Fluffy Honey Butter Skillet Biscuits
For easter this year we went out to brunch with my mom & as part of our meal we ordered 2 skillets of honey butter biscuits. I had no idea just how amazing they would be (though I shouldn’t have been surprised as they are one of the restaurants most popular items!) Recently thanks for NAET treatment I was able to make my dairy sensitivity go away (hallelujah!!) so I have been able to eat regularly without having to worry if we go out. This was one of the first things I ate after gaining dairy back & I knew instantly that I had to come up with a gluten & dairy free variation to share with club members. This recipe does not disappoint!! They are both sweet & savory and will go with a wide assortment of meals. Putting the skillet of these freshly baked piping hot on the dining room table will really blow your friends/family members away. As with all of my recipes you cannot tell that they are gluten free, dairy free or egg free! This is just really good food that can be served to (and enjoyed) by anyone!
I have this recipe labeled as vegan- but allow me to state the obvious Honey is not vegan! So, if you are looking to avoid real honey that is no problem as you can sub in agave & maple syrup. The biscuits will taste just as good!
If you are not familiar with making biscuits they are all pretty much made the same way. The process is simple & quick. You wont even need a mixer. The main key being not to ever over mix. You start with adding all of the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Giving them a stir. Then cutting in your cold butter- straight out of the fridge or freezer. You can do this right in the bowl with the flour using two knifes or a pastry cutter tool. I prefer to just give it a quick chop on a cutting board using a knife. I cut the pieces into about the size of a pea. A little bigger than that is ok too. Don’t over work it- you do not want it to melt. Stir it in with the flour. Then you want to mix together the milk and lemon juice. Pour them into the bowl and using a spatula stir JUST until the dough comes together. Stop yourself abruptly as soon as this happens. Over mixing is the #1 cause of mediocre biscuits. I then throw some parchment on the counter- dust it with flour and dump the dough onto it. Press the dough into a 1/2- 1 inch thickness & use a biscuit cutter of choice!
For this recipe I highly recommend heating the cast iron skillet in the oven while it preheats. Then quickly place the raw biscuits carefully into the pan- brush them with the honey butter mixture & swiftly get them into the oven. You don’t HAVE to preheat the pan but I have found that it gives them a bit more lift and airiness. After baking the biscuits douse them again in another layer of the honey butter!
For the vegan Butter I suggest using Earth Balance Butter Sticks. You may try other brands but know that there is a lot of variety brand to brand and they don’t all perform the same. Earth balance is the best when it comes to mimicking how real butter works.
Of course you can just use regular salted butter too if making them dairy free isn’t a concern.
To make the biscuits Corn Free
Just use a brand of corn free baking soda or powder.
Using other gluten free all purpose flour blends
The bad news is that there isn’t truly a gluten free measure for measure flour or cup for cup. Its a marketing ploy. There are blends that work decent in place but never exactly. Each and every blend is totally different. For example I LOVE better batter - but in this recipe it would make the scones too chewy and less tender. It has too much xanthan gum for this recipe.
So of course you are welcome to experiment. But please keep in mind that there are no guarantees. Any change means the recipe will change.
How to make the biscuits sugar free: For this you’ll want to use a sugar free honey or maple syrup (I really love using Sukrin Golds Sugar free syrup. To it I would also add 1/4 tsp of liquid stevia or monk fruit. I find mixing them together really closely mimics the sweetness level of real sugar! Now- one of the issues with sugar free syrups is that they tend to burn under high heat. I have not tested this recipe out sugar free so I am not positive that it will burn with the amount of time these biscuits will need in the oven. So if you would like to play it safe you could wait to add the sugar free honey butter to the top of the biscuits after they come out of the oven.
For the sugar IN the biscuits you can really use any granulated sugar free sweetener. But I would suggest sticking with granulated Alluose if you can as then you’ll avoid any sort of icy aftertaste that you will taste with erythritol or malitol.
Skillet Honey Butter Biscuits
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Frozen Blueberries will work too but I don't recommend them! They don't yield as pretty of a result. Though they taste JUST as good. The key to working with frozen blueberries is to make sure you don't over mix or they will make the dough become too wet & will change the texture. If the dough becomes blue/purple you have mixed too much and the scones wont be quite as tender. If this happens it is still very much worth baking them though- just chalk it up to learning. You will need extra flour when patting the dough into a mound as if the blueberries break down the dough will become extra wet and sticky.