Last Updated on August 29, 2021 by Chef Mireille
I may have been born in Brooklyn and lived in New York City my entire life, except when I went away to school in New Mexico, however I definitely do not have an American palate. My favorite foods definitely represent my Caribbean heritage. Pumpkin, plantains and coconut are the staple foods in my kitchen, instead of apples, potatoes and pasta. In fact, this is the third bread I have done for #BreadBakers that included pumpkin. So when I wanted to come up with a flower themed bread for this month’s Bread Bakers for Mother’s Day, I immediately thought of these Caribbean flavors when I think of my Mom. Pumpkin Lavender Coconut Biscuits were my way of bringing some of the Caribbean into an American biscuit.
Most Americans use canned pumpkin. In fact, I taught a cooking class a few months ago to a major food brand who shall remain nameless as they are trying to expand their product lines to include Caribbean flavors and one of the participants in the class was so surprised when I brought in some pumpkin to demonstrate a Sancocho. She did not know pumpkin was something you could buy fresh, except for the ones sold around Thanksgiving to make jack-o-lanterns. I looked at her like she had 3 heads. Since I live in a neighborhood with a Caribbean population, all I have to do is go to my local Korean vegetable stand or supermarket to get my kabocha or calabaza pumpkin any time of the year.
I had purchased a whole kabocha pumpkin and made a variety of recipes, including these Pumpkin Lavender Coconut Biscuits for #BreadBakers. Canned pumpkin as sold in the US is actually made from butternut squash, which has a higher water content than kabocha or calabaza. If you use canned pumpkin to make this recipe, you may need to reduce the coconut milk quantity as this is already a really soft dough. In fact, they have almost a cake like crumb.
Check out some of my other Pumpkin Recipes
…yep there’s actually more…in fact when I went to create this list even I was surprised how deep my pumpkin love runs! In fact, the only reason I am loyal to the Noosa brand of yogurt, is because they have a pumpkin flavor!
Sweet and Savory Pumpkin Recipes
…for every occasion using both canned and fresh pumpkin…
- Pumpkin Jam
- Pumpkin Four Cheese Grilled Sandwich
- Pumpkin & Shrimp Laksa
- Thai Stewed Pumpkin Dessert
- Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Pumpkin Arepas
- Pumpkin Cheddar & Sage Pull Apart Rolls
- Pumpkin Pork Chops
- Pumpkin Sauce for Fried Fish
- Vegan Pumpkin Millet Waffles
- Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
- Pumpkin Hummus
- Pumpkin Spaghetti Omelette
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Nhopi – Zimbabwe Pumpkin Polenta
- Pumpkin Pie
HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN BISCUITS
These make a great breakfast with bacon, grape tomatoes and a few kumquats!
So soft and tender – you don’t even need butter!
Pumpkin Biscuits with Lavender
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup milk powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon herbs de provence
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoons culinary lavender
- ½ cup pumpkin cooked or canned
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- ¼ cup cold unsalted butter diced
- ½ cup coconut milk
Topping Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon culinary lavender
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with non stick spray.
- In a food processor, puree pumpkin and coconut milk until smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, milk powder, salt, sugar, herbs de provence, baking powder and lavender.
- Using a pastry blender, cut butter and shortening into flour mix until it resembles the size of small peas.
- Add pumpkin-coconut milk mixture and mix until just combined.
- On a well floured board, with floured hands, flatten dough with your hands until it is ½” thick.
- Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut out 9 biscuits, re-rolling the dough as necessary.
- In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and mix to combine.
- Brush a thick layer of the topping on each biscuit.
- Bake for 35 minutes, until golden.
Notes
Nutrition
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What a great flavor profile in these light fluffy biscuits.
thanks Wendy – yes they definitely compliment breakfast well
Wonderful combination of flavors! These look delicious!!
thanks Karen – they were delicious 🙂
Lovely flavours and delicious recipe.
thanks
Oh, I love the combination of ingredients you have in these biscuits; pumpkin, coconut and lavender, Yum!
thanks – yes the flavors did marry well
What a combination of flavours Mireille. The biscuits look super tempting and like learning about other cuisines.
thanks – yes it is so interesting the diversity of cuisines
Those biscuits look delicious, and I don’t see pumpkin for baking in our stores this time of year. I do see squash though and we love it. Thank you for participating this month and bringing such a delicious recipe!
because of the diversity of the communities in New York, we are lucky that most foods are available at any time of year
Adding lavender to Pumpkin Bread is such a great idea!! Loved the bake!
Wow, those biscuits sound so flavorful and delicious with pumpkin, lavender and coconut. They look so soft and fluffy too.
thanks – yes they are quite soft
Hello! Do you have a recommended substitute for milk powder? I would like to make these vegan. Thank you!
The milk powder provides a softer and more tender crumb. I would suggest substituting with cornstarch or just use more flour to replace the milk powder quantity.