Low-fat Banana Biscuits

Hey, I made us biscuits.

Yes, they have banana in them, but don't leave yet. They're good, I promise.

Maybe I know what you're thinking. Banana? In biscuits? If you've got ripe bananas, why not make banana bread, or banana muffins, and leave the biscuits simple and unadulterated and laden with butter like normal?

I love banana bread and banana muffins, and I love plain old biscuits, especially with butter and honey.

But if you live in the southeast, you might, like me, be familiar with an eating establishment called Bojangles, which serves the famous boberry biscuit.

I could do without the fries and chicken, (This is blasphemy for some southerners, I know, I'm sorry!) but I happen to have a weakness for those bobery biscuits. They're buttery, sweet, stuffed with blueberries and drenched with icing.

Eating one also leaves you with grease on your hands, sugary taste in your mouth, and a sneaking suspicion that you might have increased your chance of getting diabetes.  Okay, okay, I'm being dramatic, but they're definitely a splurge and not the kind of thing you can eat for breakfast everyday.

Last summer my friend Steph and I made a batch of similar blueberry biscuits with vanilla icing for her boberry biscuit loving boyfriend. They turned out so well that I made another batch a week later for my brother in law. He loved them too.

That's where this fruity biscuit with vanilla icing idea came from.  As for the banana part? Well I had 2 ripe bananas sitting on my counter begging to be used AND I'd read somewhere that you can use mashed banana to replace some of the butter in baked goods.  Could I use less butter in those beloved biscuits and still pull off the fruity biscuit with icing goodness?

The answer was yes. These are still flakey, buttery, and covered in icing, but they've got half the fat of the original recipe, and probably a third the fat of an actual boberry biscuit. 

These banana biscuits didn't rise as much as I'd hoped, but I think that might have been due to old baking soda. I'd love for you to try them and let me know your thoughts. 

Any other boberry biscuit fans out there? Any biscuit purists? Any Bojangles lovers angry with me right now? If so, I'll bring you some of these biscuits and hope that you have a change of heart. . . 

Low-fat Banana Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk. (I hardly ever have buttermilk on hand, so I use this substitute)
4 tablespoons butter (very cold or frozen)
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana, chilled
for the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons milk


Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. Grease a cookie-sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

Prepare space on your kitchen counter. Wipe clean and dust liberally with flour. Have a rolling pin and extra flour nearby.

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Place bowl in the fridge while you prepare other ingredients.

If you've frozen the butter, use a cheese grater to grate the butter into small pieces. Remove the bowl of dry ingredients from the fridge. Add grated cold butter, vanilla extract, buttermilk, and cold mashed banana. Stir until just combined, then roll out onto the prepared floured surface on your counter. Use your hands to knead the dough 8-10 times, then use the rolling pin to roll dough out to 3/4 inch thickness.

Use a biscuit cutter (or a glass) to cut out the biscuits. Place biscuits on prepared cookie sheet. Gather together the excess dough and roll out again to make a second round of biscuits. After the second rolling, you'll probably want to discard the excess, as it will make tough biscuits.

Bake at 450 for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.

While biscuits are baking, make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a small bowl.  Drizzle over warm biscuits.

Eat immediately! Or let cool and then cover and save for later.

Adapted from A Cozy Kitchen.