OK, so nobody asked me to come up with a biscuit recipe for the holiday season. This was just something I was inspired to try after drinking some light eggnog one November evening. Granted, you can only make these during the holiday season when eggnog is available. But after that, just switch to lowfat buttermilk!

A typical recipe for making 10 large buttermilk biscuits calls for a stick of butter, a tablespoon of sugar, some buttermilk and a whole lot of white flour. I deleted the salt, used 6 tablespoons of a less-fat margarine instead of 8 tablespoons of butter, switched to half whole-wheat flour and eliminated the sugar since the eggnog adds some sweetness. The texture was perfect and the flavor was pleasantly subtle. Just be careful because these biscuits might just put you in the mood for the holidays.

These have half the fat, 75 percent less saturated fat and cholesterol and 20 percent fewer calories than conventional buttermilk biscuits.

LIGHT EGGNOG BISCUITS

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour

• 1 cup unbleached white flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 6 tablespoons less-fat margarine, cold (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon)

• 3/4 cup light eggnog

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, pulse together flours, baking powder and baking soda to combine.

Add cold margarine in small spoonfuls and pulse briefly until mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add light eggnog to food processor and pulse briefly just until dough is formed.

Turn dough onto a floured sheet of waxed paper on flat surface and knead a few times. Pat down the dough with well-floured hands until you have a disc of 3/4-inch thickness. Cut out the rounds with a floured 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter. Re-roll and cut the scraps.

Set biscuits 2 inches apart on a nonstick baking sheet and spray the tops of the biscuits with canola cooking spray. Bake until biscuits are golden brown (12 to 15 minutes). Serve warm.

Makes about 10 large biscuits.

• Per biscuit: 150 calories, 4 g protein, 22 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, 1.4 g saturated fat, 2 g monounsaturated fat, 1.6 g polyunsaturated fat, 6 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 275 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 30 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .2 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1.4 grams. Weight Watchers POINTS = 3