chocolate spice biscuits

Somehow we neglected to put dessert on the menu for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. Quite honestly, I have no idea how this could have happened. I feel like all I ever EAT are dessert items. So, just as we were pulling the stuffing out of the oven (and, yes, I will be sharing our cranberry-hazelnut stuffing recipe another day . . . even though I'm wildly nauseous from feasting my eyes on pies & potatoes, etc.), I got the idea to modify a basic baking powder biscuit recipe into a sweet, but not complete overkill after-dinner treat.

At first, I thought to just add spice -- cinnamon and nutmeg. But I'm a chocolate lover ("Tell us something we don't know, Ashley!" . . . right?), so I decided it was absolutely imperative to incorporate something sweet into the mix.

A tablespoon of sugar, some dark cocoa powder, and a 1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips later, the chocolate spice biscuit was born. OK. I can't exactly give myself credit for inventing the thing. However, I'm sure our biscuits are one-of-a-kind.

Janet over at Gonna Go Walk the Dogs (a great vegan food blog that is also on Vox) has commented that, at least on my baked goods, sugar crystals are surely my signature. And there is a generous helping of sugar -- yet again -- plopped onto the biscuits.

Just look!




CHOCOLATE SPICE BISCUITS
(A scrumptious afterthought with the "regular" recipe and vegan substitutions I made!)

What you'll need . . .

• 4 cups wheat pastry flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg (or less, depending on your taste)
• 3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (or 1 cup Earth Balance -- but omit the salt), cold, and cut into small pieces
• 2 cups regular soy milk (I added 2 teaspoons of corn starch & whisked them together . . . the original recipe called for heavy cream. I don't know if this is an acceptable method, but it has worked several times.)
• 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (or more or less to taste)

Method . . .

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. Using your hands, blend the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. You may also use a pastry blender for this part . . . but what's the fun in that?
4. Pour in the soy milk and -- using a rubber spatula -- fold it into the dough, working in all directions. Fold until just incorporated.
5. Then add in the chocolate chips. Again, until just incorporated. Dough will be sticky.
6. Then take a lightly greased (or simply nonstick) baking sheet . . . and drop heaping 1/4 cup amounts of the dough onto it -- spacing 1-1/2 inches apart.
7. Top each biscuit-to-be with a generous pinch of sugar crystals (again, Sugar in the Raw works the BEST!).
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.
9. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. But not too much, because it's best to serve them with the chocolate still gooey inside.

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