Happy Thanksgiving!
While I absolutely love Christmas, I love that Thanksgiving is less commercialized and allows us to focus a bit more on the things in life that really matter. It’s that time of year when we stop and actually speak aloud the things we are grateful for in our lives.
Not to mention all the wonderful food we typically gorge ourselves with on Thanksgiving!
Before I dive in to these Butternut Squash Biscuits, I wanted to stop and take a minute to share with you 10 things I am grateful for.
10 Things I’m Thankful for this Thanksgiving
- Josh, he is my constant strength and offers a love beyond my understanding.
- My family, the bond we have with a love that pulls us through the good and the bad.
- A job I thoroughly enjoy, co-workers I love and clients I adore.
- Good health.
- Loving and supportive friends, who care about more than the surface things.
- My sweet, sweet puppy dog, he offers nothing but love.
- My Heavenly Father, who regardless of my interaction with Him, is never changing.
- The opportunity to travel, see the Lord’s creation and meet gracious people.
- Second chances, and the freedom to mess up (like with these biscuits!)
- Each and every one of YOU who have been so kind in your encouraging words and support as I have begun this new adventure in the blogging world.
SO, now that I’ve taken the time to focus on the good things in life (and the things that actually matter)…let me share with you my EPIC FAIL with these Butternut Squash Biscuits.
I had it in my head that I was going to take the original recipe from Pastry Affair and completely healthify it, paleo-fy it, remove any refined sugar and replace all dairy with coconut cream and oil.
Let’s just say I got in way over my head. And there is such a thing as too much coconut.
You can see in my prep pictures that I have shown the coconut oil, coconut cream, coconut flour, coconut palm sugar – coconut, coconut, coconut!
I substituted quantities evenly, thinking (and hoping) these biscuits would turn out perfect, with a touch of coconut flavor mixed with the butternut squash and they would be grain-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free. I think you get the picture.
Here you can see that the dough didn’t hold up well together and then once baked the biscuits were…dry and crumbly to put it nicely.
As I’m sure you can imagine, I was feeling like quite the failure at this point. Josh tried one and pretended it wasn’t too bad, sweet guy. But they were terrible.
I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away, all those healthy ingredients! So I broke the biscuits apart and made a breaded base for the casserole shown below. I used some of the remaining butternut squash, sweet potatoes, the last of my fennel, cooked cranberries, kale and goat cheese. I’d like to say that this creation was wonderful and completely salvaged the whole thing. Sadly, that’s not the case.
We ate it a time or two as the casserole, but eventually I faced the music, scrapped off the yummy toppings, ditched the yucky coconut crumbs below and used the cooked veggies on my salads for a few days.
Can you see how much better the dough and biscuits look this round??
This whole ordeal took place on Saturday, once Sunday came, my wounded pride had healed a bit and I managed to dust myself off and try these biscuits again. This time sticking to the script a little more and just swapping out some of the ingredients for a few healthier options. I ended up using organic unsalted butter, whole wheat flour, and coconut palm sugar, but followed her recipe outside of those things.
And I’m happy to say that the result was a HUGE improvement!
We went to my parents that evening to celebrate my dad’s birthday (remember Birthday Season) and I brought these little guys along with some organic butter and homemade Apple Butter (we received as a gift!) and I’m happy to say they ended up being a hit!
So, I guess I learned a few lessons. Like, it’s okay if I don’t get it right the first time, and most importantly, don’t give up.
I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and eat lots of good food!
Butternut Squash Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup organic unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup butternut squash puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- Suggested Toppings: butter jam, and apple butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or your hands until mixture resembles coarse sand. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together squash puree, egg, vanilla, and heavy cream. Pour over the biscuit batter and lightly mix until the dough comes together. The dough will be somewhat sticky.
- Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface, form a circle, and flatten it until it is about 3/4-inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cutter, carefully cut out biscuits. Transfer to a baking sheet using a flat spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Serve warm!
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Pasty Affair’s Butternut Squash Biscuits.
Leave a Reply