Easy Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake is the perfect summer dessert, especially with these easy strawberry shortcake recipes to turn to.

As soon as strawberries begin appearing everywhere, my mind immediately turns to this easy luscious fruit filled dessert.

It's loved by young and old alike and comes in lots of different styles and variations but is basically made by taking sliced strawberries, mixing them with sugar and letting them sit until they get juicy and then serving them them over either cake or a biscuit that you then top with a bit of whipped cream.

It really is a pretty simple delicious easy healthy dessert, especially if you keep the serving size reasonable.

I grew up eating strawberry shortcake made with biscuits so it's still the way I prefer it. (I never liked those little individual sponge cakes that are displayed with the strawberries at the grocery store.)

If you prefer yours with cake, a lighter healthier option is angel food cake. It's available in most every grocery store and has only about 75 calories per serving, making it a healthy easy option for your strawberry shortcake base.

I recently found a recipe that suggests grilling or heating your angel food cake slices in a pan, before topping them with strawberries and whipped cream, which sounds absolutely heavenly (Yes, I meant to say that!)

Getting back to the topic of biscuits, you have lots of choices here as well. To keep things super quick and easy, you could buy the refrigerated or frozen kind, begin with a baking mix, such as Bisquick, or make them from scratch.

I usually opt for Bisquick since it's always in the pantry and is a little less work than making them from scratch.  There are lots of great options with Bisquick these days too - with heart healthy, trans fat free and gluten free versions to choose from.

When strawberries are in season, I hope you'll give one of these easy strawberry shortcake recipes a try.

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Classic Strawberry Shortcake with Bisquick

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 quart strawberries (4 cups), sliced
½ cup sugar
2-⅓ cups Bisquick
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
¾ cup whipped cream or whipped topping

Directions

Put two cups of the strawberries in a medium bowl and then mash them with a fork or potato masher (affiliate link). Stir in the sugar and the remaining 2 cups of berries.  Put aside and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make your biscuits.  Preheat your oven to 425 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Put the Bisquick, 3 tablespoons sugar, the milk and butter in a medium bowl and stir until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough. Place 8 evenly sized spoonfuls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake until lightly golden, 8-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack, allowing the biscuits to cool for about 15 minutes.

For each serving, split a biscuit in half with a knife and place it in a bowl. Fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

Cook's tip: You an also bake one big shortcake and then cut it into 6 wedges.  Spread the dough in an ungreased 8-inch round baking pan and bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges and then split each wedge and fill and top as you would the drop shortcake biscuits.

Nutritional Estimates Per Serving (⅛th): 300 calories, 12.3 g fat, 44.7 g carbs, 2.1 g fiber, 3.9 g protein and 8 WW PointsPlus Value.

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Recipe for Easy Shortcake Biscuits from Scratch

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup firm butter
¾ cup milk
1 large egg, slightly beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 375 F. Grease the bottom and side of a 8-inch or 9-inch round baking pan and then dust the pan with flour and tap out any excess.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mix in the butter with a pastry blender (affiliate link) or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (You can also do this by pulsing several times in a food processor (affiliate link).) Stir in the milk and egg just until blended. Spoon the dough into a pan and spread it out evenly.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Cut the shortcake into 8 wedges. For each serving, split each wedge in half then fill and top each wedge with strawberries and whipped cream.

Nutritional estimates per serving: 280 calories, 9.7 g fat, 44.1 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber, 5.5 g protein and 8 WW PointsPlus Value

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Recipe for Gluten Free Shortcake Biscuits

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

I love that Bisquick is now available gluten free so all of those suffering from gluten sensitivity or intolerance can indulge in delicious strawberry shortcake too.

Ingredients

2-⅓ cups Biscuick gluten free mix
¼ cup sugar
⅓ cup butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
¾ cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Heat the oven to 425F. Grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, combine the Bisquick mix and ¼ cup of sugar. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender (affiliate link) until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk, eggs and vanilla, just until combined.

Place 6 evenly sized spoonfuls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake until lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. For each serving, split a shortcake in half then fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

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Easy Angel Food Cake Strawberry Shortcake with Balsamic

This is an easy healthy and sophisticated version of strawberry shortcake, definitely designed for grown up taste buds, thanks to the addition of balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper. Since the recipe calls for no added sugar, use the sweetest, ripest, juiciest strawberries you can find.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups sliced strawberries
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon butter (optional)
4 wedges of angel food cake, each 1-inch thick
½ cup whipped cream

Directions

Mix the strawberries, vinegar and pepper in a bowl and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to marinate.

Heat a grill, stovetop grill pan (affiliate link) or nonstick frying pan until hot. (If you are using a pan, add the butter; if you are grilling leave the butter out.) Add the cake slices and cook on both side until caramelized and toasted. Transfer to 4 bowls or dessert plates. Top with the strawberries and their liquid and a dollop of whipped cream.

Nutritional Estimates Per Serving: 146 calories, 5.6 g fat, 22.1 g carbs, 1.9 g fat, 2.3 g protein and 4 WW PointsPlus Value

*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.

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Sources: Betty Crocker Ultimate Bisquick Cookbook: Hundreds of new recipes, plus back-of-the-box favorites, Betty Crocker Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition, Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide

Links:

Simple Strawberry Cake - In Erika's Kitchen
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake - The Cake Mix Doctor (affiliate link)
Mom's Easy Strawberry Cake - Mommy's Kitchen
Strawberry Yogurt Cake - Betty Crocker
Healthy Strawberry Muffins - Whole Living
Simple Strawberry Dessert - Simple Daily Recipes
Strawberry Basil Sorbet - Enlightened Cooking
Strawberry Crepes - Ashley Memory at World of Crepes.

Related Posts:

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies - the flavors of strawberry shortcake in little cookies
Simple Banana Cake - simple easy banana cake that begins with a mix
Easy Blueberry Cheesecake Bars - simple homemade cheesecake bars embellished with fresh blueberries and jam

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