When’s a biscuit not a biscuit?Depends on where you are, I’d say.In India (where the English is of course a legacy of its British colonizers), and in many other parts of the world, a biscuit is the name for a cookie. Or a cookie’s called a biscuit. You get my drift?So when I first moved here, I was surprised to find out that a biscuit here wasn’t a cookie at all but a flaky, sublime experience of layered deliciousness.
As you can tell, I fell in love with the American biscuit.
Especially buttermilk biscuits which have a really tender crumb. To recreate buttermilk in my kitchen without animal ingredients, I used soy milk and vinegar. It was perfect.
I cook these up every chance I get. They are an unsweet scone, really, and therefore perfect for any kind of topping from jelly to a dab of vegan spread to even a dollop of peanut butter. Or you can, of course, serve them up with any spicy gravy and a side of mashed potatoes. Yum.
I like mine stark naked, though, in all their golden deliciousness.
So here you go. Enjoy!
Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- Mix and set aside to curdle:
- 1 cup very cold soymilk or almond milk
- 1 tsp vinegar
- Mix together:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Add to this:
- 5 tbsp transfat-free vegetable shortening (like Crisco) or very cold vegan “butter” like Earth Balance, chopped into small cubes.
Instructions
- With a fork or a pastry-cutter, mix the fat into the flour until you have a coarse mixture with no large pieces of fat. If using “butter,” work quickly because you don’t want the fat to melt.
- Now add the curdled soymilk-vinegar mixture and mix quickly until the dough comes together.
- Make a ball of the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.
- Now take the dough and roll it into about 1/2-inch thickness. Use a round cookie cutter about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter to cut the biscuits.
- Place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Reroll any leftover scraps of dough to cut more biscuits from it.
- Brush the tops of the biscuits with a mixture of 1 tbsp soy milk and 1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil for a nice, golden-brown glaze. Leave about 1 inch space between each: don’t overcrowd.
- Bake the biscuits in a preheated 450-degree oven 10-12 minutes.
- Cool on a baking rack.
I love them too, I made biscuit and gravy for breakfast last Sunday. Looks orangy, fluffy and wonderful. Enjoy! 🙂
minus all the fatty butter milk,the biscuits look scrumptious and needless to say much healthier:)
yummy… I love these biscuits.. Like you said, they can be had with jams, nutella or even with some spicy gravy 🙂
U amaze me Vaishalli! I love my Biscuits “Stark Naked” too:-) Only never thought of baking them with soymilk!
Got that drift because I was having the similar thoughts the other day! There is a very thin demarcating line, or is it there at all? I thought they looked like scones too, and they look delicious!
I have come across biscuits being described as used a part of a meal .. usually used to mop up that last bit of gravy .. I think that is the american version … love the look of your ‘stark naked’ biscuits. 🙂 Can feel their discomfit under that glaring camera light. 😉
Biscuits look perfect. Oh i still refer to cookies as biscuits and my son corrects me. He has accepted marie biscuits as biscuits though 🙂
Wow yummy looking biscuits.
The looks so yumm, yeah i remember when i moved here it was als a big confusion cookies and biscuits.
looks so fluffy and so perfect..must have been delicious,,.
Biscuits looks wonderful,scrumptous. Nice click.
I would totally call these scones. That’s how confusing all these food items can be for a second language speaker. But no matter what, they sound delicious.
This one’s a keeper , vaishali! thanx.
biscuits looks very delicious Vaishali. I am not a good baker so I don’t know much abt patry flour. Which brand do u use for pastry flour?
Yummy biscuits..perfect with a cup of tea.I was also confused about difference between biscuit and cookie when i came to US 🙂
Those look fabulous! Love the golden color! Yum!
ha ha when I first reached in US I didn’t understand the biscuit meaning… Love the way u vegan all the food! They are fluffy & perfect!
Is it really easy to mix cold butter with rest of the things?
In the grocery stores near my house, I can’t find the vegan butter in unsalted varieties. Should i try in health food store?
Proud to be a vegetarian– You don’t mix in the butter thoroughly. You want it to be dispersed in small pieces throughout the flour so it will melt in the oven and create little flaky air pockets. That’s the whole idea behind using very cold fat– so it doesn’t melt into the flour.
I would advise using vegetable shortening instead of butter to make these biscuits really flaky, but if you want to use butter, go ahead and use salted. But leave out the 1/2 tsp of salt in the recipe.
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a good dairy free biscuit that has the qualities of good buttermilk biscuits. You have made my day 🙂
thanks for the recipe, but why did you use vinegar? just curious. and trying to figure out whether or not i can leave it out.
Hi unmadebed, The vinegar with the soymilk produces an acidic mix that acts and tastes like buttermilk. It helps make the biscuits fluffier.
Oh my goodness, these are amazing! I’m from the south, where we have biscuits for breakfast with our sausage and eggs, or in the evening with dinner too. Since I’ve been vegan, I’ve been looking for a good recipe, and now I’ve found it – just made some and they taste incredible. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Andrea, glad you liked them. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Dear Vaishali
Finally I got a chance to bake these biscuits this year a day b4 Christmas. These tasted heavenly. I used vegan butter and all purpose flour. My fiancee is an Omni and any non-veg food is on his top list. He loved these like anything and said he won’t eat biscuits sold outside and even asked me to bookmark your recipe. He cooked Pav-Bhaji (only Bhaji :)) and we all friends enjoyed our dinner with wonderful vegan food including desserts.
Once again, Thank you very much and wish you and Desi and the Pets very happy new year. Keep writing as you get time 🙂
Anonymous, how wonderful! Thanks for the feedback– and a very happy new year to you and your family too.
Just made this recipe with a “chicken” pot pie, and this will definitely be bookmarked.
Just finished devouring 3 biscuits!!!!! They were so delicious! Thanks so much. I will be posting this on my website linked to you!
Fabulous! Thanks for this recipie. After living in The South(southern US)I did not think it possible that the best buttermilk biscuits I’d taste would contain neither butter nor milk 🙂 . I followed the recipie exactly, though used all (2c) white whole wheat flour (didn’t have any pastry flour) and instead of making sour ‘milk’ with vinegar, I used (plain) nondairy yogurt (in this case coconut-based). They were awesome. Thanks!
Made these tonight, and they are fantastic – my southern born and bred husband even approved, and that’s saying a lot!!
Difference between a cookie and a biscuit:
Cookies are chewy , not crispy..
Biscuits are crispy not chewy..
Both are not same..
Anon, no, that’s not accurate. Cookies come in all textures, and in India cookies are called biscuits.
Just made these – simple and fabulous! Thanks for sharing
This is hands down the best vegan recipe site ever! Keep it up girl you’re awesome,
Hey, accidently came upon your site when i was looking for bean burgers. Thank you, tried them out and loved them absolutely…………
Hey, loved your bean and oat burger recipe!! THank you!
Baked these a few days ago…something told me it seemed like a lot of baking powder, but I shrugged it off given the other reviews. When they came out, they smelled like baking powder and were bitter. Not willing to give up, I used 1/2 a teaspoon less baking powder than your recipe calls for the next time I made them. This time, they were light, fluffy, savory, and tasted great. No baking powder smell. Wondering if anyone else experienced the baking powder bitterness when they made these.
These were awesome. Best biscuits ever ! I read on some other blog to fold the dough over a few times to make them flaky and turned out perfect.
How can a serving size be 48g??? This needs to be revised.
Serving size is 1 biscuit.