Peanut Butter and Banana Biscuits (aka the Butterless Biscuits)

This biscuit recipe has been in my repertoire for a long time and has taken many forms. I first made it with my friends D and S over a Thanksgiving break. It's great because it's easy and adaptable. After making plain biscuits, I used the same recipe to make sweet potato biscuits, banana biscuits, and lemon poppy seed biscuits. I could go on and on. I always billed them as "healthy" because the recipe calls for yogurt or puree instead of buttermilk or cream, but the stick of butter was always nagging me.

Today I present you with the Butterless Biscuits! I am sorry it's neither vegan nor gluten free, I will have to work on that. But they are a whole lot healthier than any other biscuit I've made. The trick is to use fat free Greek yogurt so you have high protein but less fat. After doing the tallies, the biscuits are officially much lower in fat and calories than their butter filled counter parts and much higher in protein (see the info at the bottom). What's more, they still taste like biscuits. The banana and peanut butter are very subtle.

To make these biscuits even more fun, use different fruit or vegetable purees instead of the banana or try using flavored yogurts. You can also cut back on the yogurt and add more of whatever flavoring you like. I hesitate to completely take out the yogurt though, since the enzymes found in dairy help with the rising. I have made some very flat biscuits in my day, believe me. Anyway, here's the recipe, go to town, and let me know what you think!


Peanut Butter and Banana Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz fat free Greek Yogurt
1 medium banana, mashed
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a medium size bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the yogurt, banana, and peanut butter. Mix and then knead the dough. Add a tablespoon of water at a time as needed until the dough is pliable but not sticky. If you add too much water, just throw in a little extra flour.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 3/4 of an inch thick and use a glass to cut out circles. Place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. The biscuits should be golden and a little brown on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack and eat.

Makes 12 biscuits

114 Calories, 3g fat, 1g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 5g protein

Candied Pecan and Pear Cake

Welcome to The Crafty Runner! This blog is about my passion for running, cooking, and all things crafty. I got into blogging through wedding blogs, but it wasn't long before I was reading other blogs, too. I rely on cooking blogs for off-beat recipes and I have learned a lot of tips from running blogs. I decided I wanted to contribute my two cents in the hopes that someone might learn something from me, too. When I added my passions together, The Crafty Runner was born. I hope you add your own comments, tips, and experiences as I write about and explore my favorite hobbies. Thanks for reading!

Candied Pecan and Pear Cake

I recently celebrated a friend's birthday and made this cake for him. He is on a limited diet and cannot have a lot of the typical cake ingredients. This to me is the ultimate challenge. I enjoy cooking with a limited number of ingredients or other specifications. It makes me step out of the box and think more creatively. I put together the list of foods I could use and went to work. It took a couple tries, but eventually I got this cake. It turns out to be a yummy, nutty alternative to the typical birthday cake. Plus it's a tiny bit healthier.

2 cups brown rice flour
1 scant cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4- 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 pear, diced
1 cup dried cranberries
1.5 cups candied pecans (see Cafe Johnsonia's recipe, I replaced the butter with oil)
parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 cake pan with parchment paper. I cut out a big square of parchment and then cut slits at each corner so that it would conform to the inside of the pan. (If you are not using rice flour, don't worry about it, you can just grease the pan)

Combine the first 9 ingredients (flour through honey) and stir until just mixed. Add water a little at a time and stir until the batter has the consistency of pancake batter. Add the pear, cranberries, and half the nuts. Mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the lined pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake sit for 10 minutes in the pan before flipping it onto a serving plate. Cover the top with the remaining candied pecans. When ever I can, I will include nutritional information for my recipes at the bottom of the entry. I strongly believe in knowing what you put into yourself.


Serving Size: 1/16th of the cake
264 C, 11g Fat, 25g Sugar, 2g Dietary Fiber, 3g Protein