Strawberry Shortcakes With Coconut Whipped Cream

One of my favorite desserts growing up was my mom's strawberry shortcakes. Here's a tasty vegan version. I advise you to make sure others are around when you make this or you are likely to eat a great deal more than one serving. It's so rich, I don't recommend that!

This recipe has 3 components. You'll want to do step 1 the night before you want to make this. Really, I promise this matters. Step 2 requires an hour of waiting. In other words, this recipe isn't the right thing to make if company is about to come over on short notice. 

1. Refrigerate an unshaken can of full-fat Thai Kitchen brand coconut milk overnight. 

2. Wash, hull, and slice a quart of ripe strawberries. The redder, the better! Add them to a bowl, then add 1/3 cup of sugar. Mix it up and set it aside for an hour. 

3. Make the shortcakes!
4. Serve!

Ingredients:

1 can of full fat Thai Kitchen coconut milk (no shaking!)

1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS powdered sugar

1 quart of ripe strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 TBS sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening (I use Spectrum)

3/4 cup non-dairy milk of your choice (I picked vanilla soy)

Heat oven to 450. 

Mix flour, 2 TBS sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like little pebbles.
Add the soy milk until just blended, then turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead it for a few minutes, then roll to about 1/2" thick and cut with a 3" cookie cutter (or just use a glass like I do). I often make mine a bit thinner and smaller so I can get more cakes, but it's all in what you like! 

Place the disks on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes (they'll be lightly golden)

While that's cooking, turn the can of coconut milk upside down slowly and gently, then open the can from that end. Gently pour off the easy-to-pour fluid, leaving behind very firm coconut milk goodness to scrape out. Scrape that into a medium-large bowl and beat it with a hand mixer until it starts to look a little whipped. Add in the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar and keep beating until it looks right. DO NOT TASTE IT because you will EAT IT and then you won't have any left for the shortcakes!

As long as it's been an hour since you started the strawberries on their journey toward awesomeness, you can now serve your treat! Split open a shortcake, take a tablespoon or two of the coconut whipped cream and slather it on there, then cover in about 1/3 cup of strawberries and the sweet liquid they made! 

If you make them flatter, you can get 12, but if you make them big and fluffy, you'll get fewer cakes, obviously.