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Pimento-Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches (Dairy-Free Version)
(photo by Judy Lyness) |
Our recent Los Angeles Food Bloggers' potluck theme was "picnic", and I turned to a recipe that I wrote for
Melissa's The Great Pepper Book for inspiration. Actually more like imitation, because I pretty much recreated it ingredient for ingredient, with one slight variation. I took the dairy ingredients and replaced them with non-dairy, plant-based equivalents, and not that I make a habit of fooling people, but the bloggers were smacking their lips, totally surprised, when I came clean.
So whether you need to go dairy-free for health reasons, or want to try dairy-free out of culinary curiosity, you'll find that with a little creativity, ingenuity, experimentation, and all those other reasons why you like to cook in the first place, there isn't anything you can't recreate. I'm not saying that the new version will taste exactly like the old version, but I will say that it will taste good, very good.
Here's the original recipe from Melissa's The Great Pepper Book, with substitutions in parentheses. These little one-handed sandwiches would be perfect on paper plates at any picnic, or on a silver platter at your next potluck.
Pimento-Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough (dairy-free biscuit dough)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened - about 1 cup (Tofutti cream-cheese)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese - about 2 ounces (Follow Your Heart Vegan Shredded Cheddar)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (Follow Your Heart Vegenaise)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 fresh cherry bell chile peppers, stems and seeds removed, finely diced - about 1/3 cup (or sub red Fresno chiles)
1 large shallot, finely diced - about 2 tablespoons
3/4 cup watercress or arugula (I used arugula)
Fresh cherry bell chile peppers, thinly sliced (optional)
Smoked paprika to taste (new ingredient)
1. Bake biscuits according to package directions; cool to room temperature.
2. Place cheeses and next 5 ingredients, through shallots, in a food processor or blender; pulse to combine.
3. Add smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, pulse to combine, and add more if desired.
4. Cut biscuits in half. Top biscuit bottoms evenly with cheese mixture and watercress or arugula, and sliced chiles, if desired. Top with biscuit tops. Serve on a silver platter or paper plate - whatever.
GARDEN ART
On an arts & crafts note, I've been making garden mosaics using cement pavers
with broken china and tiles. Here's the latest one, plus a few others from my succulent growing front yard.
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Pimento-Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches (Dairy-Free Version)
(photo by Judy Lyness) |
Our recent Los Angeles Food Bloggers' potluck theme was "picnic", and I turned to a recipe that I wrote for
Melissa's The Great Pepper Book for inspiration. Actually more like imitation, because I pretty much recreated it ingredient for ingredient, with one slight variation. I took the dairy ingredients and replaced them with non-dairy, plant-based equivalents, and not that I make a habit of fooling people, but the bloggers were smacking their lips, totally surprised, when I came clean.
So whether you need to go dairy-free for health reasons, or want to try dairy-free out of culinary curiosity, you'll find that with a little creativity, ingenuity, experimentation, and all those other reasons why you like to cook in the first place, there isn't anything you can't recreate. I'm not saying that the new version will taste exactly like the old version, but I will say that it will taste good, very good.
Here's the original recipe from Melissa's The Great Pepper Book, with substitutions in parentheses. These little one-handed sandwiches would be perfect on paper plates at any picnic, or on a silver platter at your next potluck.
Pimento-Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough (dairy-free biscuit dough)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened - about 1 cup (Tofutti cream-cheese)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese - about 2 ounces (Follow Your Heart Vegan Shredded Cheddar)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (Follow Your Heart Vegenaise)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 fresh cherry bell chile peppers, stems and seeds removed, finely diced - about 1/3 cup (or sub red Fresno chiles)
1 large shallot, finely diced - about 2 tablespoons
3/4 cup watercress or arugula (I used arugula)
Fresh cherry bell chile peppers, thinly sliced (optional)
Smoked paprika to taste (new ingredient)
1. Bake biscuits according to package directions; cool to room temperature.
2. Place cheeses and next 5 ingredients, through shallots, in a food processor or blender; pulse to combine.
3. Add smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, pulse to combine, and add more if desired.
4. Cut biscuits in half. Top biscuit bottoms evenly with cheese mixture and watercress or arugula, and sliced chiles, if desired. Top with biscuit tops. Serve on a silver platter or paper plate - whatever.
GARDEN ART
On an arts & crafts note, I've been making garden mosaics using cement pavers
with broken china and tiles. Here's the latest one, plus a few others from my succulent growing front yard.
So happy to see a new post by you! Your sandwiches sound yummy both ways, and your mosaics are beautiful! The succulents in your garden look pretty too.
ReplyDeleteHard to go wrong with flakey biscuits loaded with zesty, cheesy goodness. Glad you like the recipes and mosaics. I love the succulents too - they're much more interesting than conventional garden plants and flowers, and way better on the maintenance front. Thanks Faye!
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