Knock-Off: Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits-Wheat Free, Dairy Free

Since my dive into the "Land of Special Diets", it's been a good three years since I've set foot in a Red Lobster Restaurant.  However, those biscuits they serve before each meal have haunted me with their light and fluffy savory deliciousness.
I've created my own version using my trusty Babycakes cookbook recipe for spelt biscuits and experimenting with additions such as real smoked paprika (from Hungary!) garlic powder and vegan cheddar cheese. You should be able to find Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds at any Whole Foods Market.  It is simply the best non-dairy cheese available (in my humble, cheese-loving, dairy sensitive opinion).

Savory "Cheddar" Biscuits

2 Cups white spelt flour
plus more for dusting
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 Teaspoon onion powder
1/3 Cup coconut oil (melted)
3/4 Cup hot water
1/2 Cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
1/8 Cup fresh parsley finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder.  Pour the oil and hot water into the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until fully combined and dough is formed.  Add shredded "cheese" and chopped parsley, thoroughly mixing into the dough. 
Dust the counter with more flour and turn out your dough.  Sprinkle dough with flour and gently pat down until 1-inch thick.  Using a biscuit cutter (or a 3-inch round drinking glass with a thin rim), cut out biscuits and arrange them on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  Bake on the center rack for 10-12 minutes until golden.  Let biscuits stand on the sheet for 5 minutes before serving.  Cool completely before storing (at room temp for 2 days, or freeze for up to one month).

This week I experienced a sensation within myself that I have a hard time explaining, but warrants writing about.  A "problem" that I had been obsessing over for nearly a year was suddenly resolved with very little effort on my part, and come to think of it, was the very first route I should have taken when encountered with said problem.  Almost daily, my wandering monkey mind would be jumping to this problem and searching for possible solutions.  After trying several different ideas, and each one of them being thwarted almost cosmically, I would sometimes come to the conclusion that I simply must need to learn from this "problem" and that it was teaching me a valuable lesson in presence, patience, and living with the chaos.  I somehow felt that the universe was trying to tell me something, and that something was:  "Deal with it."
One night, while laying with Anya at bedtime, a simple comment from her prompted me to bring the problem to the attention of the very person who had the power to help fix my problem.  I was convinced that this person would try to talk me out of what I needed, or would tell me that the policies that be would not allow for a bend in the rules.
I was wrong.  She was more than willing to work with me.
And just like that, my problem was solved.
I stood there at work not 20 minutes later and found myself suddenly without something to obsess over.  My mind was so habitually stuck on fixing this problem, that when the problem was fixed, it felt odd not to have something to continue to work on.
Just when I think I've really come a long way (mentally, spiritually, emotionally), something like this really shows me how fixated I can become and how unwilling I am to let go of things that feel/seem intolerable.
But shouldn't we try to change things that are intolerable?  At what point do we throw up our hands and surrender?  I felt like I had literally thrown my hands up to this situation at least 3 times, and yet I still found myself back at the drawing board, trying to "fix" it.  Does this mean my ego just continued to take over?  Or was it that I was so blinded by my search for a fix and so convinced that it was unfix-able that I couldn't see the most obvious and most reasonable solution?
I know it's silly to try to figure it out, but I guess this is how I learn about myself.

Non-Dairy Baking Experiment #35 Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls since my coworker Annie paraded her giant Sebastopol Cookie Company cinnamon roll into Cultivate over a year ago.  I searched for recipes and found them all to be very time consuming, involving lots of rising time and refrigeration.
Then, after reading in Good Housekeeping this month a recipe for things to do with crappy prepackaged biscuit dough, I was inspired again by the thought of sweet, gooey, melty cinnamon and pecans surrounded by bready goodness and topped with sugary frosting.
I used a recipe I found online www.allrecipes.com for 90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls, but made substitutions for wheat flour and butter as noted.

90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

DOUGH
3/4 cup almond milk (I used Almond Breeze Original)
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup Earth Balance non-dairy spread, softened
3 1/4 cups white spelt flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg

FILLING
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

FROSTING
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons almond milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat almond milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat.  Mix in coconut oil and earth Balance; stir until melted.  Let cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well.  Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well.  Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  When the dough has just pulled together, turn out onto a well-floured surface (spelt dough is sticky!) and knead until smooth, about two minutes.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, coconut oil and Earth Balance.  Mix in pecans.

Roll out the dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle.  Spread dough with cinnamon pecan mixture.  Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal.  The dough roll will be a little loose and will not hold it's shape as well as dough that perhaps was made with wheat and allowed to rise and chill, etc.  However, you can still cut the dough roll into 12 slices and plop them into a well-greased (I used coconut oil) muffin pan.  As I am reading the recipe, I notice a crucial step that I missed when I made mine.  It says to now cover and let rise about 30 minutes.  I put the right in the oven without doing that and they came out fine.  A little dense, but still really delicious.  Next time I will incorporate that 30 minutes rise and report back. *The extra 30 minute rise yields a softer, slightly lighter cinnamon roll.......less "hockey-puck", as my husband puts it.*

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until browned.  I prefer my rolls less brown.  Allow to cool in muffin cups and then move rolls to a plate for frosting.

These freeze well if frozen in one layer 9on a plate or cookie sheet) and then moved to a freezer bag or large storage container lined with wax paper or parchment.  Reheat in the microwave 20-30 seconds.