Chocolate Buttermilk Biscuits

I had a buttermilk biscuit cooking class coming up, and I wanted to offer something different. The idea of making a chocolate biscuit came to mind, so I started tweaking a recipe. The biscuits above is what I came up with. They have a chocolate coco taste with a subtle sweetness, and a flaky texture. They are good by themselves or served with ice cream, and sliced fruit or berries, or a fruit/berry sauce. This recipe is a work in progress. You might want to add less coco powder, or more chocolate chips. Note that the more chocolate chips you add the more dense and fudge like and less flaky your biscuits. My first batch doubled the amount of chips to create a tasty biscuit, brownie, scone like hybrid pastry. It did not know what it wanted to be, but it was good. enjoy. Vegan Option

Chocolate Biscuits: Make 10-12 large biscuits (or 20-24 minis)
(The recipe can be halved)

2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoon coco powder
4 tablespoons of white sugar
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips about a 1/4 cup (chopped up) (I like Ghirardelli)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of chilled butter (8 tablespoons)
3/4 chilled buttermilk plus 2 Tablespoons
1-2 tablespoons of melted butter from brushing(optional)

Preheat oven to 450

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, coco powder and salt. Pulse to mix. Cube the butter and add to the food processor. Pulse the until the butter is combine to create a sandy mixture.

Pour the content from the food processor into a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk, and the chopped chocolate chips. Mix to form a sticky dough. Dump out the dough on a well floured surface. Fold the dough a few time, but do not over work it.

Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin to a thickness of one inch.

Using a biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits in a straight up and down motion. Do not twist when cutting out the biscuits. Twisting will seal the sides of your biscuits preventing your biscuits from rising and making for tough, flat biscuits. It seems natural to want to twist, but don’t do it.

Place the cut out biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet so that they are close but not touching.

When you have cut out all of the biscuit you can on the first pass of rolled out dough, reform the scrap pieces and roll out again and cut more biscuits until you use all of the dough. I find that there always a small piece left over that is too small to form a full biscuit. I usually roll that into a tube and cook it along with the rest for a “first taste” biscuit.

Once all of the biscuits are on the pan, cook for 10-12 minutes in the center of the oven until golden brown. Brush with melted butter.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, strawberries or raspberries and sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Vegan Option:

-Substitute shortening for the butter
-Use equal parts soy milk to buttermilk and squeeze some lemon juice in it and let it sit at room temp for  30 minutes till it curdles for vegan “buttermilk.”
-Substitute Vegan chocolate chips and Vegan Sugar (look for the “V” label on packaging.)
Note: Not all sugar is vegan.

-Serve with your favorite vegan ice “cream” such as coconut milk, soy, or rice cream varieties.

Enjoy

CB

Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe:Christmas Biscuits great with left over Christmas Ham

Here is a recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits. (Note this is slightly different from the recipe provided in my Biscuit class)They go great with all of the leftover ham from Christmas dinner. After making all of the fuss for Christmas Eve dinner, all I do for the next day is make some biscuit and have leftovers. Theses biscuits were a huge crowd pleaser with the fam. They are one of those recipes that have the family wandering the kitchen and asking if there are any more, and then giving a puppy dog look to try and get you to make some more. The sweet potato makes them unique from the traditional buttermilk biscuit. I peeled and boiled the sweet potato, but I imagine that roasting them would provide a caramelized rich flavor. This recipe can be doubled and the biscuits freeze well, but trust me, there will not be leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
2 tablespoons light-brown or white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus a few tablespoons melted butter to brush on top
1/2 cup sweet potato puree chilled, about one good sized peel sweet potato or yam
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons of buttermilk

Procedure:

Peel and boil one sweet potato until tender. Mash with a potato masher or a
fork into a smooth puree. Place in a container and let cool in the frigerator

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pulse to mix. Add the cubed chilled butter and pulse until the the flour/butter mixture forms a fine meal.

pureed sweet potato

fine meal

Combine the flour/butter mixture, the sweet potato puree and the buttermilk. It will be a moist dough.

Place the dough out on a well floured surface.

Add some flour and knead a few times. Pat down and roll out to an inch thick.

With a 2-3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place them on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Make sure you press the biscuit cutter down straight in one motion. Don’t twist the cutter because that will create a seal and prevent them from rising.

Brush with melted butter and Bake for 20-24 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven. Brush again when they come out.

Serve with leftover Christmas Ham