Strawberry Shortcake with Stevia Extract In The Raw

With strawberries being in season, I have been blessed with a weekly abundance of bright, red, plump and juicy organic strawberries in my CSA box.  I decided to make some strawberry shortcake this weekend to take to a Memorial Day BBQ.  To quote one gluten-eater, they would not have known the biscuit was gluten-free had I not told them!  I don’t know why, after all this time, that comments like those still makes me feel good and “normal.”  This food IS normal to me and my family, so why do I still care about that validation?  😉

I grew up on Bisquick Shortcakes, and I am definitely a biscuit-style shortcake person.  I used the Bisquick recipe and subbed Better Batter Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix for the Bisquick.

(If your memories of strawberry shortcake involved those little cake “cups” that are found in grocery stores, I found a neat little pan a few weeks ago that you might be interested in, it is called a Dessert Shell Pan and is made by Wilton.  I had to buy the pan for a cupcake decorating class I took, and there are some cute little themed cupcakes that you can also make with it.  I will be sharing those ideas soon).

Shortcakes

2 1/3 cups Bisquick (I used Better Batter GF Pancake and Baking Mix for this batch, but I have also used Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix in the past and it works great too.  If you do not have either of those products, here is the link to a Homemade GF Bisquick Mix Recipe.)

1/2 cup Milk (I used Rice Milk)

3 Tbs. Sugar

3 Tbs. Butter (I used Earth Balance)

• Heat oven to 425° F.

• In a medium bowl, stir gluten-free baking mix, milk, sugar and melted butter until soft dough forms.

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.

• Bake 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown. (Note: start watching carefully at about 9 minutes, the tops began to brown rather quickly, so I covered the shortcakes with a sheet of foil for the last few minutes).

I found a great new stevia product the other day, Stevia Extract In The Raw.  I was very excited to find this, as it reminded me of the cup-for-cup Splenda I used to buy.  I have only recently started to use stevia products and I am definitely not a big fan of opening a bunch of little packets, nor can I seem to gauge the proper amount of the liquid stevia to use (I have a tendency to add a drop or two too much).  The Stevia Extract in the Raw is a simple cup-for cup replacement, thus eliminating a lot of the math.  I haven’t baked with it yet as there are some slight adjustments that need to be made when converting your own recipes, but so far, it has been a great way to sweeten fruit and iced tea without risk of overdoing it.

Strawberry Mixture

For the strawberry topping, I combined sliced, fresh strawberries with Stevia Extract In The Raw (taste as you go, I used 1/4 cup for 2 pints of strawberries).  The Stevia Extract In The Raw will turn a milky white color at first, but this will go away as the strawberries macerate.  I like to poke holes in the strawberries with a fork, which helps to further release the juices and makes for a wonderful syrup.

The whipped topping in this picture is Cool Whip.  I just bought a new cookbook by Cybele Pascal called The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook.  On page 113, there is a recipe for vegan whipped topping that looks very simple to make.  I plan on making it today, along with some dairy-free chocolate pudding.  I will let you know how it turns out!