Healthy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Biscuits

I love good American biscuits (i.e. light, fluffy, warm, melt-in-your-mouth, delicious etc.).  The American biscuit is very different than the English biscuit, which is a hard snappy baked good that we, in America would call a cookie or a cracker.   For the record our British cousins are the ones using the word properly--"biscuit" came from the the Latin prefix "bis" (twice) and a derivation of "coctus" (cooked), so the word literally means "twice-cooked".  That is because biscuits were originally cooked in a twofold process: first baked, and then dried out in a slow oven.  This made breads that were durable and portable to take to sea, to war, or on trips.  Hence the British use of the word biscuit to describe a hard-cookie is closer to the original meaning of the word.  We Americans applied the word to a light savory quick-bread usually made with baking powder rather than yeast.  It is especially popular in Southern cuisine.   With due respect to the Brits, this post is about the delicious fluffy American biscuit which, for the ultimate experience, needs to be eaten hot and right from the oven.

The secret to good biscuits has always been to cut the fat into the flour, and to handle it as little as possible while you mix the dough, roll it out, and cut it into shapes.  That way the crumb stays light and tender and you get that melt-in-your-mouth effect when you eat one.  One problem with most "good" biscuits is that they are not good for you.  They tend to be full of artery-clogging fats and made with refined white flour.  I went on a quest to make a whole-grain biscuit using less than half the fat (and replacing it with coconut oil which has no cholesterol).  It took a couple of tries to get them right but I ended up with light delicious biscuits that are some of the best I've ever eaten and yet are far more nutritious.

Here is how to make Healthy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Biscuits

• 1 cup Pancake Mix (if you haven't made this yet you've got to try it--it makes the best pancakes I have ever tasted--really, that's not just hyperbole)
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour - freshly ground
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 2/3 cup Kefir or Buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Put the pancake mix and wheat flour in a bowl, add the coconut oil and cut it in with a pastry cutter or a couple of butter knives until there are no fragments any larger than a small pea.  Then stir in the kefir (or buttermilk) until you have a uniform dough.  Roll it out half an inch thick and cut into whatever shape you choose.  Place on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet (I use a silicone baking mat).  Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve immediately with my amazing vegan butter and jam or honey.  They are also delicious with warm soup.