Gluten Free Shortcake with Easy Peach Topping made with low carb shortcake biscuits and no-sugar-added macerated peaches will become your new favorite summer dessert!
One summer dessert recipe that always takes me back to childhood is shortcake. Particularly, strawberry shortcake made with berries we picked at a nearby farm. I would watch my mom wash and hull them, douse them in sugar, and stick them in the fridge until after dinner. The funny thing is, while everyone else was eating strawberry shortcake, I’d sit down to a bowl full of macerated strawberries with a dollop of whipped cream and be a happy girl!
These days, I enjoy the shortcake part of shortcake just as much as everyone else, but I prefer to keep it gluten free and as low in carbs as possible. For this recipe, I went with peaches instead of strawberries, mostly because they looked and smelled pretty incredible at the market and I just couldn’t turn them down. If you prefer to make strawberry shortcake instead, use 1 ½ cups chopped strawberries and omit the molasses and cinnamon. I wanted to keep this recipe gluten free, and it was easy to do so after I came up with the perfect low carb, gluten free shortcake recipe.
What is Shortcake?
Shortcake is a biscuit-like crumbly quick bread that’s typically leavened with baking powder or baking soda. Similar to biscuits, shortcake has a high fat content (usually in the form of butter) that keeps it short (i.e., keeps it from rising too much). Additionally like biscuits, shortcake dough is usually dropped by the spoonful onto baking sheets, or rolled out and stamped into circles.
Shortcake has an interesting history, dating back to at least 1588, which is when the earliest recipe for it appears in an English cookbook. In 1602, Shakespeare named one of the characters Alice Shortcake in The Merry Wives of Windsor. (Read more about this on Wikipedia.)
Strawberry shortcake is the most popular type of shortcake. In it, macerated strawberries along with their juices are spooned on top of the bottom half of a shortcake that’s been split open. Whipped cream is typically added (because it really doesn’t get any better than strawberries and cream).
How Shortcake is Different From Shortbread
Shortbread is more like a dry, crumbly cookie (what the British refer to as a biscuit). Shortcake is more similar to a crumbly American-style biscuit than a cookie, and typically has eggs and leavener added to make it lighter in texture than a cookie.
How to Macerate Fruit Like Strawberries or Peaches (Perfect for Making Gluten Free Shortcake!)
Macerating fruit couldn’t easier:
- First, wash and chop your fruit. Note that your fruit should be ripe
- Next, place your fruit in a bowl along with sugar. I like to use about 1 tablespoon sugar or its equivalent for every 1 cup of chopped fruit. To keep this recipe low carb, I used a blend of Swerve Confectioners and liquid stevia as sweetener. It’s not necessary, but I also like to add a little pinch of sea salt because I find that it enhances the flavor of the fruit
- Lastly, set the fruit aside and forget about it for a while. If you leave it at room temperature, the fruit will be ready much quicker, and if you stick it in the fridge it could take a couple hours
- The strawberries are ready to go when they're juicy
- Something important to note is that you DO NOT have to add liquid of any kind! Liquor isn’t necessary, and neither is vinegar. And certainly not water! The sugar pulls the liquid out of the fruit and the result is tender, sweet, intensely-flavored fruit that’s soaking in its own juices. However, if you like you can add a splash of flavoring, such as vanilla extract or fresh lemon juice or zest
- Use your macerated fruit to make gluten free shortcake and enjoy!
More Gluten Free Peach Dessert Recipes:
- Mini Frozen Peach Coconut Cream Pie with Almond Crust from Healthy Sweet Eats
- Paleo Peach Crisp from Detoxinista
- 3-Ingredient Vanilla Peach Popsicles from Healthy Sweet Eats
- Peach Paleo Muffins Recipe from Cook Eat Paleo
- Peach Topping:
- 1 ½ medium-large ripe peaches, chopped (about 1 ½ cups chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Serve Confectioners
- 7 drops liquid stevia
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon blackstrap molasses
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 1 pinch sea salt
- Other:
- 4 Keto Shortcake Biscuits (recipe here: https://www.healthysweeteats.com/low-carb-shortcake-gluten-free-biscuits/)
- 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
- Stir together all ingredients for the peach filling. It will thicken and turn somewhat syrupy if you let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. You can also use a fork to mash up the fruit a bit if you want it to have a slightly jam-like consistency.
- To serve, slice the biscuits in half. Spoon the peach filling on top, and top with a dollop of whipped cream.
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Lewis Johnson
I love anything shortcake.