RECIPE DOCTOR • FLAKY WITH LESS FAT
Lightening biscuits with moderation

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. I've been trying to lighten biscuits on my own and have been having trouble. Maybe I'm cutting too much from the recipes or something. Do you have a nice biscuit or cheddar biscuit recipe that you like and wouldn't mind sharing?

A. Biscuits are tough to lighten because it takes plenty of fat in the dough to create that wonderful flaky biscuit texture. The more fat, generally the flakier the biscuit.

The recipe below works because it doesn't go too far with either less fat or with the whole-wheat flour. We are using a lower-fat margarine with a better fat ratio for the fat in the biscuit and switching some of the flour to whole wheat and making the dough using a fat-free half and half. The cheese is a reduced-fat sharp cheddar.

These are delicious fresh from the oven but even taste great the next day popped in the toaster oven.

I suggest putting Take Control margarine (which is very soft) in the freezer a few hours before you make the recipe. This gives the biscuits a flakier texture and creates better biscuits when cut into the flour. If you don't have a food processor, use your electric mixer.

Makes 10 large biscuits

Cheddar Biscuits

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (If you use 1/2 teaspoon salt instead, you will lower the sodium to 440 mg per biscuit)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on your preference)
• 1/2 cup Take Control margarine (keep in freezer, see note)
• 1 cup reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup fat-free half and half

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large food processor bowl, thoroughly combine flours, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar, and cayenne pepper.

Add margarine in pieces and briefly pulse just until mixture is coarse and crumbly.

Add the cheddar and fat-free half-and-half and briefly pulse just until blended (do not overmix).

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 4 or so times.

Pat dough until about 1/3- to 1/2-inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out biscuits and place them on a baking sheet coated with canola cooking spray.

Bake until nicely brown, about 12-14 minutes.

• Note: Take Control is the best-tasting of the margarines with plant stanol or sterol esters added (daily intakes of 1.3 grams or more have been shown in studies to help reduce the risk of heart disease as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol). Another margarine with no or low trans fats and 8 grams of fat per tablespoon can be substituted in this recipe.

• Per biscuit: 200 calories, 8 g protein, 23 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat (2 g saturated fat, 4.2 monounsaturated fat, 1.8 g polyunsaturated fat), 7 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 550 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 36 percent.

• Weight Watchers, 4 points
• Omega 3, 0.7 g
• Omega 6, 1.1 g

(Original recipe had 240 calories, 14g fat, 8.5g saturated fat and 39 mg cholesterol per large biscuit.)

Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook." Contact her at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.