I kid you not, these are one of the lightest, fluffiest biscuits I’ve ever made! My husband will tell ya, I’ve been trying to find a good biscuit recipe for the entire time I’ve been married!!! Who would have thought the best would end up being a low-carb recipe?! 🙂 They can’t shine a light to Frank Williamson’s at Professional Bldg. Pharmacy snack counter in Galveston, TX (my benchmark of melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk biscuits), but they’re pretty darn good considering they are not made with much real flour.
My inspiration was Jennifer Eloff’s focaccia bread recipe, which I tweaked a bit. I just made the resulting batter into drop biscuits and man were they good! These are not suitable until the grains rung of OWL because of my CarbQuik addition. If you use all Jennifer’s Gluten-Free bake bix and no CarbQuik, they would be suitable once you get to Atkins Phase 2 OWL nuts & seeds rung of the carb re-introduction ladder. This change would also make them gluten-free.
VARIATION: Substitute cheddar cheese for the Parmesan & Monterey Jack cheeses, brush tops with butter. Sprinkle a pinch of garlic powder and herbs on top, and these are transformed into Red Lobster style Cheddar Bay Biscuits!
INGREDIENTS:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
½ c. Jennifer Eloff Gluten-Free bake mix
¼ c. CarbQuik or one of my own low-carb bake mixes (use ¼ c. more Jennifer’s mix for gluten-free)
1 T. Parmesan Cheese, grated
½ c. Monterrey Jack Cheese, grated
½ tsp. each baking powder and baking soda
dash salt
1 T. olive oil
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Soften cream cheese and beat in the eggs. Add all remaining ingredients and beat well. Dip onto parchment lined baking sheet, forming 9 large drop biscuits. Pop into preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes or until nicely browned.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 9 large biscuits, each containing:
134.5 cals, 11.9 g fat, 4.04 g carbs, 2.04 g fiber, 2g NET CARBS, 7.56 g protein, 199 mg sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 
hi peggy – can i substiute the cheese type? i don’t think we have monterey in australia…i have havarti, cheddar, american cheddar (orange :), mozzarella and parmesan in my fridge!
I’d use the mozzarella, as the flavor is as mild as the jack cheese.
I felt the need for some pizza, but the grocery store didn’t have any unflavored whey protein (chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry crusts didn’t sound too appealing.) I’m a little tired of baked-cheese crusts (tasty, easy, but the leftovers don’t reheat so well in the microwave). So I picked up some sliced mozzarella cheese and headed home to try this out as a pizza crust in place of your recommended crust.
I rolled out the batter on a baking sheet and baked until brown. I lined the crust with the sliced mozz to keep the marinara sauce from soaking into the crust. Some pepperonis, mushrooms, chopped-up, leftover hamburgers loaded it up. This was so good, that I’m not sure I’m going to bother finding unflavored whey.
Strange thought for the morning….I wonder what some cream cheese icing on a strawberry crust would taste like? 🙂
Well your post sure made me smile. I’m delighted to hear of your creative method for making a crust from my biscuit dough! I MUST try that soon!! But ya know……..lots of bread recipes will make a pretty good pizza. I did some individual pizzas one time with two slices of low-carb bread and it was divine: https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/chicken-pesto-sun-dried-tomato-pizza/
And BTW, your strawberry pizza sounds like it might actually make a great little dessert! Be sure to whip some strawberries into the cream cheese frosting, too. 🙂
I forgot to mention that a half-recipe crust should feed two people easily.
How do you measure the grated Monterrey cheese, loose or tightly packed? In any event, I’m sure that I generally add more cheese than you call for. Do you think that too much cheese could contribute to my fallen biscuits?
Thanks, Steve. Good to know that. Yes, too much cheese will impact your rise, as it is a “wet” ingredient when melted and in baking, the ratio of “wet to dry” ingredients is preetty critical to success. I’ll bet that’s what happens to your biscuits. I’m personally sodium sensitive so I have to use less cheese in my recipes than most low-carbers like. You could tinker around and increase each of the dry ingredients (all of them) by just a tad and probably remedy that moisture balance so you could keep that extra cheese you like, but know that you WILL be experimenting. 😉
I’ ve made this at least a half-dozen times over the last several months…but never with the CarbQuick. Is it worth getting some CarbQuick for this recipe?
PS – Obviously I like them a lot are I wouldn’t keep making them.
Well I’m glad you like them, Steve. Obviously, I think a Carbquick mixture with another flour does cook up lighter and fluffier than just using one flour. I think it’s better and “worth it”. But I’m me; and you are you. LOL Clearly you’re very happy with it as you are making them currently. Only YOU can decide via an actual taste comparison, which, despite their many talents, these PC’s just can’t do for us. 😉 If funds are not an issue, it might be worth buying ONE box of Carbquick to see if YOU find it is markedly better or not. On the upside to that investment, you’ll have it in your pantry for future recipes you come across, on my sight or other sites, that might call for a bit of CQ. I use up to 1/4 cup of it in many of my breads, pancakes, cakes and muffins. It brings taste and “fluffy” to the picture. How’s that reply for not exactly answering your question. 😉
I have no complaint with the fluffiness without CarbQuick. If I had a complaint, it would be that the biscuits collapse fairly quickly after they come out of the oven. But just last night, I split one of the “fallen”, toasted it in a George Foreman, and used it to hold my cheeseburger….so I guess I really don’t have many complaints other than my daughter has started eating them too.
I’ve said this before, but I really do appreciate all of the work you have put into this site and in your recipes. There are a number of researchers and clinicians doing/done work on low carb and that’s great. But without the recipes here and other sites, the LC diet would be virtually impossible to follow for any length of time…not to mention a lifetime.
I’m putting together a list of stuff to order from Netrition and will add CarbQuick to the ever growing list. I got the Netrition recommendation from you and I’ve found several things that are significantly cheaper there than from Amazon.
Glad to know my site is doing what it was intended to do, Steve, which is to provide the needed variety. Avoiding food boredom is the key to success on any plan really.
Hmmm. My biscuits never collapse, Steve, even as they cool off. Wonder if your baking powder needs replacing? I learned not long ago it can actually lose its leavening power if the can is very old, so I replace mine much more regularly now. And I never buy a large container at Sam’s like I once did. 😉 Happy baking to you, Steve!
I was so excited to see the word “fluffy”. I used carbquick and they came out like little hard lumps…….NOT fluffy at all! Very disappointing again!
Hmmm. I wonder if you could have mis-measured anything or accidentally omitted the leavening agent? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made these over the last few years and they have never cooked up hard, ever. Jen Eloff on the LCAF site haas baked them and somplimented how light they came out. As experienced at cooking as I am at age 66, even I have, with some regularity, realized after I had a baking failure, that I had in fact skipped over the baking powder or soda. I’m so sorry that happened. I hope you’ll try them a second time to rule out the possibility of error or omission, since these have cooked up so consistently nice for me and others so very many times.
Another thought: Baking powder and baking soda can “get old” and lose their “leavening” strength. They say you should replace them periodically. I try to buy a new container of each every 6 months or so and toss out the old container even if not empty. That might explain yours not rising and allowing them to get “fluffy”, too. Just thought of that.
Mine looked nothing like the picture. Not fluffy at all. Tasted good. What did I do wrong? I used Jennifer’s mix because I couldn’t find the carb quick. Thought?
I use some Carbquick in my recipes because it brings the “fluffy” to the results. I offer a possible gluten-free substitution (usually Jen’s GF bake mix) for those that are celiac or gluten free and have no other choice. But substituting in a baked goods recipe doesn’t always produce the same results. Texture is usually what suffers with subs. Where are you? because if you’re at/near sea level, or at fairly high altitude, that too can cause baking issues. If you Google baking at sea level; or baking at high altitudes, there are lots of articles out there that address ways to help with those baking issues. I had issues with poor rise on breads when I lived on Galveston Island.
Thank you for responding! 🙂 Ahhh I see so several issues. I’m in NM so high altitude. I’m not gluten free just prefer to eat low carb. I’m very new at all of this so didn’t take that into consideration. So what do you suggest maybe just using carbquick?
I would just use Carbquick and increase the baking powder to 1 tsp., but don’t increase the soda. You might browse through the high altitude tips sites for other tips: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=hhigh+altitude+baking&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001 I’ve never lived in much altitude so I’m not really experienced with it. 🙂
Could you use a store bought gluten free flour? Would it measure the same? Recipe sounds good. I just already have the store bought. Thanks.
Judy, you should check the ingredients and nutrient information on your flour mix. Most of them are made up using starch extracted from rice, potato, tapioca etc. These can be very high in simple carbs and very low in nutrients. If you aren’t careful you can end up with ‘flour’ that is higher in carbs and more fattening and that has a greater impact on blood sugar than wheat flour and be worse off than eating wheat unless of course you are celiac or allergic to wheat protein (gluten).
What kind of flour? I doubt it without some experimenting, Judy. And you may end up with a few failures before you get similar biscuit results.
Can you substitute these any breakfast casserole recipes that call for refrigerated biscuits?
Sure, Trisha! I’ve done so myself on pot pies and cobblers. That said, this IS a wet drop biscuit batter, so it won’t “roll” with a rolling pin like canned biscuits can be stretched and rolled out like pie dough.
Well, sure you can do that Judy (I think), and they should cook right. But I don’t think they will be low-carb anymore using 3/4 c. real flour. Having never used this product myself, I can’t say definitively that sub will work. Just guessing it will, at the cost of much higher carbs.
Even with the store bought gluten free they would be higher carb?
I’m not willing to calculate it, but I’m almost certain a wheat-based flour would be higher carb than any of the ingredients in my biscuits. The carbs aren’t just in the gluten they have removed. But I’m not familiar with gluten-free flours to be quite frank. Low carbers avoid wheat-based flour precisely because it is high carb. You’ll just have to use a food tracker like Fitday or My Fitness Pall and calculate the recipe per serving stats with the particular flour you are buying to find out that what I’m saying is probably true.
OK. Thank you very much. So enjoy the recipes.
Hi! I know I’m late coming to this party… :). But, just wondering if you have any suggestions on a substitution for the CarbQuick bake mix in this recipe. Gluten is a no-no for me. I have several jars of Jennifer Eloff’s bake mix ready to go! Would love to hear any substitution ideas you may have! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Sadly, I haven’t developed a new variation on this delicious biscuit recipe since I, too, went wheat-free. But I’m formulating a biscuit in my head this week that I think will work. Just haven’t had time getting ready for the holidays and all. Stay tuned, as I’m likely going to have this recipe modified real soon.
In the interim, you could just increase the amount of Jennifer’s GF bake mix and omit the Carbquick. OR, you might try this biscuit recipe with “certified gluten-free” oats for making your oat flour. It’s a very good recipe: https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/chia-microwave-biscuit/
Thanks! I’ve not purchased oat fiber but am seeing it more frequently in recipes! Thanks for the biscuit recipe suggestion–and I’m looking forward to the revised version! Enjoy the holidays!
I just tried these biscuits this morning, and I can say they’re the BEST biscuits I’ve made since going low carb 8 years ago. Thanks so much!
I confess I found them to be the best I’ve found to date as well. I’m so glad you and your family like these, Laurie! I think this recipe could also be sweetened up a bit, add a splash of vanilla, split the baked results in half and used as a strawberry shortcake base as well. 🙂
Yes and Jennifer Eloff’s has a thickener recipe also which I have mixed up so maybe I’ll try that next time. I don’t know why Carbalose can’t get rid of that aftertaste in their recipe. I used to use Chef’s Blend low carb flour before they went out of business and it was soooo good. Could not tell it from regular flour and you could use it just like regular white flour too. I about cried when they quit making it.
Good idea. I forgot about her thickener recipe….and I was just reading it the other day.