberries in some sugar first if you prefer. Add 1 tablespoon or so to the strawberries and let them sit while you make the biscuits.
- Coconut Milk: Biscuits rely on fat for them to be soft and fluffy. Coconut milk is a much different kind of fat than any other fat. It is buttery and it is richer. It is also low-protein, which means it creates a better, softer and fluffier texture. Do not sub this with other milks or you will end up with a dry or chewy biscuit.
- Coconut Milk Brands: I like Thai Kitchen and Taste of Thai brands, both work great here. The full fat milk will have 12-14g of fat per serving on the can. That is how you know you are getting the correct kind. Even with that, these are still significantly less fat than traditional biscuits since there is only 1/2 cup in the biscuit recipe. DO NOT use the Polar brand, it is all stabilizers and additives and not pure coconut milk.
- Whipped Cream: For the whipped cream, you can use Reddi Wip Non-dairy Almond Whipped Cream) which is sold at Kroger, Walmart and likely several other stores. I love, love it. I also like the So Delicious cocowhip sold in a tub at many places. OR, use my Homemade Coconut Whipped Cream if you want.