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

FAQs

Why do biscuits need fat? ›

Flour, sugar, and fat are the main ingredients used in biscuit production. Fats perform a shortening function in dough. The term shortening refers to the ability of fats to lubricate, weaken, or shorten the structure of food components to provide a food product with desirable textural properties.

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. Butter: Slightly sweet, caramelized flavor; nicely browned exterior.

The key to flaky biscuits is in the fat. Fat—butter and shortening in this recipe—creates the tender texture of biscuits and helps form the flaky layers. Butter delivers rich flavor. But because shortening contains no water, it creates more-distinct layers, which is why our Test Kitchen uses a combination of the two.

Biscuits are a healthier alternative to a snack with a cup of tea or coffee when consumed in moderation. However, they have hidden calories in sugar, salt, bad fats, and refined wheat. They're also high in salt to extend shelf life and meet market demand.

“Three ultra-processed biscuits a day will have a negative impact on your long-term health,” says Dr Hameed. The sugar can cause dental decay, she says, while the intense sweetness of many of today's biscuits can even alter our taste preference over time, meaning that we expect all food (even savoury) to taste sweet.

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.

Lard has a higher melting point than butter, which means that you'll likely end up with lighter, flakier biscuits (or cookies that spread less - not sure what kind of biscuits you mean). However, the upside with butter will always be flavor. Your biscuits won't taste like butter if you don't make them with butter.

"However, we need to step back and decide if there's something even better." Nut and seed butters, such as almond or sunflower, are naturally rich in heart-healthy fats and also contain fiber and protein, which are not found in butter substitutes. You can also try mashed avocado, hummus, or extra virgin olive oil.

Fruit purees are most commonly used as fat substitutes in baking. Applesauce, for example, works well in most cake recipes, muffins, gingerbread, and can replace at least half the fat in cookies. Mashed bananas or pureed peaches can be used in chocolate cakes, spice cakes or muffins.

If you are looking for a healthier alternative to butter, consider switching to liquid oils, such as olive oil or avocado oil, or use a nut butter as a spread.

Can you get low fat biscuits? ›

Tesco Reduced Fat Rich Tea Biscuits 300G - Tesco Groceries.

in this case, it appears that the biscuit structure is just a lot more stable (structurally speaking) when there's less butter. When you get a lot of butter, you're kind of filling your biscuit with holes, which makes it unable to bear its own weight to rise very far.

In baked goods, fat also contributes to the tenderness of a product as it prevents flour from absorbing water. Muffins or biscuits with reduced fat are often tougher because the gluten is more developed.

The fat coats the gluten strands and makes the finished product more tender—both the crumb and crust—and it makes the crumb more finely grained. It also makes the loaf seem moister. Breads that are made with fat in them don't dry out as quickly, so the shelf life is improved.

In biscuits, pie and pastry dough, butter is rubbed or cut into the flour. This causes the particles of flour to be coated in fat molecules, preventing excess liquid (like water or eggs) from absorbing into the flour, which creates an overdevelopment of gluten.

The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.

The first is to coat the flour in fat helping to reduce gluten development. The second is to distribute little pieces of solid fat throughout the dough which will melt and quickly turn into steam to help push the dough up while leaving little pockets that help form the flaky layers.