New Tricks to Cut Fat: Low Fat Vegan Biscuits

Every weekend at our house, we like to make a big batch of whole wheat, reduced-fat biscuits.  I had found a recipe I loved many years ago and they quickly became a weekend tradition.  I always made them with 100% whole wheat using no white flour at all but even lightened up, the biscuits contained a 1/2 stick of butter.  Those are a no-no with the new plan.

So I was delighted to find that with just a few modifications, they could easily be on the new plan.  I simply replaced the whole wheat flour with whole wheat pastry flour for lightness, replaced the stick of butter with a banana and switched the milk with almond milk.  That's it!  These are amazingly good and you will not miss the fat!

The only thing I haven't gotten a grip on yet is the sodium.  The only way I control this is by portion control.  Eat two and pile on the fruit and you'll be fine for sodium.  My family of 5 is large so I need a big pile of biscuits but you can easily halve this recipe.

Who knew you could replace a stick of butter with a banana and yield amazing biscuit results???  Seriously?!  This. is. awesome!!!

Yummy Biscuits!

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 2 cup
Baking Powder, 4 tsp
Baking Soda, 1 tsp
Salt, .5 tsp
Banana, fresh green unripe, 1 medium (must be cold, stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes if you are short on time)
Almond Breeze Almond Milk, Original, 1 cup
additional whole wheat flour for rolling

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix all dry ingredients by pulsing in a food processor.  Add the whole banana to the food processor and mix until crumbs are formed.  Remove mixture and put into a bowl.  Add 1 cup of milk. The mixture will look a little wet.  That's OK.

Spray a 8" or 9" round NONSTICK cake pan sprayed very lightly with cooking spray.  (If you are strict against the absolutely no oil rule, parchment should work).

Put a couple tablespoons of whole wheat flour and spread onto a plate.  You can use any old flour for this.  Then, take a heaping tablespoon of the biscuit mixture and plop it onto the plate of flour.  Roll it into the flour and dust off excess.  It should be easy to handle at this point.  Place the biscuit into the oiled cake pan.  Continue to place the biscuits right next to each other and work your way around the pan until you fill it up and you have used all the biscuit mixture.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425.  Voila!  These were moist and delicious.  We did not miss the fat at all!

Serving Size: Makes 16 biscuits  Serve with fruit on top (and maybe a touch of jam/honey/maple syrup?)!

Note: Unripe bananas yield the least banana taste.

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 16
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 66.4
Total Fat: 0.5 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 282.7 mg
Total Carbs: 14.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
Protein: 1.6 g

Cost Analysis:
Flour $1
Incidentals: $1
Almond Milk $.50
Fruit, Honey and Jam $2
=$5.50/4 or $1.38 a serving