Almond Coconut Tea Biscuits

To start off the new year, what better way than creating a recipe for tea biscuits?!


As you may (or may not) know, I love hot tea. I am a big fan. It started when I was in college...a number of different women have taught me the art of tea over the years--and now I'm hooked! I love the beauty of teacups and teapots, the quiet, steady routine of heating the tea kettle in the morning, and the joy of sharing my home and kitchen with others. I also love baking little treats for us to enjoy along with our tea. One of the treats that I love to make when I have people over for tea are scones. They are quick and easy, and you can add berries to the dough, serve them with honey or jam or a flavored butter.

Scones are also one of the things that I've missed since going without gluten. Not that you can't make them or buy a mix. But I've figured out that I don't really care much for pre-packaged GF mixes most of the time, and all of the scone recipes that I've found have fruit or nuts already in them. And there's nothing wrong with that--but I sometimes just like a "plain" scone. I don't know, call me weird.

Anyway, I had been thinking about this for a while, and then I officially got sucked into the GF blogging world: I joined the Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

What is it, you may ask? This is a group of gf bloggers who post recipes each month from a certain food category. This month's category = Biscuits.
The catch? These recipes are baked, not using measuring cups, but by weight. Each recipe has a certain ratio of main ingredients that is used as the basic formula. For example, the ratio for biscuits is 3 parts flour, 2 parts liquid, and 1 part fat. This can only be attained using weight, not cups. The reason for this is because different people may measure cups differently, but weight always ends up the same (I know, it's kind of complicated...but it works! For more, read here.).

The only time I've tried baking by ratio is with my gf gingerbread cookies (still in the works, by the way!). But I can see that learning to bake by ratio could open up a whole new world. I could learn to make all sorts of recipes that are all my own, simply by using these formulas as a base. You see, even though the skeleton is there, you get to choose what you fill it with. Fats? You can use butter, coconut oil, shortening, etc. Liquids? Coconut, almond, or rice milk, or regular milk if it doesn't bother you; maybe even just water in some recipes. Flours? The possibilities are endless. If you have a mix that you already like, you can use that, though different flour blends will taste different. Although I haven't gone completely grain free, I've been experimenting with the grain-free flours, almond and coconut, which I use in this recipe. I also wanted to try avoiding xanthan gum, and see how I fared.

So with all this in mind--and spurred on by this month's challenge--I decided to try my hand at making a basic, gluten free, grain free tea biscuit (in my mind, it's basically a scone, but cut into circles instead of wedges!). After multiple trials and tweaking, I finally found the right balance of ingredients.

Added to this could be any number of things: cinnamon, berries, apples, raisins...But for now, I have a basic, airy, slightly sweet scone, perfect for spreading with Smuckers 100% fruit jam, or having with a hot cup of tea! So try this, and then play around with your own variations; I'm sure I will come up with more, too! Hope you enjoy!

P.S.  Gretchen of Kumquat is hosting this month...Here is the whole list of Gluten Free biscuit recipes for January:

Amanda | Gluten Free Maui    Classic Biscuits and Gravy
Amie Valpone | The Healthy Apple    Gluten-Free Wasabi Parsley Biscuits
Caleigh | Gluten Free[k]    American Style Biscuits
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free    Whole Grain Pecan Drop Biscuits
Charissa | Zest Bakery    Eggnog Biscuits with Grated Nutmeg
Erin Swing | The Sensitive Epicure    Scallion Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
gretchen | kumquat    sweet buttermilk biscuits
Jean  | Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes    Jammers
Jonathan | The Canary Files    Vegan Sesame Shiso Biscuits
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free!    Biscuit Template with Dairy Free Substitutions
Lisa | Gluten Free Canteen    Fluffy Biscuits, Gluten Free
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes    Suprise Flavor Biscuits
Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks    Turkey Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping - Gobbler Cobbler  lol
Rachel/ The Crispy Cook    Hummus in a Biscuit
Silvana Nardone | Silvana's Kitchen    Gluten-Free Sausage-n-Cheddar Bialy Biscuits
TR | No Ones Likes Crumbley Cookies    Lemon Basil Biscuits

And, without further ado, my recipe! :)

Almond Coconut Tea Biscuits
125g. (about 1 c. + 1 T.) almond flour
25g. (about 3 T.) coconut flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. sea salt
Zest of 1 lemon
50g. (a little less than 1/3 c.) coconut oil, room temperature (not melted)
100g. (about 1/3 c. + 1 T.) coconut milk
5g. (1 t.) vanilla
20g. (about 1 T.) agave nectar
1 egg white

Mix the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Zest the lemon, and mix with dry ingredients. Cut in the coconut oil, using two knives, until mixture has large crumbs.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, vanilla, agave nectar, and egg white.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined (mixture will be sticky). Flour a cutting board or other clean surface with coconut flour. Gently pat out the dough on the floured surface (you may have to add a little extra coconut flour to help with this), about 1" thick. Use round cookie cutter (or the top of a small, round container) to cut biscuits.

If you are in a hurry, you can also simply cut the rounded dough into 6 or 8 wedges. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until they are lightly brown on bottom and golden on top. Let the biscuits rest for 10-15 minutes before eating (*sniff...drool....sniff*). My biscuits made about 10-12, but it probably will depend on what size of biscuit cutter you are using.

 (Also shared on Allergy Free Wednesdays.)