Craving Hearty Biscuits Without the Trans Fat? Try This Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What fat is best for biscuits? ›

The lard and half & half version seem to be the favorite here. Since lard is such a rich ingredient on its own, it might be good to combine it with another fat, like butter, to balance flavor.

Bread-style bakes such as fruit bread, malt loaf, currant buns, crumpets, bagels and English muffins are usually healthier than cakes and biscuits. Don't fancy them plain? Steer clear of butter and stick to a thin layer of low-fat, unsaturated spread, or try one of our 5 healthy toast toppings.

If your biscuits are too tough…

Biscuit dough is moist and sticky, so much so that it may seem too wet after you've added all your flour. If you do think this about your dough, fight the urge to add more dry ingredients — dough that isn't wet enough will bake into a hard, dry biscuit.

When flour is "scooped" into the measuring cup directly from the container, it compresses, or becomes packed. This means you will be adding more flour than called for in the recipe.

Polydextrose and guar gum were successful fat replacers in biscuits at a relatively high level of FR (70%), with an increase in perceived taste, flavour and consumer acceptance [72].

For this reason, the best biscuit for weight loss is a whole wheat biscuit, since they have enhanced nutritional value. Whole wheat biscuits are typically lower in saturated fats and higher in protein and fiber.

Salt & Vinegar Rice Cakes

If you fancy something savoury with your cuppa for a change, a couple of the large salt and vinegar rice cakes are a low calorie and filling option. The average salt and vinegar rice cake contains about 34 calories, 0.2g of fat and 0.3g of sugar, so they're a pretty healthy snack all around.

Strains of soft winter wheat have less protein than the hard spring wheat and therefore southern all-purpose flours are better-suited for quick breads such as biscuits, cakes and muffins.

What is the secret to a good biscuit? ›

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

For flaky layers, use cold butter. When you cut in the butter, you have coarse crumbs of butter coated with flour. When the biscuit bakes, the butter will melt, releasing steam and creating pockets of air. This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside.

Fully incorporating the butter and flour guarantees tender, airy biscuits every time. Low-protein flours keep biscuits fluffy and light, never tough. Yogurt provides both hydration and structure, for biscuits that bake up straight and tall but moist.

If you have stale biscuits, you can try to soften them by wrapping them in a damp paper towel and microwaving them for 10–15 seconds. If you don't have a microwave, you can wrap them in a damp paper towel and place them in a preheated oven set to 250°F (120°C) for 5–10 minutes.

The cornstarch lowers the protein of the flour, which produces a more tender biscuit. The heavy cream provides the fat that helps create the flaky layers in great biscuits.

Choosing between shortening and lard comes down to personal preference. Both create a flaky, tender crust, are semi-solid, and are 100% fat. Swap one for the other in recipes. If you want to add additional flavor to the dish, lard is the right choice.

So what's the final verdict? Butter is the winner here. The butter biscuits were moister with that wonderful butter taste and melt-in-your mouth texture. I'd be curious to test out substituting half or just two tablespoons of the butter with shortening to see if you get the best of both.

While baking, the butter (which contains water) melted, and steam filled the small spaces left behind, creating flaky layers. The melted lard (which doesn't contain water), on the other hand, aided with tenderness and flavor.

Butter gives the best taste, but a vegetable fat is satisfactory for your biscuits. How do you substitute butter for lard? Sure. They're not exactly the same in terms of texture and the flavor is quite different.