There’s nothing like a good hot-outta-the-oven biscuit! And a good biscuit goes beyond breakfast – they’re also the perfect side to a nice hot bowl of soup, or with roasted chicken and gravy.
By using almond flour and whole *sprouted spelt flour, instead of refined white flour, this recipe allows your family to enjoy all the deliciousness of a true Southern-style buttermilk biscuit with increased nutritional value in every bite! A definite win-win!
Another bonus! … As shown above, you can easily use this same recipe to create scrumptious scones! YUM!
*Note: You can use regular whole spelt flour in this recipe in place of sprouted spelt and your biscuits will still turn out great! However, I recommend and use organic sprouted spelt flour for recipes in which soaking just doesn’t yield a good end product. Sprouted flour contains a tremendous amount of beneficial nutrients. For more information, click here.
Biscuit Making 101:
Grandma’s tips to me were to cut my butter into very small pieces and add to the flour for easier incorporation into the flour.
Use a good, sturdy pastry blender to cut in butter as shown. Butter pieces should be no larger than the size of a green pea.
Gently knead the dough a few times. It should not be too moist, but should hold together well, after kneading.
Slightly flour top of dough and roll out to one-inch thick and cut out. Gather scrap dough and knead together and repeat.
A simple heart-shaped cookie cutter is all it takes to make these sweet Honey-Butter Biscuits Made with LOVE!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups organic whole spelt flour (I use sprouted spelt flour)
- 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 tbsp aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 5 tbsp butter, cold
- 2/3 cup cultured organic buttermilk (or plain organic Kefir)
- If Making Scones: 1/3 cup dried fruit, such as currants or blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until butter mixes with flour and resembles coarse crumbs no larger than the size of a green pea. (If making scones, fold dried fruit into the flour mixture.)
- Gradually and slowly stir in the buttermilk until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (You may need to adjust the amount of milk depending on the flour used. You do not want the dough to be too moist, or when baked, it will not rise properly and will be crumbly.)
- Dust a large sheet of parchment paper with spelt flour. Using your hands, gather dough together in bowl and knead 3-4 times in the bowl (just enough to combine). Pick up dough ball and place on parchment and flatten slightly.
- To Make Biscuits: Lightly dust top of flattened dough and gently roll out to one-inch thick (that's the height of most biscuit cutters). Cut biscuits using a biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- To Make Scones: Using your hands, shape dough into a square at least one-inch thick. Cut dough in half twice to form four smaller squares. Then cut each of the four small squares in half diagonally to form 8 small triangles. Sprinkle the top of the scones with your favorite unrefined sugar of choice, if desired. Using a spatula, gently place each scone on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake about 10 minutes, until the edges begin to turn slightly golden. Serve hot-outta-the-oven with cultured raw butter and raw honey! Be prepared for squeals of delight!
We have soy and dairy allergies in the house. The soy allergy is a new one and we are still trying to figure out how to cook certain things without soy AND dairy. Do you have any recommendations for this recipe to substitute the butter? Every dairy free substitute I’ve come across has soy. Coconut oil maybe? (Unless someone can point me in the direction of a dairy free, soy free butter substitute!)
I am soy free as well. And since I avoid processed or refined ingredients – typical in butter substitutes, I would recommend using wholesome and healthy coconut oil. However, when it comes to biscuits, you are going to need to fiddle with the measurement as I haven’t tried coconut oil in this particular recipe. However, if you don’t have nut allergies, I would highly recommend my almond flour biscuits using coconut oil instead of butter. They are delicious! Lots of blessings, Kelly
http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/almond-flour-biscuits/
Organic palm shortening from Tropical Traditions is an excellent replacement for butter, It works well for making pie crusts, biscuits and in frying foods. Check them out. It is also on sale right now!
Thanks, Jessica. Appreciate your suggestion. 🙂 Blessings, Kelly
Very good recipe. I used 1/2 Earth Balance and 1/2 coconut oil, and added 1 Tbs honey to the buttermilk.
The biscuits do tend to be crumbly. I wonder if a little xanthanun gum would help this?
Yes, that is one drawback to spelt is the gluten is different than whole wheat and it does tend to be crumbly, as you mentioned. I can’t use x-gum, as it bothers my GI tract, but that might be a solution? Thanks for taking the time to leave a note. Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Any nut allergy substitution suggestions for the almond flour? I’ve seen a lot of great recipes of yours with almond flour and really want to make them 🙁
Hi, Holly. We do use a lot of almond flour here as we do not have nut allergies. You could make these biscuits without the almond flour but they will be more heavy/dense, as the almond flour is used to help lighten them up. I’d recommend trying my friend Jill’s recipe, it’s quite good and doesn’t call for almond flour. Obviously, if you’re GF, neither her recipe or this one will work. Also, I do use coconut flour quite a bit, so you may enjoy those recipes if you do not have a coconut allergy. And I do have several soaked spelt and kamut recipes (if you’re not GF) that do not call for nuts, including Power Muffins, Power Pancakes, Cinnamon Crumb Cake and various quick bread recipes. Hope this helps. Lots of blessings, Kelly 🙂
Here’s Jill’s biscuit recipe: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2010/11/buttermilk-biscuits.html
Being on a candida diet, I miss bread the most. So I cannot thank you enough for this lovely scone! Tastes amazing! My breakfast will not be the same again!
So glad you enjoyed it, Blanka! Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note! 🙂
My husband and I both enjoyed these biscuits. For the spelt flour I used a blend of whole spelt flour and light spelt flour. They were very good with a delightful texture. Thanks so much for posting the recipe.
You are very welcome. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Although I’m gluten-free, grain-free now, I keep these old recipes up on the site since I know not everyone needs to be GF. 🙂