How is it that accidental recipe creations turn out on the first try, while ones I’ve painstakingly planned require two, three, even four attempts?! #foodbloggerlife
Now that I think about it, real life can be like that, too. Sometimes the best things come totally unexpected, while our seemingly great plans can fail miserably. I like to think that maybe it’s God’s way of humbling us, reminding us that we are not totally in control. That we need to lean on Him for strength and direction WAY more than we should rely on ourselves. I find this to be true often in my own personal life, and on a much smaller scale, in my food blogger life with Fed and Fulfilled.
So, even though today’s Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits recipe was far from being a planned creation, it was just too good NOT to share with you! To be honest, I really only baked these little biscuits to use as a photography “prop” for my most recent Instant Pot Paleo Wedding Soup! Now, these tender, lightly sweet, AIP-friendly biscuits have stolen the show this week! And believe it or not, they don’t require eggs, grain, dairy, or nuts!
Since I didn’t use any of the typical biscuit ingredients for these Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits, you’re probably wondering what they could possibly be made out of! The prime ingredient is both surprising and simple: canned pumpkin!
I have always been a fan of sweet potato biscuits, but they can take time to make. They usually require cooking, mashing, and cooling sweet potatoes to incorporate into the biscuit dough. Because I was in the middle of my Instant Pot Paleo Wedding Soup photo shoot, I wasn’t about to spend time creating a complicated sweet potato biscuit recipe. Instead, I threw together ingredients I had on hand, including a can of pumpkin found at the back of my pantry. The goal was to replicate the “look” of a sweet potato biscuit for my photo shoot.
Well, after baking these Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits, it was clear they didn’t just look similar to sweet potato biscuits, but they tasted like them, too! And actually, my new biscuits are lighter and more cake-like than sweet potato biscuits due to the less dense pumpkin puree. In other words, you can enjoy these for dinner AND dessert! 🙂
To enhance the natural sweetness of the pumpkin, I mixed in a touch of raw honey and used applesauce, as well. The applesauce not only adds a touch of sweetness, but it serves as a binder and egg replacer!
In place of butter, I substituted coconut oil in its solid state. You could probably also use palm shortening. Or, if you can handle dairy, you could try butter or ghee. I make my own ghee (which you see in some of these photos) and while I didn’t use it in the biscuits themselves, it makes a heavenly spread on the finished product!
To put these Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits together, simply mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in two separate bowls. I relied on my favorite coconut flour and arrowroot starch combination, but you could substitute tapioca starch for the arrowroot, as well. The coconut oil gets blended into the dry mixture with a pastry cutter, much like a typical biscuit recipe.
Finally, stir everything together carefully, until just incorporated. Then, drop large spoonfuls of the pumpkin biscuit dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pop it in the oven at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow your biscuits to cool a bit before transferring them to a cooling rack or a platter. In my case, I piled them all into a bread basket, pulling out a couple to sample!
My Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits are not only a cinch to make, but they have such an amazing flavor! These sweet little cake-like biscuits could almost pass as a dessert with a bit of jam and ghee! Or, eat them plain as a side to your favorite soup or salad. You can adapt this recipe to make savory biscuits, as well, with some garlic, herbs, and even bacon! (Breakfast biscuits, anyone?!)
In short, there are tons of ways to use and enjoy these Easy Paleo Drop Biscuits! I hope you’ll give them a try the next time you need to throw together a quick side for just about any recipe! Just keep a can of pumpkin and some coconut flour in your pantry, and you can whip up these babies at the last minute like I did! No planning necessary! 😉
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- ½ cup coconut oil (solid and cold)
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch (tapioca starch also works)
- ¼ cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon raw honey (optional)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Chill your coconut oil in the fridge or freezer while you make the dough to make sure it's solid.
- In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, applesauce, apple cider vinegar, and raw honey together. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Cut in the cold coconut oil with a pastry cutter.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together until a light, soft dough forms.
- Drop equal mounds of dough onto the baking sheet. (My batch made 10 biscuits.)
- Bake the biscuits for 25-28 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow biscuits to cool before transferring to a cooling rack or plate.
- Serve plain or with ghee, jam, or your favorite spread. Keep any leftover biscuits covered in the refrigerator.
~Make sure your coconut oil is cold and solid before cutting it into the dry ingredients. If it's soft or melted, the biscuits will spread out too much in the oven.
I made these today!! They were such a hit when I had some friends over for breakfast. Then I realized that I used my last can of pumpkin…. So I called Trader Joe’s to see if they had any left. The said they did, but that pumpkin is seasonal, so if you want to enjoy these all year (I do), you gotta stock up on your pumpkin now while you still can! I got 8 cans 🙂 Don’t worry, I left some for the other pumpkin lovers out there. But honestly you will like these biscuits even if you do not like pumpkin – They are that good! 🙂
Hooray! So glad they were a hit with your friends! I love that you stocked up on pumpkin so you can make these all year long! I might have to do the same thing! 😉
These are really quite good; thank you! Mine didn’t come out like drop biscuits, but rather they flattened and spread out on the baking sheet. I think I followed the receipt to a “T” so I’m not sure why mind didn’t look like yours (although they tasted great.). I’m wondering if you might have any suggestions: A little less oil; a little more coconut or arrowroot flour? (I’m also going to take that wonderful idea of grabbing some extra canned organic pumpkin at Trader Joe’s while it’s still in stock. 🙂 – Thank you so much!
Hi Doris!
Thank you for your comments! I’m sorry that they flattened out on you, though! That hasn’t happened to me yet, but it could be due to different brands of coconut flour out there. Some are more grainy/less absorbent of moisture than others. Try adding more coconut flour and/or arrowroot next time, like you mentioned, or a little less pumpkin, and hopefully that will solve the problem. (Also could be that maybe the coconut oil wasn’t cold or solid enough?)
I’m glad you still enjoyed them, regardless of the shape! 🙂 Thanks!
Came out great. very easy to follow – worked perfectly. This one is a keeper! TYVM.
That’s great to hear, Sharon! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🥰
Hello!
My daughter can’t have apples (among a long list of other things, hence AIP), do you think mashed up pear would work?? Thanks!!! 🙂
Hi Rebecca,
Give it a try with the mashed pears! I’m not sure if it’ll work the same as applesauce, but it’s worth a shot! Hope it works out well for you!
Hello Joanna,
I’m finding on AIP that I can’t have coconut. Could another flour be subbed for it?
Thank you!
Hi Carla,
That’s a tough one since coconut flour absorbs liquid much more than other flours. There really isn’t an exact substitute for it but you could try using something like tigernut flour. You’ll likely need more tigernut flour than the amount of coconut flour in the recipe, though, but I can’t say exactly how much more since I haven’t tried this substitution. If you decide to play around with it, let me know how it goes!
I made these biscuits today and as they baked in the oven they started becoming flat like pancakes. I followed the recipe exactly. Any idea what might have happened? Any advice at all? I’d like to try again.
Hi Pam,
So sorry they flattened out on you! That’s never happened to me before and I’ve made the recipe quite often. Here are my thoughts: It could be that different brands of coconut flour yield different results- some may absorb more liquid than others. So maybe next time, add extra coconut flour to absorb more of the wet ingredients. (Make sure to use only 1 cup of pumpkin and not 1 whole can. I’ve had readers make that mistake accidentally!) Another thought is to chill the coconut oil in the fridge to make sure it doesn’t melt too much before baking. If the coconut oil gets too warm, it’ll melt and spread out the dough too much. And finally, try not to overmix the dough to prevent warming it too much before baking. The colder,the better!
Hope this helps and it works out better the next time around! Thanks for trying the recipe!
I have a 29oz can of pumpkin..I assume this would require me to double the recipe? I don’t see an OZ 9n the 1 can of pumpkin in your recipe. Thank you!
Hi Tina, the recipe actually just calls for 1 cup of pumpkin, not 1 whole can. So be sure to only use 1 cup per batch or else it will be a very wet dough. Thanks!
These are amazing! Delicious biscuit taste, and nice texture. I did have some that were done on the outside, and still gooey on the inside, but can probably address this with a lower oven temp.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed them! And great tip about the oven temp- Coconut flour tends to darken fast, so that’s a good idea to turn the temp down if the biscuit centers need more time to firm up and fully cook.
I don’t have cream of tartar can I use something else?
Hi Sheila,
The cream of tartar is used as a leavening agent, so I don’t know how they will turn out without it. You could try leaving it out and see what happens or add an extra teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to help it react with the baking soda. If you’re not strict AIP, you could also sub baking powder. Those are my thoughts, hope they turn out for you!
Hi. I’ve made these before, and to use in your stuffing recipe. Both are a hit! But I have a question. Since then we’ve become sensitive to fruit ( apples, pears, etc) Can I use an egg yolk Or flax egg in place of the applesauce? Thanks so much
Hi Daniela,
That’s great, glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe! I haven’t tried making the biscuits with flax or egg yolk, but it’s worth a try, for sure! I’m guessing a flax egg might be the best substitute since it has more liquid than just the egg yolk. If you use a whole egg, that might work, too. Hope you have success with whatever you try!
I made these last night to have with soup for dinner. It was so satisfying being able to eat a “bread” with my dinner. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Wonderful, Kristin! I totally agree! It’s so nice to have some kind of “bread” on a special diet! 🙂
These are EXCELLENT! Definitely will make again… so simple to mix together, and better than any other AIP biscuit I’ve tried … Thank you!
Aw thank you, Elizabeth! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂