Fluffy but not furry!

Tomorrow is my coworker’s birthday. I wanted to make something to bring in and share that I didn’t think anyone else would make. I went over and over in my head what I should create. I thought about pies, crumbles, fruit filled breads.. and then the perfect idea struck me.

Me, Amy and Andrea

I met Amy almost 2 1/2 years ago. She was my roommate when I moved to Arizona to work on a horse farm. I didn’t know a soul when I moved out there and was terrified of living in a confined space with someone I’d never met before in my life. I lucked out BIG time! Amy and I got along like peanut butter and ginger (corny, I know, but SO true). We liked the same shows, neither of us were morning people and we ventured into the “we only get paid so much so we have to make the most of it” style of cuisine. There was a lot of rice, peanut butter and ice cream to be eaten. We went through about a container of Dreyer’s per week. Each.

Come Thanksgiving a huge feast was prepared. I’m serious, we lived off the leftovers for a week straight. Lunch and dinner. Amy ended up going by a friend of a friend’s house a couple hours away, but not before dropping off her Thanksgiving Day contribution: homemade buttermilk biscuits.

Let me tell you that they were the best damn buttermilk biscuits I have ever tasted. Which leads me into my recipe.

I’m eating differently now but still had that fantastic buttermilk biscuit recipe in my little box. I wanted them. I craved them. So I adopted them to suit my current eating habits. I must say that they are absolutely the way I remember them. I can’t wait to make them again and again. Perhaps paired with a chocolate gravy.

Amy’s Veganized Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 flax egg
1/3 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice (or vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine almond milk with lemon juice/vinegar and set aside. Make flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal plus 3 tablespoons water) and set aside. Lightly grease an 8×8 inch glass casserole dish with olive oil.

In a large bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, maple syrup and vanilla bean paste. Pour oil mixture into flour and mix in with a fork. Add in milk and flax egg, working together until well combined. If your dough is too wet add a bit of flour. Mine ended up a little dry, so I added an additional 3 tablespoons of almond milk.

Turn dough onto a well floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Mash the dough out to the thickness of your cutter. In my case I gauged about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut out your dough and place close together in the baking dish. I managed to get 4 rows of 3 across with 4 leftover. My “cookie cutter” was the lid to my non-stick baking spray, to give you an idea of size. Bake about 10-15 minutes or until the biscuits have no give on top and have a sort of “crust” feel. Very technical, I know. =)

Enjoy these plain with butter, hot out of the oven or even cooled with some grape jam!