grain-free AIP biscuits made with cassava flour and palm shortening, baked until golden

Biscuits are one of the first foods people miss on AIP. They used to show up everywhere: breakfast, dinner, next to eggs, next to soup. The specific thing that goes missing is smaller than the whole food category. It is splitting something warm open at the table and watching the steam come off it.

Cassava flour rebuilds that ritual from a root vegetable instead of a grain. Most of its starch travels into the colon largely intact, where the bacteria living there put it to use, a small piece of the gut-repair work central to AIP. Apple cider vinegar meeting the baking soda gives these their rise, so the crumb holds together the way a biscuit needs to.

When these come out of the oven, browned on the bottom and soft in the middle, give yourself a full minute with the smell before you break one open. That patience turns this back into a real breakfast, not just something you got through.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cassava flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 2 tbsp palm shortening
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp warm water
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• Palm shortening for brushing tops

Palm shortening is the fat that gives these their biscuit-like crumb. If you cannot source it, a solid coconut oil works as a substitute, though the flavor will shift slightly toward coconut.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a small baking sheet with parchment.
2. Whisk together the cassava flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. Cut the palm shortening into the dry ingredients with a fork or your fingertips, working it in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger pieces of fat still visible.
4. Stir the warm water, honey, and apple cider vinegar together in a small cup until the honey dissolves. Pour into the flour mixture and stir gently until a soft dough comes together.
5. With lightly oiled hands, divide the dough into 4 portions and press each into a small round about 3/4 inch thick. Place on the prepared sheet.
6. Brush the tops lightly with palm shortening.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and the tops are just set. Check the undersides by lifting one gently with a spatula before removing from the oven.
8. Let cool for a few minutes on the pan before serving.

*Adapted from Lichen Paleo, Loving AIP*