LAUREN'S FLUFFY BISCUITS
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour (4 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda or 3/4 teaspoon baking powder *
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter, shortening or pork fat (18 grams or 1/2 ounce) **
4 egg whites
In a medium bowl, mix the almond flour, salt and baking soda or powder with a fork. Cut in the fat using the fork until the butter is all incorporated and the mixture is crumbly and not dry (I used my fingers to mix the butter in). Chill this mixture for at least 5 minutes and preferably longer to get the fat as cold as possible (I skipped the chilling step).
In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with the fork until they look foamy. Add the egg whites to the almond flour mixture and whisk together with the fork for just to break up any large chunks of flour. The batter will be thin and lumpy. Divide this into four portions in a muffin top pan greased very well or lined with nonstick foil. Bake immediately so that the fat doesn't start to get warm. Bake at 400º for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 4 biscuits
Can be frozen
* The recipe seems to work with either one. I used baking soda. Although baking powder does have carbs, there are not enough to affect the counts.
** I made half a batch of biscuits so I had to weigh out 1 1/2 tablespoons of fat and then remove half of it to get 3/4 tablespoon. I used pork fat because I thought it would give the biscuits a nice flavor.
Per Biscuit: 221 Calories; 19g Fat; 10g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs
You can take a look at Lauren's recipe on her Healthy Indulgences website. She adapted and simplified a recipe from Laura Dolson. The Chicken Lady at Low Carb Friends tweaked the recipe a bit more by using baking soda instead of baking powder. The texture is very nice and they are indeed fluffy inside but I don't recommend using pork fat. It makes them taste like pork rinds. Stick with a neutral fat like shortening or butter. These really aren't anything like biscuits. I'm not sure how to describe the texture but it's more like a chewy yeast bread and would make wonderful buns for burgers or sandwiches. I baked mine in a muffin top pan lined with nonstick foil and they popped right out. I will probably add another star to my rating after I try them again with butter or shortening. Click the photo above to see a close-up. The photo below shows what the inside looks like:
UPDATE 5/28/12: I finally had a chance to make these again but with butter this time. They came out totally different than last time. They were more like soft yeast dinner rolls and very nice with butter and sugar free strawberry jam on them. I baked them in my whoopie pie pan this time so I got six rolls instead of just four. I also took a new photo which you can see below. Click to see a close-up.
Here are the counts for 6 smaller biscuits:
Per Biscuit: 147 Calories; 13g Fat; 7g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 2g Net Carbs
