Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Nice vegan biscuits, at last!

 As I revealed a while ago, for the last 3 years, my husband and I have been eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet, and it has done wonders for our health. One thing that it has been, until now, nearly "impossible" to make has been good biscuits. (In the UK, that would be "scones")

Today I found a recipe online that instead of using butter or other shortening, the cook just used heavy cream and I thought maybe I could recreate them by using "cashew cream."  It worked. Now, these are not "whole food."  I used white unbleached flour and added a small amount of sugar.  It's not something I would make often, but once in a while, it's just very nice to have some decent biscuits!

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F.

2. Cover 1 cup of raw cashews with boiling water and let them soak for 15 minutes.  Drain them and put them in a high-speed blender. Fill the blender with water up to the 1.5 cup line.  Blend until smooth on high.

3. Mix together: 2 cups unbleached white flour, 1 Tablespoon of baking powder, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

4. Pour the cashew cream over the dry ingredients. Mix gently with a fork, until the ingredients are all damp. Do not handle the dough any more than necessary, so the biscuits won't be tough. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just 2 or 3 times to get it all together. 

5. Press dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the biscuits with a 2-inch biscuit cutter, or a drinking glass. Use a little flour so things don't stick.

6. Place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Place them right next to each other.

7. Bake for about 14 minutes. These would be worthy of Strawberry Shortcake too!