Buttery Biscuits

Of all the things you can find on a breakfast menu, biscuits have always been my favorite. There's just nothing better than a hot biscuit with melty butter and jam. When we first went vegan, I looked high and low for a vegan version of buttermilk biscuits, but there really were none. Most cookbooks contain a "spin" on biscuits that changes the flavor or texture in some major ways. That's fine, but sometimes I just want the real thing. That's why I came up with this recipe.

These biscuits are pretty straight-forward and simple, but don't let that fool you. They're light, flaky, buttery and delicious. Just what the doctor ordered. They'll stand up to anything, including a biscuit's best friend: gravy.

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp Earth Balance butter
3/4 cup almond or soy milk

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Cut the butter into small cubes and put it in the freezer for 2-3 minutes until it is very cold.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Drop the butter cubes into the flour mixture, being sure to break them up if they're sticking together.

Use a pastry cutter or a couple of knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture. They should be down to small pea-sized pebbles.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour the milk in. Mix it together with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Drop it onto a floured board or counter and kneed it for 2 minutes or so, just until it's smooth. You can make your biscuits extra flaky by folding the dough in half before rolling it out to cut. Either way, you'll want to roll the dough until it's 1/2" to 1" thick, depending on how big you want your biscuits to be. Cut them into rounds using a biscuit cutter or drinking glass.

Place them on a parchment-lined cooking sheet. You may have more biscuits than I did, depending on how tall and wide you make them. As far as I'm concerned, the bigger the biscuit, the better. Bake them for 12-15 minutes until they're golden brown on top.

Before:

After:

These go great with any standard breakfast fare. They're especially good with a hearty tofu scramble.