This Homemade Strawberry Shortcake dessert is a twist on the classic with strawberries added to the homemade biscuits. The tender strawberry biscuits are topped with lightly sweetened strawberry slices and fluffy whipped coconut cream.
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Dessert
Ok – so maybe it’s not quite Spring (or even Summer for that matter), but when the weather outside my window is nearing 60 degrees, I couldn’t resist. Plus, the berries at my grocery store are looking especially yummy right now.
I love the idea of an easy dessert that combines many different textures and flavors. This recipe for Homemade Strawberry Shortcake takes the traditional strawberry shortcake with biscuits, and adds a slight twist. We are adding strawberries to the biscuits as well. Double berry goodness.
The biscuits in this dessert are not to be confused with Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits. Still good, but we want a little more dessert in our biscuit here.
For this recipe, we add a few more ingredients:
- Sour cream
- Egg
- Sugar (keep reading for details on this)
- Fresh Strawberries
The additional fat we are adding with the sour cream and egg keep the biscuits moist and tender. And the extra sugar and sweet strawberries remind you that this is a delicious dessert.
Refined Sugar Free Dessert
So, we are adding sugar to these biscuits. But not your typical granulated white sugar. I have been experimenting with swapping out certain ingredients for healthier alternatives. In this case, we use coconut sugar instead of white sugar.
What I have found is that coconut sugar offers just as much sweetness as granulated sugar, without a little less guilt. It is still a sugar. The benefit of coconut sugar is, it is not as processed as regular sugar and has a lower glycemic index (meaning it doesn’t spike your blood glucose and insulin like regular sugar does).
You will also notice that I suggest pure maple syrup to sweeten the strawberries. And, if you choose to make homemade whipped cream, the Whipped Coconut Cream is what I recommend. Also sweetened with maple syrup.
Spring and Summer Easy Dessert
One of the many great things about Homemade Strawberry Shortcake, is how easy it is.
- Make and bake the biscuits
- Slice strawberries and toss with a little sweetener
- Make some whipped cream
- Assemble
- Devour
What You Need To Make Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
- Fresh Strawberries
- Maple Syrup
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Coconut Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Whole Milk
- Sour Cream
- Unsweetened Canned Coconut Milk – recipe link is in the ingredients list.
Baking Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Mixing Bowls
Tips For Making Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
- Use fresh strawberries – I do not recommend frozen strawberries.
- Cold butter, milk, sour cream, and egg – Since we are technically making biscuits, they get their tender texture and layers from cold ingredients.
- Mix everything before adding the strawberries – Stir the wet ingredients into the dry a few times to get everything incorporated before adding the strawberries. We don’t want to smash the strawberries too much and adding towards the end helps keep them mostly intact.
- Swap sugar – If you don’t care for, or have, coconut sugar – you can swap in granulated white sugar 1:1.
- Enjoy the day they are baked – As with most baked goods, they taste best the day they are baked. The biscuits can keep at room temp in a ziploc bag, if needed.
So that’s it – my summertime dessert in the middle of winter. I figure if we can have things like ‘Christmas in July’ we can have Homemade Strawberry Shortcake in March!
More Summer strawberry Dessert Recipes
- Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream
- Strawberry Shortcake Mini Cake – Gluten Free
- Strawberry Pudding and Lemonade Granita Parfaits
- Extra Creamy Strawberry Floats (Dairy-Free)
- Small Batch Strawberry Cupcakes
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Strawberries
- 32 ounces fresh strawberries, sliced (reserve 1 cup for biscuits)
- 2-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup (more or less to taste)
Strawberry Biscuits
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar (plus more to sprinkle the biscuit tops)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup whole milk (plus more for brushing the biscuit tops)
- 1/4 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
- Whipped Coconut Cream (optional)
Instructions
For the Strawberries
- In a medium bowl, mix the prepared sliced strawberries and maple syrup. Cover and set aside in the fridge. You can slice or chop the strawberries – entirely your preference.
Strawberry Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 425F degrees and position the oven rack to the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the chilled cubed butter pieces until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also grate the butter on a box grater. If you prefer this method, I recommend freezing the butter.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk the milk, egg and sour cream until well combined.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the liquid ingredients. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently mix until the dough is wet. Add in the diced strawberries and carefully fold into the dough until just combined.
- Turn the biscuit dough out onto a floured surface and using your hands, gently work the dough together into a rough ball. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands. Once all of the dough has come together, press the dough ball out into a rough rectangle that is at least 1-inch thick.
- Use a 2 and 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, dipped in flour, and press firmly straight down to cut out the biscuits. Make your biscuit cuts as close together as possible to not have to rework the dough too many times. Re-form leftover dough to get as many biscuits as possible. I got 8 (and a small half) with this recipe.
- Place the cut biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle lightly with coconut sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack until ready to serve.
- Assembling the shortcakes – slice the cooled biscuits in half and place the bottom half on their serving plates (or bowls); top with a heaping spoonful of strawberries, then whipped cream; cap with the top half of the biscuit and top with a good spoonful of more whipped cream. Garnish with a strawberry slice or two if you like. Serve immediately and enjoy!
RECIPE NOTES
- Feel free to use any sweetener you like to sweeten the strawberries. I like maple syrup because of the flavor, and it is just a tad bit healthier.
- The biscuits will not be overly sweet. Like many strawberry shortcake recipes using biscuits, the strawberry and whipped cream are intended to be the sweet components to give you a well-rounded flavor that is not cloyingly sweet.
- The whipped coconut cream I used is my go-to for most recipes that call for whipped cream. Feel free to make dairy whipped cream with heavy cream. Substitute the can of coconut milk with 1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream. Start with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and sweeten to taste.