Have as many of these bacon biscuits as you’d like without feeling like you’ve gone off track. This biscuit recipe perfectly bridges comfort with health, and your taste buds don’t have to compromise.

Get your diet back on track with bacon biscuits. Suspicious? Don’t be. These sweet potato bacon biscuits are as comforting as their namesake would suggest, only they are free of white flour, refined sugar, and white potato, making them a healthier alternative to traditional biscuits.

Bulked up and lightly sweetened with sweet potato and coconut flour, the bacon, garlic, and spices add a savory touch to these biscuits. Pair with a slab of coconut oil, ghee, or regular butter.

Sweet Potato Bacon Biscuit Recipe

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 4 garlic cloves, roasted
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 slice bacon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wrap the garlic cloves in aluminum foil and put into the oven. Poke the skin of the sweet potato liberally with a fork and wrap it in aluminum foil. Place the sweet potato into the oven as well. Bake for 50 minutes, until both the sweet potato and garlic are tender.

Remove both from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the sweet potato cool.

Once cool, peel the sweet potato and add it to a bowl with the garlic. Use the flat end of a fork to mash to two together.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon. Once cooked, remove the bacon and pour the bacon fat into the bowl with the sweet potato. Add in the egg, rosemary, salt, pepper, coconut flour, and baking powder. Stir until well combined. Chop the bacon and fold it into the mixture.

Spoon the batter onto a greased baking sheet into biscuit-like sizes. Pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let the biscuits cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

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Vegan White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies

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Homemade biscuits sound so wholesome, old-timey, essential. We rarely ate them in my house. Store-bought whole wheat bread was the norm. On weekends we’d sometimes get bagels. But the biscuit…something about it screamed Little House on the Prairie, and my fixation was born.

Fast-forward to 2000 and my first trip to South America. As a vegan, there was little I could eat save for the energy bars that filled half my backpack. The woman who’s home we stayed in made fresh coffee and biscuits every morning. And my very limited Spanish understood her insisting there was not a speck of anything animal-derived in them. I’ve got pretty good radar when it comes to animal ingredients, and they sure tasted vegan to me. I slathered them with jam, the only other real option for breakfast in southern Chile, and a flaky, fruity favorite was born.

My own recipe uses whole wheat flour, unlike my Chilean host, but that’s okay as it’s also probably a bit more like Mrs. Ingalls and the biscuits they made back during the Little House days. The result is a flaky, chewy and super satisfying biscuit fit for any time of the day.

Makes one dozen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other nondairy milk)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in the oil slowly, mixing with a fork as you go until the mixture is crumbly. Add the milk a little at a time, still stirring with the fork. The dough should become dense much like pie crust dough.

Roll into a ball and set on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough about 25 times, and then you can either tear the dough off and place on a baking sheet, or roll out the dough with a rolling pin and cut the biscuits out with a cutter or the rim of a glass or jar.

Place the biscuits on a well-oiled cookie sheet and bake on the center rack for 10 to 12 minutes.

When biscuits have risen and are lightly browned, remove from the oven and let cool several minutes. Carefully slice open each biscuit and slather in your favorite preserves. I personally think this is the ultimate use of strawberry or blueberry preserves, but use whatever you favor.

Set the top of the biscuit back onto the jammed bottom and enjoy!

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: Stacey Spensley

The post Old-Timey Homemade Vegan Whole Wheat Biscuits Recipe with Jam appeared first on EcoSalon.

Taste summer with every little bite and savor the slow, sweet life.

Nothing says summer like strawberry shortcake. Sure, there’s sand, sunscreen and bikinis. But nothing encapsulates the sweetness, coolness and delightful deliciousness of the season like a bite of this American classic.

On a recent lunchtime picnic in midtown Manhattan, our EcoSalon editor-in-chief gathered with a few friends to simply celebrate and savor the sweet life together. As we lingered over this vegan and gluten-free shortcake—naturally taking many a food porn photo op—time seemed to stand still. We truly tasted the essence of slow food. Three hours later, we seemed to float from our seats, back to our businesses and filled with the joys of good friends and good food. They are, after all, the perfect pairing.

An adventurer’s note:
Making this seasonal treat vegan is like diving into a science lab—but local, fresh and organic. Lucky for you, I’ve conducted all the in-kitchen experiments, so all you need to do is follow along. The most fun and challenging part, you may find, is to create a vegan version of heavy whipping cream. I started with a coconut-based creamer, and then blended in prepared (dissolved, cooled and gelatinized) agar-agar—a red algae based thickening agent. Not only does it give just the right texture, thickness and creaminess to the mix, it’s also reported to provide a healthy dose of minerals and fiber, all the while suppressing the appetite. With those benefits to boot, it’s the perfect complement to a beach time sweet treat.

The Original – Strawberry Shortcake
from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ pounds (6 cups) strawberries—rinsed, hulled and quartered
• 1 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

The Vegan & Gluten-Free Version – Strawberry Shortcake
Makes approximately 6-8 shortcakes

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ pounds (6 cups) strawberries—rinsed, hulled and quartered (For the fullest flavor, I recommend using local and fresh strawberries.)
• 1 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups gluten free flour blend:
• (1 cup sorghum flour)
• (1 cup white rice flour)
• (1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour)
• (1/2 cup potato starch flour, minus 2 tablespoons)
• (2 tablespoons almond flour)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold (1 ½ sticks) unsalted vegan butter, cut into small pieces (I used Earth Balance coconut butter)
• 2 cups coconut cream (I used So Delicious coconut creamer, blended with approximately 3 tablespoons of dissolved agar-agar to thicken)
• 2 egg substitutes (I blended 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 6 tablespoons warm water)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. In a medium bowl, toss the prepared strawberries with ¾ cup sugar. (I suggest starting with ½ cup and tasting to see if more sweetness is needed.) Let sit to bring out the juices.
3. In a food processor, pulse together your gluten free flour blend. Add the baking powder, ½ cup sugar and the salt, and pulse until combined. Add the cold butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles course meal with some pea size bits of butter remaining (pulse approximately 10-12 times).
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cream (before the agar agar has been added to thicken) and the egg substitute. Pour over the flour mixture, and pulse until some large clumps begin to form (pulse approximately 20-30 times).
5. Using a half-cup measuring cup, gently pack dough into the cup, invert and tap out on to a lightly buttered or parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat to form 6-8 biscuits.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for at least 15 minutes.
7. Beat the remaining 1 ½ cups cream, with the prepared agar-agar mixture, 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy (Note, this will not form peaks like a traditional heavy whipping cream, however, I assure you the taste and texture will not leave you craving cream.)
8. Slice the biscuits horizontally with a serrated knife. Spoon the strawberries and their liquid over the bottom of each biscuit just before serving. Spoon your whipped cream over the strawberries, and top with the other biscuit half.

Enjoy the sweet moments of summer!

Author Jennifer Barckley making her Strawberry Shortcakes for friends in Bryant Park, New York City

Image: Amy DuFault

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