Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake

Do you love strawberry shortcake in the summer?  I'll confess...I've never liked it.  Whenever we had it growing up I opted for just vanilla ice cream with the sweetened strawberries on top.

I've tried it with a variety of cakes.  Shortcake, spongecake, angel food cake, etc.  Just not my thing.

But my family enjoys it.  So yesterday the kids and I made this gluten free version of shortcake to eat with our fresh strawberries.

The shortcake is really easy to make.  The dough comes together in minutes and bakes quickly too.  You could have fresh, warm strawberry shortcake in front of you in about 20 minutes, start to finish.

I've never been a shortcake fan, but I found myself repeatedly "taste testing" this.  I'll have to take my family's word for it that it's good as a whole dessert since I can't eat strawberries.  But it sure looks good.

Are you a strawberry shortcake lover?  What's your favorite summer dessert?

Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake

makes 6-9 shortcakes

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup amaranth flour

1/4 tapioca flour

1/4 cup sorghum flour (you can replace this with any gluten free flour)

1/3 cup organic palm shortening

2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar, sucanat or coconut sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

3/4 milk or milk substitute

sweetened strawberries (hull and chop strawberries; add sweetener to taste; let sit for 10 minutes; mash)

Heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the shortening into the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt (I do this in my food processor) until it looks like fine crumbs.

Add milk.  Mix until just blended.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface.  Knead a few times to make sure the dough is mixed well.

Pat dough into a disk 1/2" thick.  Cut into rounds (I used a drinking glass with about a 3" diameter).  Repeat until dough is used up.

Place rounds about 1" apart on the baking sheet.  Bake 12 minutes, until golden.

Serve fresh out of the oven or reheat for a few minutes before serving.

Slice warm shortcake in half.  Spread butter on both sides if desired.  Top the bottom half with sweetened strawberries.  Place remaining half on top.  Top with more strawberries and whipped cream or ice cream if desired.