Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan Strawberry Shortcakes and NuNaturals Stevia Giveaway

Well, my beautiful friends, I've gone and done it. I came up with a recipe for strawberry shortcakes that satisfied my every wish. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and sugar-free. I don't have any reaction when I eat it, even when I eat too many in a day, which may or may not have happened yesterday. It's simple, takes ten minutes to whip up the batter, and only uses one flour. There are no gums or other binders like flax or psyllium. And I actually feel comfortable serving it to guests who are neither gluten-free nor health nuts. I never thought I would see the day when a recipe that worked for ME would work for my friends too. But that day has come, and what luck that it happened on my last day of baking before taking an extended hiatus to truly focus on my health. Now I have a tried and true recipe that I can pull out whenever I feel the need for a little treat.

The only problem is that I am now obsessed with this recipe. Remember my pancake and waffle how-to guide? I made something like 24 batches of batter in order to test those out with various substitutions. I want to do the same with these shortcakes, which are really just "countrified" cupcakes. That's what my housemate called them, in her Paula Deen imitation accent.

Why do I want to mess with a good thing? Because I know exactly what substitution questions you're going to have for me, and the driven baker in me just can't stand that I don't have the answers. Here's what I know you're going to ask:

1. I can't do rice flour. Can these be made without rice flour? Yes, but haven't figured out which flours are best yet.
2. I don't do grains. Can these be made grain-free? If you allow seed grains like quinoa, I think I can make it happen. If you want to use only almond flour or coconut flour, it's unlikely, but I have an idea in mind...
3. I can't have orange juice. Can I use apple juice or non-dairy milk instead? Yes, but I have to play around with the flavor and baking soda adjustments.

Those are the questions I know you're going to want to ask me. I'm sure there are more, and I invite you to leave your own substitution questions in the comments below. Because I'm going to figure the answers out, just the way I did for my waffles. It will involve a lot of batches, a big spreadsheet, and a flying saucer.

Just making sure you're paying attention.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I'm done with baking things that I can't eat. But I can eat these. So I can bake them all I want as long as I don't eat five a day. Or run out of stevia. Which won't happen because NuNaturals just sent me a package of their stevia for today's final entry into my 2nd Annual Gluten-Free Birthday Cake Challenge. And I am truly, truly excited because I didn't think I was going to be able to have cake on my birthday this year. And now I can.  

Today's giveaway:

1. 4 winners will get: One bottle of each new NuNaturals stevia flavors, lemon and orange.
2. 1 winner will get: One NuNaturals Wellness Gift Basket, valued at $100. Believe me, you want this!

 How to enter:

1. Peruse the NuNaturals website, then leave a comment below telling me which of their posted recipes sounds best to you. 
2. Follow NuNaturals on Facebook or Twitter.  Leave a comment telling me you did so.
3. Follow The Daily Dietribe on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest if you don't already. Leave a separate comment for each. 
4. If you already follow me, go ahead and link to this post on your Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Leave a separate comment for each. 
5. For 5 entries: Make a cake/cupcake/pie for the 2nd Annual Gluten-Free Birthday Cake Challenge that uses stevia. Use the Mr. Linky on my challenge post to link up, then come back and let me know your cake uses the featured ingredient. 

Giveaway will close on June 27th at midnight Pacific Standard Time.

Note: The Wholesome Sweeteners and JK Gourmet Almond Flour Giveaways are also still open until June 27th. 

Strawberry Shortcakes (Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan)


Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
2 2/3 cups white rice flour (422 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup coconut cream*
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon NuNaturals Liquid Stevia

Filling: 
Coconut cream**
Sliced strawberries

*For coconut cream, get a can of full-fat coconut milk. The cream rises to the top, so you can simply skim that off the top. There's just about 1/2 cup of coconut cream on top generally.

*To get enough coconut cream for all 12 shortcakes, you'll need a few cans. I'm not sure how many because it was too expensive for me to purchase that much. So I generally made a batch of cream from one can, made as many shortcakes as I could from that, and then ate the rest of the cupcakes plain or with Earth Balance Coconut Spread. To make the cream, I skimmed the cream off the top of the can, added a few drops of vanilla stevia to taste, and whipped it with a hand mixer until it resembled the texture of regular whipping cream.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 12 muffin cupcake tin or use cupcake liners. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In a large bowl, beat the orange juice, coconut cream, applesauce, vanilla extract and stevia with a hand mixer on medium for about 30 seconds. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, continuing to beat until completely mixed. 
4. Spoon batter into cups, filling each one completely. Bake for 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool a few minutes before removing cupcakes to a cooling rack. Cool completely, then slice in half, filling with coconut cream and strawberries.

Because I really want to make you happy, I'm going to share my little secret with you. This recipe calls for 1 whole teaspoon of stevia, which is a lot considering how expensive it is. So when I was testing the recipe, I made smaller batches of just 3 cupcakes. I'm going to share with you below the amounts for making 3 cupcakes. That way you can test this recipe without using too many ingredients...then if you like it, you can make a full batch. See? I did the math for you. That's love.

Amounts for a 3 cupcake batch: 
2/3 cup white rice flour (105 grams)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons coconut cream
1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
20 drops liquid stevia

Monday, June 25th at midnight PST is the deadline for your cake challenge entry. On Thursday, I'll post a roundup of all the recipes in this month's challenge. Hope to see you there with fork in hand and a smile on your face! 


Over and out, lovey doveys!

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