These biscuits are great with breakfast, along side a stew, or as a topping for a pot pie. They are fluffy, buttery, and wonderful. As with all wheat-free baked goods, they are a little different to prepare than their gluten-full cousins, but they are still quite simple. They are carbilicious and butter-full, which is to say good for the soul, and a little flax meal helps give them some health benefits for the body too.
That healthy bit is extra important to me now with my allergies. When people hear about all the foods I can’t eat, they nearly always say “You must eat really healthy!” I find this pronouncement quite frustrating because it’s actually a lot harder to eat a healthy diet than it was before I developed latex fruit syndrome. I used to snack on apples, plums, or nectarines and eat peanut butter and low-sugar jam on multigrain bread. I would carry baby carrots and celery sticks with a vinegarette for dipping. I would eat great bowls of salad piled with tomatoes, chick peas, olives and feta and … oh my! I have to stop … My point? I used to eat a lot of healthy delicious foods, which I can no longer eat (and I miss them terribly).
I’m not one to give up easily, though, and one of the healthy things I can still do is add flax meal to my foods. The flax meal hardly alters the recipe and doesn’t affect the flavor of these biscuits, but it adds some fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. Used as a medicine and food for thousands of years, flax is packed with alpha-linolenic acid, fiber and lignans. Whole seeds generally pass through the body undigested, so I buy the pre-ground meal. You can also use a simple coffee grinder to grind your own seeds, if you prefer. The oils tend to go rancid quickly, so the best place to store your flax in the freezer; then just take out a little at a time as you need it.
If you don’t happen to have flax meal on hand or can’t eat it for any reason, you can make these biscuits just fine without it, just leave out 1/4 cup of the milk as well.
Note: If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you will want to check with your doctor about how much flax meal is advisable since lignans act like estrogen in the body. Also, as with all new foods, if flax is a new to you, be sure to talk with your allergist about the safest way to try new foods.
Allergy Notes:
- I line my pan with parchment, but if you choose to grease yours instead, remember to use a fat that doesn’t cross-react with latex. Real butter is fine, so is pure canola oil spray. I also like the Pam for High Temperature “Let’s Grill” spray, but the regular Pam spray, even the canola and olive oil varieties, contain soy lecithin and some of the other brands contain sunflower lecithin. Both of these can cross react with latex. Some people with allergies can tolerate these, but be sure to ask your allergist before you try.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20-25 minutes |
| Passive Time | 8-10 minutes |
| Servings |
biscuits
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- 2 cups wheat-free flour mixture
- 4 tsp double-acting baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup flax meal
- 1 stick cold butter
- 1 1/4 cups cold milk
Ingredients
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|
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Measure the flour, baking powder, salt, and flax meal into a food processor. Pulse until mixed.
- Cut the stick of butter into slices and place the slices into the flour mixture in the food processor. Pulse until the butter is fully cut into the flour mixture and no large chunks of butter remain.
- Pour the flour mixture into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the milk and stir until well-combined. Let the mixture rest for 8-10 minutes before forming into biscuits. Rest is crucial for the rice-based flour mixture.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spoon 1/4 cup dallops of biscuit dough onto the parchment paper with at least an inch of space in between. Smooth and shape the drop biscuits, if you like, with wet hands.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden and the biscuits are firm.
Sources for Flax Information:
- WebMD "The Benefits of Flaxseed"
- U. of Maryland Medical Center "Flaxseed"
- Journal of Food Science and Technology "Flax and Flaxseed Oil"
My recipes avoid all ingredients listed on the American Latex Allergy Association website as known for cross-reacting with latex as well as a few other ingredients that I have discovered elsewhere. However, latex-fruit syndrome is still an emerging issue and poorly understood. There may be other foods that cross-react, and people with latex-fruit syndrome often have other food allergies independent of their latex allergy. Each individual is different, so be sure to discuss with your allergist the safest way for you to try out ingredients that are new to you before you cook with them.