If a biscuit and a scone had babies:
Until yesterday, I’d never made biscuits.
(Well, unless you call popping open a can of Pillsbury Grands “making biscuits.”)
I was surprised by how quickly this recipe–which I created yesterday morning–came together. For some reason, I’d always been under the impression that biscuit-making was difficult. But that’s not the case at all! I’ll definitely make these again; they were so good!
Chocolate-Almond Joy Biscuits
(makes 8-12)
- 1 and 3/4c spelt flour (or white, or Arrowhead Mills gf mix)
- 1/2 cup peeled almonds (I bought the sliced ones so I didn’t have to bother peeling)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 T coconut or canola oil
- 2/3 cup nondairy milk (Almond or soymilk is fine. Don’t use ricemilk.)
- 1 T white vinegar or lemon juice
- optional: chocolate chips (Obviously not optional for me!!)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse almonds in the food processor, then add other dry ingredients and pulse until smooth. Meanwhile, mix the vinegar and milk in a little bowl. Let sit for at least 5 minutes. Transfer the dry ingredients to a big bowl and add milk mixture and oil. Mix just until it comes together. Transfer dough to a tray, and knead a few times until it’s not sticky. (Sprinkle with more flour if needed.) Press dough into a rectangle 1/2-inch thick, and cut into squares or rounds. You can bake them on the same tray. Bake 14-15 minutes.
Possible topping ideas: Nut Butters and Frosting Recipes.
(That’s not to say the biscuits need any topping at all. They are prefectly delicious even if you just want one plain, hot out of the oven.)
These are great for breakfast, but they also make a nice snack. Or, leave out the chocolate chips and eat them with dinner. (Heck, keep the chocolate chips and still eat them with dinner!)
Nutritional info per biscuit:
- 150 calories
- 5g fat
- 3g fiber
- 0g cholesterol
I haven’t tried this with applesauce subbed for the oil. And honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it… but of course you can try if you wish! Just be warned that the results might taste gummy.
A fat-free baked good I can recommend: Polka-Dot Banana Bread.
Question of the Day:
Do you like biscuits?
Have you ever made your own, either from Pillsbury or from scratch?
Click for the winner of the Coconut Butter Giveaway.
{ 94 comments… read them below or add one }
I make biscuits all the time. I really love switching it up, sweet potato, corn, cheesy, etc.
I’ve never tried or made biscuits before! But there always will be a first time- this!
I’ve made buttermilk biscuits MANY times before. Love getting all the flaky layers. Perfect with a hot bowl of soup in the winter. Lots of soup is in my future this season I know.
Anything with almonds gets my vote
LOVE biscuits! What a great flavor Katie! These look so delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I can’t say I’ve ever been brave enough to make them on my own. I like them but don’t crave them with a meal- these however, they may be a game changer!!!
Few days ago I found your blog. Amazing recipies. It is great for me that they are a healthier version of typical desserts. Very declicious!
I have made biscuits A LOT… but always savory ones to go with soup or stew. Like buttermilk, jalapeno and cheddar, etc. But never tried a sweet one, much less an Almond Joy one!!! Actually, i have never been a fan of Almond Joy at all, but i think i’ll give these guys a try
oh and i use a SUPER easy but yummy biscuit recipe that takes about 5 minutes of hands on time. I’m not sure if it is vegan or not, but i would highly encourage you to make it vegan if it isn’t- its just so good. Super versatile too, add whatever you like. I usually add in some type of cheese. Here it is: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/e-z-drop-biscuits/detail.aspx
Have used it for years now and it never fails!
P.S.- I just read an article ( and some others) that said that vegetarians are at a high risk for periodontal disease and other mouth diseases. What really got me was that vegans are at the highest risk- no matter how well you brush! I am not vegan as i have said before, but i do have vegetarian/vegan friends. This scared me a little. Thought i’d give ya a heads up. Sorry for the random post script
Do u think this would work with almond or coconut flour instead of spelt?
I’d be hesitant to use JUST almond or coconut flour. I don’t know much about gf baking, but I know they tell you to combine flours with gf baking. If you use just coconut flour, baked goods often turn out crumbly and don’t hold together well.
Add 1/4 tsp xantham gum for every 1 cup of gluten-free flour, and you’re good to go!
Oh wow, is that how easy it is for gf baking?? I always was intimidated by xantham gum in recipes… does that usually work for most recipes that call for regular flour? I’d love to use my coconut flour more often, but I never know what to make with it!
Yep, it’s that easy! I’ve done it for many recipes, and they all come out just fine
If you want gluten- and sugar-free coconut flour cookies ready in 5 minutes, make these! The chocolate version is the best, obviously
http://www.charskitchen.ca/2010/03/coconut-softies.html
I LOVE biscuits! They are so fluffy and light and fun to tear apart! And I wouldn’t leave out the chocolate chips for dinner… no need for such silly things.
I Made savory Pumpkin biscuits the other day to go with my tomato-sweet potato soup, and I’m waiting for the weather to get cold enough in Wisconsin to justify breaking out the rest of the soup that I canned and making the biscuits again!
My parents are British so I have to love scones! Or biscuits, as they’re called in the US. I just made some pumpkin chocolate chip ones, gluten-free and sugar-free (and vegan) loosely based off of Mama Pea’s scone recipe and now I get to try out yours too! Yay!
Biscuits and scones. … in one?! These look delicious!
These look delicious, a recipe I am def. going to have to try! I love biscuits, my grandma always made them for breakfast with homemade strawberry jam!
Now you can move on to scones! How about a little shredded coconut and almond extract for a Mounds version?
Oh goodness, that sounds like a genius idea!
Yum, these sound perfect to go with coffee and a banana in the morning
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever made biscuits. Scones, yes.
I love that you added chocolate chips. Now those are my kind of biscuits.
I adore biscuits, the texture and the flavor is perfectly spot on! The combination of ingredients sounds absolutely spot-on, especially the addition of chocolate chips. Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to make these
I just made a gluten-free version, using King Arthur all purpose. They turned out great! Perfect amount of sweetness. Mine are round, so they look like giant choco-chip cookies. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh wow, I can’t believe you already made them! I’m so excited they turned out well
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These sound amazing Katie!
I have not tried to make biscuits before, but I just may make those almond joy ones over the weekend for my kids, they look awesome!!
Yum, Katie, these are so good! And you’re right, they were so easy to make. Thanks for yet another terrific recipe.
Girl, get your cookbook out already! I’m copying and pasting way too much!!!
I am a biscuit fanatic, I am a country girl so biscuits and gravy is a must! I also bake a ton of breads. Pillsbury is good as well as bisquick in a pinch but i prefer them from scratch.
Oh.
Oh my!
Oh yum!!!!!!!
That is all.
Do I like biscuits? Silly girl…These look awesome! Kind of like scones?
How fun! I’ve never made biscuits, but I do love them!! And with chocolate? Even better.
They look adorable! I think you have the cutest photos in the blogworld!
Love this! Never had biscuits with chocolate chips in them before
Biscuits can be done wonderfully- buttery and flaky or awful- too dry! Obviously I prefer the buttery and flaky ones but who wouldn’t! I love that you made a sweet version, usually biscuits are savory.
Wow, these look super delicious! I haven’t made biscuits in the longest while.. somehow I always manage to forget about them! You’ve inspired me, Katie.
If you used almond meal instead of grinding up almonds, how much do you think….like 1/8″ cup?
Sorry, I don’t know
Could you weigh out the whole almonds, then just use that much ground? I think I’m going to try these tonight and try this method. Also will try adding almond extract and coconut just to see what happens
I ended up modifying the recipe quite a bit (couldn’t get to my back up flour & no dairy free milk). Soooo… I used 3/4 cup w.w. flour + 1/4 coconut flour, buttermilk, 1 tsp almond extract, and 72g ground almonds. I also added 1/4 c shredded coconut and some chopped chocolate chips and ……. YUM! 2 out of 12 are gone, I wonder how many will see tomorrow?
Aw I’m so excited they turned out well! I love it when people use my recipe as a base to make their own new recipe!
My hubby has already requested I make these again, though he wasn’t a fan of the almond extract.
Mmm I LOVE biscuits, especially warm, straight-out-of-the-oven biscuits! I love them with a little butter and honey on them or homemade jam.
I DO like biscuits…. but only my mom’s, and probably yours now, too! I hate dumplings, especially the globby, doughy kinds. My grandmommy would plop them in our soups during the winter, and it was disgusting. I could not tell what the heck those things were in my soup at first (to be honest, I thought it was not fully cooked potato-chicken rolls after the first meal I had them!). Don’t ask me why this came into my head now. Maybe its because I thought of “biscuits and gravy”, and gravy reminds me of my grandmommy’s “grand holiday meal planning” with her high-unhealthy-fat holiday meals (gravy, mashed potatos, rolls, oyster stuffing, BLECK!!).
‘Nuff said, these biscuits are going on the Thanksgiving menu!
These look delicious! Dallas loves scones and I’ve debated branching from his favourite ones (I make maple oat pecan scones for him) and trying chocolate chip! I’ll have to keep these bookmarked
You put me in a baking mood! What brand of chocolate chips do you use usually?
Whatever’s available and vegan. Ghirardelli semi-sweet, Whole Foods brand, Ghirardelli 100% baking discs, Enjoy Life, etc.
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yummmmmmm! p.s. your background is beautiful!
Well, unless you call popping open a can of Pillsbury Grands “making biscuits.” <— LOL and that would describe me…and isn't that POP, that release when they pop out of the tube both fun and a little shocking all at once… ha!
Your biscuits look great. I've been more into donuts lately than biscuits but am playing around with 'breads' myself.
Those look fabulous! I normally don’t eat many biscuits but I can’t pass up coconut and chocolate! Plus, everything you create turns out good, so why not! I have made biscuits before from Bisquick, which doesn’t really count, and I have baked homemade scones!
Loooove biscuits! And these look fantastic. They are one if those foods that is so easy, yet it’s easy to forget that and just buy canned. Anyway, I need to make these!
I just made these for an afternoon snack. They are perfect!
Like you, I’d never made biscuits before, and like you I was surprised at how easy it is! Thanks Katie!
I love this, very unique. I do love Biscuits and I actually have started making my cookies more biscuitity.
Will try these for sure.
Interesting spin on biscuts! Are the almonds how you make up for the lard/shortening? I’ve wanted a substitute to eliminate lard with but I cannot seem to find one
No lol I just threw them in for flavor. I used oil for the fat part… I wasn’t going for a flaky biscuit, so I didn’t need shortening. But they do make a trans-fat-free shortening (Earth Balance shortening, as opposed to their margarine). I’ve never tried it, though. Oh, and sometimes coconut butter works in place of shortening in recipies.
Those look so good! I have never made biscuits from scratch, but I make the Pilsbury Simply biscuits sometimes.
never had one!
They look delicious!
Is the nutritional info based on 8 or 12 biscuits?
12
I made these tonight. Mine came out a little dry, but putting Earth Balance Butter on them made that go away. I love the flavor and I can’t believe I made them, they were so easy. I am not known for being a good baker. Thanks for making a recipe I can follow and have turn out well.
DTR
Aww I’m so glad you tried them!
Living so long in the South, I’ve learned to love biscuits! I’ve made them from scratch for my nutrition classes (learning about the principles of tenderness, flakiness, etc.). Yum!
I’ve made biscuits–from a Pillsbury can!
I’ve always thought that biscuits needed to have butter, and a whole lot of dough-layering and kneading!…or maybe that’s a scone…or puff pastry. Yeah, probably puff pastry. But I’ve pinned this onto Pinterest! :]
Don’t Almond Joy’s have coconut? I wonder what these would taste like with shredded coconut in them
Now I’m wishing I’d tried that! Or at least put in some coconut extract.
I love that biscuit with the chocolate chip that looks like a heart
At first, I thought you used heart shaped chocolate chips!
I didn’t even realize that until someone else pointed it out. Now I can’t believe I didn’t see it!
The recipe sounds lovely. Almonds and chocolate just can’t go wrong.. But I wonder: what is the difference (for you Americans) between a cookie and a biscuit, as for me they are quite the same?
Hi Robin, I was wondering the same… I’m Italian and we use the word “biscotti” for any sweet cookie. I think Americans call cookies those sweets which have imperfect shape and are often made of cereals, while they call biscuits those sweets which are more similar to sweet bread. I think the difference is in the batter, but I’m not sure, I just suppose…
Anyway, these biscuits are yummy, and I wanna try them using balsamic vinegar to enhance the chocolate taste. Thanks Katie!
Great biscuits! I’m going to trying them using balsamic instead of white vinegar to enhance the chocolate taste, I’m curious about the result… Thanks for share, Katie!
I am always a bit confused, too! In fact, I first called this recipe “So Soft Chocolate Almond Joy Biscuits” because I wanted people to know it’s not a cookie recipe. (I shortened it, because the title seemed too long. But the url still has the “so soft” part in it.) In America, we’re strange… we call doughy things “biscuits,” but we also use the name for hard cookies. And even dog bones are sometimes called “biscuits” here!
For some reason I am only getting ever second post by email now. I am going to unsubscribe and then subscribe again to see if that solves the problem, Have you heard this from anyone else?
I haven’t heard it from anyone else, but now I just signed up for my own emails so I can watch and see if it does it to me. Did it just start doing that?
Thanks for letting me know, though. I am always so appreciative when people let me know something isn’t working as it’s supposed to. If no one tells me, I don’t know to fix a problem!
Ok, I just got today’s, and it seems like it’s putting two posts into one email. Confusing!!
I looooooooooove biscuits AND cookies. I haven’t baked my own biscuits but I just can’t resist them. My all-time favorites are a kind packed with cocoa and the Belgian speculoos which you have probably heard are vegan.
Apparently they even make a Speculoos spread now. I still haven’t tried it, but I think it’s vegan!
I have never had biscuits before!! Whenever I hear the word biscuits I think of this book I have about a dog named biscuit!!!
I made these when I got home from school today. I quartered the recipe because I hate waste and would probably eat them all, which is not good for someone on a diet
Instead of yielding 3 biscuits, I made about 8 thinner ones from the quartered recipe.
Delicious! They tasted exactly like the yummy big scones you get in cafés, but without the fat and guilt!
I actually used xylitol as the sweetener and subbed half the oil for applesauce and it turned out really well
Will definitely make them again!
Thank you
Hi Katie, I’ve been a fan of your blog for a while but have never commented before. I just wanted to ask why you said not to use rice milk? I am allergic to almonds ( which is terribly sad because I LOVE them) and just don’t like soy milk very much. Is there something about rice milk that doesn’t work for this recipe? Are there any other options?
In this recipe, the milk is mixed with the lemon or vinegar to make “buttermilk.” I read that ricemilk–because it is lower in fat–doesn’t work well for making buttermilk. But any other milk with some fat would probably work. Maybe hemp or oat or hazelnut milk?
YUM! I really want to try these, but I don’t have a food processor. Will a blender work just the same? I also have a “mini-chopper” but it’s probably not big enough.
Also, what if I tossed in some shredded coconut? Would that cause them to fall apart? I think the kids will love these… that is, if I share! hehe
Hmmm… I think a blender would be fine!
And shredded coconut sounds like a GREAT addition!
Awesome! Thanks so much for the response. Looks like I need to add a few things to my next shopping list…
I really miss your daily posts. Lately, it seems you miss days and I’m sorry to say that your recent recipes have not been that great (a lot of them don’t even have chocolate!) and they are so short compared to previous ones. I know you’re trying to reorganize your blog & that takes time – but could you focus on the posts more – I loved your older ones
Wow, Sarah, don’t you think this comment is a little mean? And certainly uncalled for. My recent recipes–such as my snickerdoodles, pumpkin bars, this recipe, etc–are just as involved as usual, and they are 100% made up by me. If I don’t post one day, it’s because I value my readers and only want to put my best content/recipes out there. It would be a waste of their time if I posted every day just because I felt I “had” to get something up.
Please remember, before posting something so harsh, that the recipient of your comment has feelings too. And my feelings are hurt by your comment. I work very (very) hard on all my recipes and only put my best efforts up. It takes a lot of time to develop good recipes.
This is none of my business, but I, for one, do not mind if a recipe is “short.” Short often equals easy!
I don’t have the time to do anything too involved at the moment!
I just recently found your blog and so far am very pleased.
Me too! That’s my favorite part about these recipes. I hate to cook, but I love to eat. So I really appreciate recipes that aren’t extremely convoluted!
WTF?!?
This comment is SO ridiculous it is not even funny! Sarah, you have some nerve to come here and criticise like this. Do you have a blog? Do you know how much hard work goes into it?
And also, I’d love to know a blog that posts more recipes (quality recipes and creative recipes) as frequently as Katie’s blog. Most recipe bloggers I follow only post two or three times a week!
Katie, pay no attention to this completely off base comment. I think you are amazing, and your recipes just keep getting better and better! The pumpkin pizookie is my new favorite party dessert, and my kiddos love the healthy chocolate chip cookies. Even my husband likes your chocolate bar pie! I can’t believe you got him to like tofu! You rock!
Yes, Sarah, please remember that CCK doesn’t write her blog solely for you. There are many others out there who do in fact appreciate the fact that not every recipe is a chocolate one. And as for the creativity, I have to agree with Jess. CCK’s recipes are as ingenuitive and delightful as ever.
Any way I could omit the sugar? These look delicious, but I try not to use sugar whenever I can.
I haven’t tried this, but I was thinking about the idea of subbing a bunch of dates for the sugar. Just blend the dates (until they’re completely blended into a powder) with the other ingredients. If you do try it, let me know if it works!
Made ‘em for a test run to see if I wanted to take them to work for a potluck. We decided to eat them instead. These are super YUMMY!
I rolled them into balls and put them in a mini muffin tin instead which made the dough stretch further.
Regarding Speculoos spread…seriously addictive. I can barely put the jar down once we open one….be careful;)
I want to make these! I was wondering if almond butter could be used in replace of pulsing the almonds?? Do you think?
Hmmm… I don’t know! If you try it, do let me know if it works
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