Friday, August 7, 2015

Parmesan Biscuits - Low Carb, Grain & Gluten Free

As promised, this evening I'm posting the recipe for my Parmesan Biscuits. They turned out great. I added 3/4 cup of powdery style Parmesan cheese in place of some of the blanched almond flour. It gives these biscuits a more savory flavor but not an overpowering Parmesan flavor and it still maintains the "biscuit texture." If you wanted to, you could add some herbs (Italian seasoning and/or garlic powder) to make them even more savory. They went great with last night's Tomato Ricotta Frittata. I enjoyed one with my lunch today, too. I'm looking forward to making them to enjoy with soups this fall and winter as well as alongside Italian style meals. I snapped a couple of photos below and included the easy peasy recipe. If you wanted to bump up the cheese flavor, reduce the almond flour by 1/4 cup and increase the Parmesan by 1/4 cup. The Parmesan cheese I use has the consistency of the one that comes in the familiar "green can" except I use a brand made by Cello that I find at Costco and it's the exact same consistency, except it has no fillers. I keep it stored in my freezer and pull it out to use as I need it and it lasts a long time. Enjoy!

In case you are wondering, I was not drinking when I took this photo...it's purposely "askew"


Parmesan Biscuits

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups blanched almond flour

3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (I use Cello brand without fillers)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons chilled butter, small diced
3 ounces very cold brick style cream cheese, diced
2 large eggs, beaten 
1/4 to 1/3 cup cold buttermilk (*see note below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly greased non-stick foil.


In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, Parmesan, baking powder, soda and salt; whisk to mix well.  Add diced chilled butter and cream cheese.  Using a pastry/dough blender, quickly cut butter and cream cheese into dry ingredients until it appears crumbly and moistened.  

Crack both eggs into glass measuring cup; fill with buttermilk to the 3/4 cup mark. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; add buttermilk and egg mixture and mix until it pulls together into a soft sticky dough. The dough will be light and fluffy.  

Scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet using a 3-tablespoon size retractable scoop, spacing evenly apart to make 15 equal sized mounds. Lightly tamp down tops to slightly flatten top only (do not flatten biscuit). Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Makes approximately 15 biscuits.

*Notes: Total liquid mixture should equal 3/4 cup. Because eggs vary in size and volume, add them to the glass measuring cup first and then fill with buttermilk to the 3/4 cup mark (amount of buttermilk used will be between 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, depending on the volume of eggs). To make a dairy free buttermilk substitute, add 1-1/2 teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice to a glass measuring cup and fill with almond, coconut or cashew milk to the 1/2 cup line (this same method works using regular cream, milk or half-and-half). Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes and use as directed. Optional biscuit add-ins: garlic powder or Italian seasoning.  



         

23 comments:

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

Thanks for the recipe. These look great! They went immediately to the top of my "To Do" list.

I'll have to look for the Cello cheese. No sawdust ... yay! Their web site is very nice ... I just spent quite a bit of time over there. :-)

Looks like you're starting to think about autumn just a little bit. You've had a rough summer. For some reason we're having a relatively mild one. We've had it hot & humid off and on but not as constant as usual. Here it is, well into August, and this week has been in the upper 70's with low humidity ... unheard of, but most welcome. Even so, I'm still looking forward to autumn. In fact, today I thought about bringing out some fall decorations. The season is so short that I like to extend it as much as I get away with! We still have most of August and all of September to go, so we could still be in for some oppressive weather. I'll hope for the best, and also hope that you get some relief soon!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

Hope you can find the Cello Parmesan. I've used it for quite a while now (I used to refill my "green cans" from Kraft with it. Costco sells it in 2 1-1/2 lb "ziploc type" resealable bags. It seems pricey when you buy it, but it is 3 pounds and it lasts a very long time (and it is all cheese). It stays loose and powdery in the freezer so I always keep it there and just scoop out what I need.

While I know here in our area we are still far away from "fall weather"...I am wishing it will get here early...LOL. They said it will be back in the 90s today (we had a single blip of highs in the 80s yesterday)...it has been in the 90s for over a month now and they say the hottest we've had in several years. We finally got quite a bit of rain the last few days which has turned our grass green again. It was quite stressed from our heat wave. It's amazing how quickly it greens up after a few days of heavy rain storms. Enjoy your fall decorations...I will just keep dreaming about mine! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Is there a site where I can figure out the carb count? These look wonderful!

Charlotte Moore said...

These biscuits look like regular flour biscuits. I bet the couple of people I make GF for would love these.

We live in North GA about 45 miles north of Atlanta. We have only had rain 1 day this week for the first time in about 3-4 weeks. So dry and hot.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Charlotte,

It has been very dry and hot but this past week we have had several heavy storms with thunder, lightning and lots of rain. It has made a big difference in our yards...they greened up quickly. Even my family members who still eat wheat love these biscuits (including my husband). I'm hoping we all get a break from this hot weather soon. I had the highest electric bill this month that I've ever had in almost 13 years in this house, so I know it has been quite a hot summer. Let's hope our fall weather starts sooner rather than later this year! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous,

Yes, there are many different free sites you can calculate nutrition, carbs, etc. Some people like Sparkpeople, others Myfitnesspal but I like this one: http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

If you google "free nutrition calculator", you will get a number of options. Hope that helps! :-)

Unknown said...

Hi GGC,
Just made these. Stuck as close as possible to your recipe. Dough was wetter than I expected so biscuits spread a little but held their overall shape.
The resultant texture is slightly cake-y but I assume that's the almond flour.
Really delicious biscuits and ideal for a low carb-er craving a bit of bread with his bacon and eggs.
Thank you so much for a terrific recipe.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi lariberaaltamalc,

Glad you enjoyed them. Did you use blanched almond flour or almond meal? The almond flour is more powdered and absorbent. If you used the slightly coarser almond meal, next time you might want to add a bit more finely grated Parmesan (tablespoon or 2) to make your dough less wet so they don't spread as much. Glad you enjoyed them! :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tip. I did use almond meal so that explains the wetness.
I fear it may be a while before almond flour catches on here (in Spain).
I'll try tweaking the parmesan for something even more delicious!?!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Sounds good! Hope you enjoy it lariberaaltamalc. :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I made these last night and we both are really enjoying them! I looked for the Cello parmesan at Costco. They didn't have the same variety as you used, but they did have another type of parmesan by Cello ... Grana Padano. It's quite a nice product that contains no "cellulose" (sawdust) and it tastes good, too. The cheese isn't grated but it's cut into wafer-thin shavings. Since I generally use the food-processor to make biscuits (it's just easier for me) I added the shavings whole and they incorporated into the dough perfectly without having to pulverize the cheese first.

www.cellocheese.com/product/grana-padano/

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

Glad you are enjoying the biscuits. I don't think I've seen the Grana Padano before but I will most definitely look next week when I go (I've already been there 2 times this past week...LOL). Oh while we are on the subject of Costco...in case you need walnuts for baking season, ours had them for $3.00 off through 8/30 (next Sunday). The 3-lb bag for walnut halves was $14.99 which is a great price. I'm going to get one and stash it in the freezer.

I really do like the Cello cheese products...number one because they are good but like you said, they don't have fillers...all cheese. I bet it does become nice and fine in the food processor. I bet it would be great on top of "pastas" and a host of other things. Thanks for the link, too. I see it is in a nice container which helps keep the flakes from getting crushed because I'm sure they would get broken up in the Ziploc-type bag the powdered Parmesan comes in. Funny how our stores have much of the same thing as well as different items. Oh, one more thing...guess what our Costco had today..."wild Coho salmon" so I picked up a fillet. This is the very beginning of coho season. They only had a few fillets and I was there the day before and they didn't have any in...so they didn't get much, but maybe this is the beginning. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Oh...PS, the wild coho was $8.99/lb....not bad, huh?

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I'll have to check my frozen nut stash. Seems to me that I laid in quite a supply not too long ago. But they keep well in the freezer so I might pick up some more at a great price. Thanks for the tip.

Ha! Great minds think alike! We bought a couple of wild coho fillets yesterday at Costco ... one for the freezer and one to eat fresh, which we did tonight. You got a deal ... ours was 9.99. Still not too bad, I guess! Yes, this just might be the beginning. One season following another, as Tevye would say. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

Too funny that we both found wild coho at Costco yesterday! There were only 3 packages when I got there (and someone else was looking at them so I didn't want to be greedy and take more than one). I'm guessing we'll be finding more there soon and I'll grab a couple for the freezer too. :-)

Peg said...

Hi GG, I don't know how I missed this previous post for the Parmesan Biscuits. They look and sound awesome!Pinned!

I wish we had a Costco or a Sprouts here to find the Cello cheese. The "nearest" ones are 50+ miles away so it's just not cost effective.

I'll just have to use my microplane tool to finely grate the chunk of Parmesan that I have in my deli drawer.

I'm so glad to see that you posted the new recipe for the Minestrone Soup. This is definitely the time of year for lots of soup recipes.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks Peg. I hope you enjoy them. I agree that 50 miles is not cost effective. I love the microplane tool though!

Kathy said...

Hi GGC,

I just printed out this recipe and have all of the ingredients except the blanched almond flour; however, I ordered some off of Amazon and it should arrive in a couple of days. Question - If I want to add some Italian seasoning and/or garlic powder, how much do you suggest I measure of each herb?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Kathy,

I would probably begin by using about 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (up to 1/4 teaspoon) and/or 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or a combination of both). Probably best to start off with slightly less and test it and then increase accordingly. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy them. :-)

Anonymous said...

If you can't find almond flour you can just grind the almond meal a little finer. I use my Ninja to do that.

Wisconsinite said...

Kathy S:
There is an excellent recipe in the Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or less) cookbook on page 56 for Italian Seasoning Mix. It does make a 1/2 cup, but the recipe is easy enough to cut down on. We love this mix for Spicy Italian Dressing (pg. 46), but I don't find it to be really spicy.

This mix probably could be used in the biscuits, but not in a large quantity. Maybe start with 1/4th tsp. & go up from there? If there's a spice you don't care for, then just omit it.

Good luck with this.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks Kathy! :-)

Kathy said...

Thank you GGC and Wisconsinite! I do have the Wheat Belly 30-Minute (or less) Cookbook and looked on page 56 for the Italian Seasoning Mix recipe. I appreciate your replies to my question.