Vegan Drop Biscuits

Today I am sharing a quick, easy and 100% delicious recipe from my Essential Vegan Desserts Course at Rouxbe today: Vegan Drop Biscuits (and it has been made successfully with gluten free baking flour mixes).

Drop biscuits are a no-oil added, and I think tastier alternative, to baking powder biscuits. They are quicker to make and need no stamping out with cutters. Finish these with roasted fruit, fruit sauces, your favorite non-dairy cream, or just eat them plain or with jam or vegan butter.

This is an example of the kind of detail you can expect from the recipes in the Essential Vegan Desserts Course and throughout the syllabus, too.

This recipe is a wonderful formula that does not require the use of added oils or sugars, yet makes a tasty alternative to baking powder biscuits or traditional drop biscuits. For that sweeter taste, you can sprinkle them with sugar to finish.

A couple of tips to keep in mind as you navigate your way through this activity:

• You can use coconut milk or coconut cream as a wonderful and rich substitute for heavy cream.
• Conventional recipes are made solely with flour and melted butter. Here, nut flour is added for additional nutrition, texture and flavor.
• Use heavy sheet pans that will not warp in the oven. Line your sheet pans with two pieces of parchment to guard against burnt bottoms at high temperature. Or, you can stack two sheet pans to create a layer of air between the pans which will act as insulation against the high heat.
• Do not use a non-stick, silicone baking mat as it gets too hot, resulting in burnt bottoms.

I hope you will have a look at the other recipes and syllabus and grab a seat—or pass this course along to someone you know. We all need birthday cakes, holiday desserts, and cupcakes for bake sales, or just a cookie sometime, whether or not we have dietary considerations. I have been teaching for well over 25 years, and believe me, this course the most economical, accessible and thorough was way for anyone, in any time zone, of any level of skill from zero to pro, to learn how to make excellent desserts that just happen to be vegan. Essential Vegan Desserts  is not a gluten free course, per se, but several students who are gluten-free have completed the course with no problem.

After over 25 years of teaching in schools, Rouxbe online cooking school got me totally hooked on online courses. I was thrilled to join the school last year as the Director of Vegan Baking and Pastry. Their superb platform is unique in the world of online learning with detailed video lessons, infographics, charts, tasks supporting the lessons, and quizzes, and all with instructor support, in Essential Vegan Desserts, as they are in the other Rouxbe courses: Plant-Based Professional, Culinary RX, and Forks Over Knives.

Since the launch of the 90 Day Essential Vegan Desserts Course in November 2016, I’ve seen amazing work from the graduates, and their endorsements for this course has been very positive. The second group is close to the midpoint, and we have recently announced an April 6^th course. As this is self-paced, and extensions are possible, students can start on a date that is convenient and work at a comfortable pace. The best part of my days now is answering questions posed by students, visiting the private Facebook group and admiring desserts that are submitted.

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Vegan Drop Biscuits

Drop biscuits are a no-oil added and tastier alternative to baking powder biscuits. They are quicker to make, need no stamping out with cutters. Finish these with roasted fruit, fruit sauces or your favorite non-dairy cream.

Yields 12 biscuits

Author Fran Costigan

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups canned coconut milk, (do not use light) stirred until thoroughly mixed
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 tsp finely grated orange zest, or use scant 1/8 teaspoon orange oil
• 1/4 tsp almond extract, optional
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups almond flouror hazelnut
• sugar for sprinkling: cane or coconut sugar (do not grind)

Instructions

1. To start, position a rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F (230°C). Line a heavy baking sheet with a double layer of parchment paper.
2. Pour the coconut milk into a measuring cup and add the vanilla, almond extract if using and zest. Stir. Set aside while you make sift the dry ingredients.
3. Next, whisk, measure and sift together the dry ingredients and then add the nut flour.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the coconut milk mixture. Mix the batter by bringing the dry ingredients into the liquid, rotating the bowl as you go. Do not press or over mix the dough. It will come together quickly into a crackly soft dough.
5. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter per biscuit onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches in between. A 1/4 cup ice cream scoop, works well for this. Generously sprinkle the top of the biscuits with sugar.
6. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until set and lightly browned on top. Flip one over; the bottom should be brown.
7. Cool on wire rack for a couple of minutes before serving. Serve warm with vegan butter, jam, cream, and/or fresh or cooked fruit.

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