Faux Seafood Biscuit Baskets

by Victoria Shearer

These tasty faux seafood biscuits make a great lunchbox change of pace! Imitation crab and imitation lobster are actually processed products made from a white fish called pollock. Less than two percent of the product is actually crab or lobster, but the fish is flavored to taste like the real deal. Imitation seafood is a great cost-conscious substitute.

1 (8-ounce) package imitation crabmeat, finely chopped

1 (8-ounce) package imitation lobster meat, finely chopped

1 (6-ounce) package dry Alfredo sauce mix

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon Fox Point seasoning, optional*

2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives, divided

2 (12-ounce) tubes Pillsbury Grands! flaky biscuits

8 ounces finely shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix imitation crab and lobster meats together in a large bowl. Whisk Alfredo mix and milk together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and bring mixture to a boil, whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes more, whisking constantly. Whisk in Fox Point seasoning and 1 tablespoon chives. Pour Alfredo sauce over seafood mixture and stir until ingredients are well combined.

Coat two 12-count muffin pans liberally with vegetable cooking spray. Working with several biscuits at a time and keeping the rest refrigerated, divide each biscuit into 2 flat pieces of dough. Place each dough piece onto a flat surface and press with clean fingers until dough piece forms a circle large enough to fit into the muffin cup and up its sides. Press each circle into a muffin cup, forming a dough basket. Repeat with remaining biscuits, forming 24 dough baskets. Spoon seafood mixture into dough baskets until they are about three-quarters full. Fill with mozzarella cheese to top of basket.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until biscuit baskets are lightly browned and cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven. Add a sprinkling of snipped chives atop melted cheese. Allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Using the tip of a knife to gently remove seafood baskets from muffin pans, transfer baskets to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely. Repeat this process with any remaining biscuit dough and seafood mixture. Serve at room temperature. (Baked seafood baskets can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw them completely before serving. You can reheat them in microwave for 30 seconds if desired.

Note #1: You can make bite-sized snack or appetizer portions of Faux Seafood Biscuit Baskets by using mini-muffin pans. Divide each biscuit into 3 portions, flatten into a circle as instructed above, forming a dough biscuit in each mini-muffin cup. Fill each with about 1 kitchen teaspoonful of seafood mixture and top with cheese. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with chives before serving.

Note #2: Fox Point seasoning is my favorite go-to spice for lots of dishes. Available from Penzey’s Spice Co. (www.penzeys.com) it is a tasty blend of salt, shallots, chives, garlic, onion, and green peppercorns. It adds a little zing to the seafood baskets. If you’d like to keep the seafood filling a little blander, for a child’s palate, you can omit the Fox Point seasoning, or season only half the seafood mixture, creating kid/adult portions.

Victoria Shearer is the author of Leftover Makeovers: Great New Meals from Last Night's Dinner, Slow Cooker Classics from Around the World: Fresh Ideas for Slow Cooking, Quick, Cheap Comfort Food: 100+ Fresh Recipes for Meals in a Hurry, and other cookbooks that contain recipes your kids will love to cook with you... and eat!