Turning 40 has been… an experience. Don’t get me wrong, I’m embracing this new decade with open arms, but it’s also come with a newfound awareness of my health. Specifically, my cholesterol levels.
Turns out, I have a genetic predisposition to borderline high cholesterol. Not ideal, especially considering my deep love for all things buttery, pastry-filled, and coconut-oil-infused. But hey, I’m not one to give up on deliciousness, even in the face of health challenges.
So, I’ve been on a mission to find ways to enjoy my favorite treats while keeping my saturated fat intake in check. My doctor recommended aiming for around 13 grams per day, which, let me tell you, is easier said than done! Especially when you’re a foodie who loves to bake. Even my homemade vegan treats tend to be a bit heavy on the saturated fat.
One of my first steps was to swap out a lot of the coconut oil I use with less saturated alternatives like avocado oil. But what about those buttery, flaky biscuits I love to whip up in my air fryer on weekends? Enter: olive oil biscuits!
I was skeptical at first. Could olive oil really create that same buttery, layered texture? The answer, my friends, is a resounding YES!
It turns out, you can absolutely cut olive oil into flour, just like you would with butter, to create those beautiful flaky layers. These biscuits come together in minutes and bake up beautifully in the air fryer (or oven) in just 10-15 minutes.
And here’s another surprise: they actually worked best with gluten-free all-purpose flour! The texture was denser and more biscuity, which I loved.
Recipe inspired by this brilliant creation.
Mini-batch Olive Oil Biscuits
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1/2 cup flour (60 g) gf all purpose if desired
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil (15 g) other oils will work too
- 2 tbsp (nut) milk (30 g)
- 2 tbsp greek style yogurt (30 g) df alternative if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and line a cookie sheet with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
- (Optional) Add olive oil and combine with a spoon until it's a crumble (you will cover the olive oil bits with flour, trust me and keep going, it WORKS!) Using your spoon make sure all bits are covered with flour. You can press down the sides of your bowl, just like cutting butter into your dry mix.
- You should now have a crumbly dry mix like this with many pea sized bits.
- In a small bowl whisk together milk and yogurt until no clumps remain.
- Add to the dry mixture (along with the olive oil if you didn't already cut it into the dry mixture) and combine until a shaggy dough forms (I use my spoon, do not knead it and try to make it smooth, it should be shaggy like that).
- Turn dough over on a floured surface, dust with flour. Hardly kneading the dough, shape it into a disk.
- Cut whichever way you like, brush with milk or spray with more oil if you like, and bake 15 minutes until golden on top.
- Let them cool one minute and enjoy!!
Notes
- The recipe makes 3 small biscuits or 2 normal sized ones. I like small ones to eat with something else carb-y like chili or soup. You can make 2 regular sized ones and use them for a breakfast sandwich, would be bomb!
- You can bake or air-fry this, just adjust timing a bit (my air fryer runs hot so I always reduce temp by 10-20 and minutes by 1-2).