Almond Flour Scoop Biscuits

In my attempt to greatly increase beneficial veggies, herbs and spices and lower the sugar and carbs in my diet, I am revisiting some favorite old recipes and sites. One of my very favorite sites is Elana's Pantry. Elana has beautiful, simple to follow recipes using some of my favorite ingredients like almond flour and coconut flour. She has been such a great inspiration and made our gluten free living so much sweeter - especially her gluten free cupcakes!

These days I find that my veggie meals fill me up initially, but my tummy starts to rumble well before my next meal. Adding a little more low carb protein helps balance things out for me. Elana's biscuit recipe is relatively low carb and easy to make, but with my energy levels waning these last few weeks between surgery and the flu I found a way to make them even easier and lowered the carbs further.

While I loved the flavor of coconut oil in Elana's recipe, the coconut oil I have on hand is very strong. I love it at breakfast but it kind of clashes with some meals.

Switching out to an avocado oil gave the finished biscuits a really mild flavor and the same nice texture. Cutting the sweetener out completely still left a delicious biscuit. Adding all the ingredients to the same bowl and scooping each biscuit with a baking scoop (ice cream scoop) cut washing and prep time in almost half. The scoop makes a drop biscuit much more uniformly. Baking them in a 9x13 glass pan that I can store in the fridge meant one less pan to wash, too.  I'm not sure if necessity is the mother of invention or exhaustion is. Either way, it's a win.

I've been using Blue Diamond Almond Flour since our Costco started carrying it. I know that isn't a brand Elana used to recommend but it has worked very well for me. I've also made the recipe vegan because of all I am reading about flax meal again. Still great texture but I'll include the egg/flax information so you can decide what works best for you.

The biggest issue I have with nut flour baking is the calorie content. It is high, but one biscuit is satisfying and makes a big mug of miso soup a meal. It rounds out a smoothie or a salad and holds me over. I just have to resist the temptation to eat several.

Almond Flour Scoop Biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir together:

1/2 cup Avocado Oil
4 Flax Eggs (4 Tablespoons Golden Flax Meal plus 6 ounces water OR 4 large eggs for non-vegan biscuits)
1 teaspoon Salt - Sea Salt or Himalayan pink are my favorites
1 teaspoon Baking Soda

Once well combined, add:

5 cups Almond Flour

Mix well and don't worry about over mixing like traditional flour. These will still be moist and tender. Once fully mixed take your handy scoop and scoop out 12 to 14 nice round biscuits onto a baking sheet or right into a 13x9 baking pan. After scooping I usually give the round biscuits a little push with the back of the scoop to flatten slightly as in the photo above. Both pans have worked perfectly and whether you leave them round or flatten they bake pretty much the same.

Either pan, bake at 350 degrees approximately 15 - 20 minutes - a bit longer in the baking pan and a bit shorter on the baking sheet. They'll be a light golden when done as in the photo on the right. Be sure to let them cool about twenty minutes or they might be crumbly as in my photo at the top. I store mine a few days in the fridge and bake about once a week. If I want a warm biscuit I just pop it in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!

*Or 4 Large Eggs for Non-Vegan Biscuits

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

For the last year I have been making Elana Amsterdam's brownie recipe. It is so perfect in taste and texture and since calls for an entire jar of almond butter it's got a good protein to carbohydrate balance for us. Everyone who tries it likes it, it is simple and fast to make so I haven't tried another in all that time. I usually cut the honey a bit and the end result is still sweet and delicious. They also tend to stay moist and pack well without getting crumbly, unlike some I've made with gluten free flours.

Elana's Pantry is such a great resource and while I have given many of my cookbooks away, I hold on two of Elana's. They are carefully written and everything I have tried has turned out perfectly.

Yesterday I used peanut butter and upped the cocoa for a little change. While the almond butter gives a mild flavor in the original recipe, the same amount of peanut butter really jumps out. The extra bit of cocoa seemed to balance it nicely. I like to sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top to dress them up a bit instead of mixing them in the batter.

Because almonds are a high salicylate food making Elana's recipe with almond butter is Feingold stage 2, this peanut butter variation makes them a Feingold stage 1, gluten free, casein free treat.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
Preheat oven to 325 degrees

16 ounces     Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
1 1/4 Cups.   Honey (yes, 1 and 1/4 Cups)
3/4 cup        Cocoa
2 large.         Eggs
1 teaspoon   Vanilla
1 teaspoon    Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan or Sea Salt
1/2 cup         Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Mix everything together except the chocolate chips. I use my KitchenAid and it takes just moments. Spread into an un-greased 9 x 13 baking pan and bake. In my oven it usually takes 35 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

This recipe happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays at Gluten Free Easily.

Feingold information can be found HERE.