Brunch with Biscuits and Pumpkin Chorizo Sausage Gravy

Halloween is almost upon us and I am still celebrating pumpkin. If you’d like to make a special breakfast or brunch meal for Halloween or Thanksgiving or Christmas or traditionally for New Year’s Day, you can’t go wrong with biscuits and gravy. And yes, they can be made low carb.  In fact, this dish, using one biscuit, is less than 4 net carbs when made with CarbQuick.  It may be a little higher with other low carb flours.

Boy-oh-boy, this is a favorite dish of mine, so I have been working to get a really good recipe for them. I use CarbQuick for my low carb flour baking mix choice, but you can also use Bob’s Red Mill Baking Mix or Dixie Carb Counters or LC Foods. It might work okay with almond flour, but it’s best to try to mix another flour in with it. This recipe for biscuits is the tastiest one I’ve come up with so far. The gravy has a fall twist to it and also a bit of a spicy touch as I add pumpkin puree and chorizo sausage along with the regular sausage. It is a great flavor combination. Be bold. Give these a try.

Best Savory Biscuits

1 cup Low Carb Flour
2 tablespoons Shortening
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
1/3 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
Pinch Salt
Pinch ground Thyme
1 to 2 tablespoons Cold Water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F.) Spray a baking pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder, salt, thyme and sugar substitute and mix together. Add the shortening and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles crumbles. Add 1 tablespoon of water and mix it into the dough. If it doesn’t pull together easily, add a little more water. You want the dough stiff but completely mixed.

Mix in the cheddar cheese until distributed. Divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a 3-inch round about 1/2-inch thick and place on the baking pan.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Makes 4 biscuits.

Nutrition Info per biscuit:
   Calories: 152.5 Fat: 12.8 g Net Carbs: 2.3 g Protein: 6.4 g

Pumpkin Chorizo Sausage Gravy

1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tablespoons Low Carb Flour
4 oz. Pork Sausage
2 oz. Basque Style Chorizo Sausage
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Puree

In a medium skillet, brown the sausage and chorizo, breaking it into smaller pieces as you cook it. When lightly browned remove to a paper towel on a plate to drain. Stir the low carb flour into the grease in the pan to make a paste. If there isn’t enough, add a little oil to the pan.

Stir in the heavy whipping cream and 1 cup of water, the Worcestershire sauce and the cayenne pepper and mix well. Then stir in the pumpkin puree and the cooked sausage. The sauce will thicken as it cooks.

Split the biscuits in half and pour 1/4 of the sausage gravy over each biscuit.

Makes 4 servings or 2 hungry-man (or woman) servings.

Nutrition Information for both biscuit and gravy per serving:
   Calories: 327.4 Fat: 23.9 g Net Carbs: 3.9 g Protein: 12.4 g