savory pickle brine biscuits aka tender vegan scones

Five ingredients, twenty minutes, tender, flavorful. These pickle brine biscuits, lined with a green layer of pesto, just happen to be vegan.

I’ve been happy to test and re-test this recipe over the last few days. These make an amazing lid for egg salad (or its faux egg alternative if vegan is your thing). My biggest dilemma was whether to call them biscuits or scones. I made one batch without the pesto and they were still delicious but if you have some pesto on hand that little touch makes the perfect complement to the subtly brine of the pickle juice.

the usual tips for your best biscuits ever

Most of the rules apply here but not all. 

With butter biscuits or crusts my freezer is my friend- with earth balance I keep things cool and sometimes throw the biscuits into the freezer out of habit but I’ve not noticed a difference if it’s cold or not. My sister, who recommended it to make vegan biscuits at a family reunion, said no need to keep it cool and I took her at her word. Thanks Holly!

Still, keep handling to a minimum. You’ll notice I use “gently” liberally in the instructions. I played with synonyms but none of them seemed right. Just remember the definition: “with lightness of action or effect; softly”. Tender biscuits are biscuits treated tenderly- don’t bagel your biscuit.

This recipe is easily doubled- things might get awkward after that. Plus, how much pickle juice do you have lying around?

Savory Vegan Pickle Brine Pesto Biscuits

this makes four scones or biscuits

Savory Vegan Pickle Brine Pesto Biscuits

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 17 minutes mins

Course Bread

Cuisine Baking, vegan

Servings 4 biscuits

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup AP flour
• 3 T earth balance buttery sticks
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2-3/4 cup pickle brine
• 1 tablespoon pesto of choice optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 450F
• In a medium bowl combine the flour and baking powder.
• With your fingers or a pastry cutter cut in the Earth Balance pieces until they are the size of peas.
• Add the pickle juice to the flour mixture and stir gently until it just comes together. Knead a few times in the bowl until it just comes together into a cohesive dough. 
• Place the dough on a floured surface and gently pat or roll it out to 1" thick. Fold the dough over itself and roll it out to 1" thick again. Repeat the fold and roll two or three more times.
• If adding pesto smear onto the dough before the final fold.
• Roll the dough into a 3/4" thick round. Cut into four even triangles and place on a baking sheet or into a cast iron pan.
• Just out of habit or if you forgot to preheat the oven you can chill these in freezer for 15-30 minutes before you bake but unlike butter the Earth Balance doesn’t need to be cold.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden.

Notes

I used the juice from some trader joes spicy pickle chips for my biscuits

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want to know more about earth balance? 

want to bake more things with pickle juice?