Somthing New for Arcadia

It’s easy to get into a rut.

Many Fridays I eat lunch with my friend Arcadia at a place that has wonderful stir frys over brown rice.

Last Friday was rainy and cool and the kind of day where it’s nice to stay home and have soup. In an effort to break out of our rut, and so she could see how my garden was shaping up, Arcadia came over for lunch. I made chicken soup and a nice green salad. It seemed like we needed one more thing, so I mixed together some cheese biscuits. Arcadia was quite taken with them and said that they were unlike any biscuits she had ever tasted…perhaps something new under the sun.

That morning I had opened my shipment from King Arthur Flour. I’d received a gift certificate and was like a kid in a candy shop when I went through the catalog and then online. So many wonderful things! One of the items that I had to have was their Harvest Grains Blend, an interesting mix of whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes and wheat flakes, plus flax, poppy, sesame and sunflower seeds. I added a quarter of a cup to the biscuits and it made such a difference!

The grains added depth of flavor and the seeds contributed more flavors and crunch. If you don’t have the blend, you could substitute two tablespoons of rolled oats, and some seeds you might have on hand, such as poppy, sesame, sunflower and/or pumpkin…about another 2 tablespoons if you have that.

The ‘surprise’ here isn’t the savory and delightful cheese, nor the seeds and flakes because you can see those in the finished biscuits. The ingredient that pulls it all together and gives it snap is cayenne pepper…just enough to lend a nice warmth. Without it the biscuits might seem too sweet.

Do try these with soup or green salad or even chili or chicken salad. I used packaged biscuit mix, but if you don’t want to do that, use your favorite biscuit recipe and then add the cheese, cayenne and seeds/grain flakes.

These were so popular that only one was left for the photo!

Spicy Seedy Cheesy Biscuits – or Something New Under the Sun Biscuits
Makes about 8 biscuits

1 ½ cups Bisquick Heart Smart mix or similar biscuit mix
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup King Arthur Harvest Grains Blend or substitution as suggested above
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon fat-free milk ( I used reconstituted fat free condensed milk)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a bowl, stir all the dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and add the milk. Stir just until combined and soft dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead 10 times.

Roll dough ½ inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch cutter dipped in flour. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or silicon mat.

Bake 7 – 9 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully the last minute so that they don’t burn.

Serve hot.