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Ingredients Archives: Cold Butter

Guilt-Free Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits

As a kid, I always got excited when I heard the ice cream truck. Since it was summer, I was generally in my black and rainbow striped swimsuit running through the sprinklers with half the kids in my neighborhood. We’d hear the music and run toward the truck with all our might and quarters. Aside from that, there was another truck that brought joy to my heart: the Schwan’s truck. We’d get so excited when the “Schwan’s man” would come each week. My mom always bought two things (she bought more but I wasn’t really interested in raw chicken breasts and salmon patties). One, push-up ice cream pops. Remember those? I can still taste of that delicous peach ice cream combined with the taste of plastic and cardboard as I licked the tube trying to get every last drop. The second things she always got; cinnamon raising biscuits. These things were so addicting. Many a Sunday morning, I’d wake up smelling those delicious biscuits. The fact that they came with a tube of frosting made them that much better.

Maybe I was feeling nostalgic because it was close to mother’s day, but a few weeks ago, I was craving these biscuits, but didn’t want to eat something that I’d regret later. Then I realized, since I know how to make healthy biscuits, I could easily recreate these!

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I started with my healthy drop biscuit recipe. To them I added cinnamon, vanilla and raisins. As with the drop biscuits, I was way too lazy to roll and cut them, but you certainly could if you had the motivation. Since I wanted them to have that round look the ones from my childhood had, I rolled them and shaped them with my hands.

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We ate these before I could get a picture, but to simulate the frosting, we drizzled a bit of coconut butter of the top of a few of them. These were so good, I considered putting the black and rainbow swimsuit back on and running through the sprinklers eating one. But then I’d be the neighborhood freak. Oh well. They tasted just as delicious as they did when I was 7.

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Healthy Grain-Free Biscuits

I’m the youngest of three kids. The oldest is my brother. While he was a fabulous big brother (no really, he was) and is still one of my heroes, he was still a big brother and had to mock and tease me without remorse. In fact, now that we’re grown, he still feels it is his duty to mock me. It’s alright. I can take it.

So when I was a kid, whenever I did something I was particularly proud of and announced it to my family my brother would respond with, “Want a biscuit?” So now whenever anyone in our family tells us something they did, we respond with, “Want a biscuit?”

Hey speaking of biscuits; aren’t they delicious!? Yeah they are. A few nights ago we had soup for dinner and I thought “Yes. I DO want a biscuit!” But biscuits aren’t that fabulous for you. Because they are so dense, they are really loaded with processed, white flour which doesn’t provide any actual nutrients. I took the challenge to make a delicious, healthy biscuit and am happy to say, was very successful.

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Plus these come together quickly which is great since I usually decide I want bread 20 minutes before dinner.

My mom used to make biscuits by sifting the dry ingredients in a large metal sifter with a turn handle. I take the lazy way out and just whisk everything together.

Then add in some butter. Since the butter has to be cold, I cut it into small cubes before I add it. To cut it in you can use an actual pastry cutter, but I don’t have luck with pastry cutters. They seem more like medieval torture devices, so I just stick with smashing the butter in with two forks. For those of you who are wondering, “What in the world is she talking about with ‘cutting in?’ ” All this means is incorporating the butter into the dry ingredients. Rather than softening it and  beating it in like you do with cookies, you want to still see bits of butter. Your dough will look a bit like small pebbles when you finish this step.

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Traditional biscuits don’t always call for eggs, but since almond flour has no gluten, you really need the eggs to bind the biscuits together. As far as milk goes, I used almond milk but you can use coconut milk, cashew milk or regular milk or cream. Just use what you have and what works for you.

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You could roll these out and cut them into nice circles but that’s an extra step I’m not willing to take. That seems like far too much effort so I did these “drop biscuit” style. Sorry about the picture. I forgot to take one before I put them in the oven. Thank goodness I’d cleaned my oven earlier that week…

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After these cook, you definitely want to let them sit for a bit to cool. This helps them set a little better so they don’t crumble.

And now you can have bread with your soup without guilt.

Want a biscuit?

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