Better on a Biscuit

Put the carb phobia aside and put a dreamy smile on your face. Think biscuits. 

Something about fresh, flaky biscuits, golden brown outside, tender inside and still hot from the oven, so the vegan butter melts right into them, pleases and comforts like nothing else. That’s why I always make them for Thanksgiving.  

With cornbread dressing, spiced and roasted cauliflower, mashed potatoes, lavender lentils cranberry sauce, and Thanksgiving kale we don’t need biscuits for our Thanksgiving feast. Yet my just-baked biscuits are one of the first things guests grab. They’re easy to eat and easier to make than you think.

A little vegan butter, flour and oat milk can bring big joy. So go big.  Go for cat heads. Cat heads biscuits are big (as big as cat heads, if you’re into hyperbole), and are a Southern staple. They’re tall, fluffy and traditionally made with lard. Not here. My cat heads are vegan — no lard, no butter, no buttermilk, and certainly no cat.

How to Make:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, whisk together oat milk and cider vinegar to make vegan buttermilk. Mixture will clabber — it’s supposed to). Set aside.
• In a food processor, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Pulse a time or two to combine.
• Pulse in the chilled vegan butter and mix quickly, just until the mixture becomes like coarse meal. Pour in vegan buttermilk and give a quick mix to form a damp dough.

• Dust rolling surface generously with flour. Turn out the dough, and pat out or roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Flour the rim of a glass or use a floured 2-inch or 3-inch biscuit cutter to form biscuits.

• Place biscuits on the rimmed baking sheet. Brush tops with melted vegan butter, if desired.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until should be lightly golden, pillowy and fragrant.

Tips for Better Biscuits

• Many Southern cooks swear by White Lily, a soft wheat flour. I’ve adjusted by adding cornstarch to unbleached all-purpose flour for lighter biscuits. 
• Sometimes, I use 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup very fine whole wheat flour, like Anson Mills to get a little whole grain goodness.
• Use a light hand with the dough. Even better, use a food processor. The whole batch comes together in minutes.
• Do not over process.  Little pockets of vegan butter in the dough are like jewels. They’ll melt into the dough during the baking, creating tender, flaky buttery biscuits. 
• The secret to tender, light, flaky biscuits — cold and heat.  I mean chilled vegan butter and a hot oven, preheated all the way to 400 degrees. Chilled vegan butter keeps the dough cool so the fat melts into the dough only during baking.
• My favorite and best biscuit tip — freeze them before baking, so you have just-baked biscuits ready any time.  Make the dough, roll it out, cut the biscuits, then place them on a baking sheet, and pop in the freezer.  Freeze for two hours or until frozen through. Then transfer them an airtight container and keep them in the freezer until just before you’re ready.  Do not thaw.
• When it’s time to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place biscuits on a rimmed baking sheet, brush them with vegan butter and bake.  
• Biscuits always, always, always taste best fresh out of the oven.  
• But okay, if you’ve got leftover biscuits, wrap in foil and reheat gently.  

Cat Head Biscuits

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened oat milk
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour* plus additional for shaping biscuits
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4-1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
• pinch sea salt
• 6 tablespoons) vegan butter chilled
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter melted (optional)

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, whisk together oat milk and cider vinegar to make vegan buttermilk. Mixture will clabber — it’s supposed to). Set aside.
• In a food processor, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Pulse a time or two to combine.
• Pulse in the chilled vegan butter and mix quickly, just until mixture becomes like coarse meal. Pour in vegan buttermilk and give a quick mix to form a damp dough.
• Dust rolling surface generously with flour. Turn out the biscuit dough, and pat out or roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Flour the rim of a glass or use a floured 2-inch or 3-inch biscuit cutter to form biscuits.
• Place biscuits on the rimmed baking sheet. Brush tops with melted vegan butter, if desired.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Biscuit should be lightly golden, pillowy and fragrant.

Notes

*Variation — For some whole grain goodness, use 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup very fine whole wheat flour, like Anson Mills.

Keyword cat head biscuits

What to do with Biscuits 

You have to ask?

Three ways to use fall produce:

• Ladle on mushroom and spinach gravy
• Smear them with Marissa McClellan’s apple butter
• Dollop biscuits with curried Caribbean pumpkin dip

And two anytime answers that give new life to old biscuits :

• panzanella
• or Chef José Andrés’ fattoush

Thank you for reading my vegan stories and plant-based recipes. I sincerely love to connect with listeners and would like to hear your feedback, takeaways, “ah-ha!” moments, etc in the comments.

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