Whole Grain Strawberry Shortcakes

In some parts of the country that wonderful time of year called “strawberry season” has hit! My sister in California has been eating pints of fresh strawberries, but over here on the east coast the sun only recently melted the last of the snow in our backyard. So our strawberry season doesn’t usually hit here until Memorial Day, and I’m already counting down the days!

Our family celebrates the arrival of strawberry season by visiting our favorite local farm and picking pounds and pounds of the bright red berries. You can’t beat the flavor of fresh-picked berries! We always pick extra berries to freeze (they’re easy to freeze). Frozen strawberries make delicious pink smoothies, and picking and freezing our own is one way we save money on our food budget.

Once we’ve picked our strawberries and frozen some, we snack on the rest, make PB & strawberry sandwiches, scatter them over pancakes for breakfast, and we always make these delicious, whole grain strawberry shortcakes. Simple Strawberry Shortcakes are very easy to make because these shortcakes are like drop biscuits (just sweeter)—no rolling or biscuit-cutting required. You can mix the dough and have the shortcakes ready to go into the oven in just ten minutes.

One reason I love making strawberry shortcakes for my family is that they are a naturally low-sugar dessert, as far as desserts go. But with all the fluffy cream and sweet berries you don’t feeling like you’re missing out. To make the shortcakes more nutritious, I sweeten them with honey, make a whole-grain shortcake and use an organic or grassfed cream. The sweet honey flavor comes through in the shortcakes and marries beautifully with the fresh, juicy strawberries.

I hope you go pick some fresh local strawberries and give these simple, honey-sweetened shortcakes a try!

Simple Strawberry Shortcakes

Serves 8

• 1 lb strawberries
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 shortcakes (recipe below)

Wash and slice strawberries, place in a bowl and set aside. Add the heavy whipping cream, honey and vanilla to a mixing bowl and whip (using a stand mixer or hand mixer) until soft peaks form. Gently slice the shortcakes in half. Place the bottom halves of the shortcakes on dessert plates. Spoon a generous dollop of whipped cream onto each bottom half. Spoon strawberry slices on top, and top with another dollop of whipped cream and a few more strawberry slices. Place the remaining half of the shortcake on top.

Whole Grain Strawberry Shortcakes

Makes 8-10 shortcakes

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (cold)
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour, which makes a bit lighter shortcake)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Cut butter into 1/2-inch chunks and add to the mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are no larger than a pea. Add the honey and buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.

Drop mounds of dough by very large spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. The mounds of dough should be about the size and shape of small apples and should be placed 2 inches apart. Do not flatten the mounds. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to brown. Cool the shortcakes on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes (or until completely cooled) before slicing and filling with whipped cream and strawberries.

Enjoy!! 

Christy at Whole Foods On A Budget