The Comfort of Buttermilk Biscuits

It's true that I get revved up thinking about making new recipes, especially the ones that the Bread Baking Babes and Cake Slice Bakers make each month. New ideas and techniques really get my creative juices flowing and it's fun to discover foods that can become favorites.

Sometimes, though, it's so nice to make a recipe that I've made over and over again. The process is usually faster and calmer and somehow comforting. I've made these biscuits since I was a young girl. My Dad loved his biscuits for breakfast and he loved them with stew. He loved them with ham and they make a great topping for chicken pot pie. Best of all they are great with some butter and honey, just out of the oven, with nothing but a cup of coffee. Well, I like them that way.

I haven't made biscuits for a long time, but this morning I was in the mood and I had all the ingredients ready to go. It's a short list, just self-rising flour, shortening and buttermilk. I keep my Crisco in the back of the fridge because I use it so rarely that it goes rancid in my cupboard between uses. That also makes it nice and cold for cutting into the biscuit flour. The essential thing with these biscuits is to avoid over handling the dough. You don't want a lot of gluten for these, just tender flakiness. I only knead the dough a few times; just enough to make sure the ingredients are evenly distributed. I do roll out the dough to about half the thickness I plan on having, then fold half of it over the other half. This makes it easy to split the biscuits when baked. Pushing straight down on the biscuit cutter is another tip. These really are easy as child's play, so try them soon. I bet you'll enjoy them as much as my Dad did. Don't forget the honey. I'm thankful to my newest neighbors who gave us a jar of local honey with comb in it for Christmas. They made these biscuits just perfect!

Classic Self-Rising Flour Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups sifted self-rising flour
 ½ cup shortening
1 cup buttermilk ( you can also use plain milk)

Cut shortening into the flour until consistency of coarse meal. Add enough milk to make a soft dough (may be slightly more or less than one cup).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead gently about ten strokes. Roll 1/4 the thickness desired for finished biscuit height. Fold half of the rolled out dough over the other half. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter (or drinking glass rim) pushing straight down. Don’t twist the cutter.

Place biscuits on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 4000 F oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 14 two-inch biscuits.

Mothers Day is Coming

Hard to believe, but it is almost May. Not only that, Mothers Day is a bit early this year, since it is on Sunday, May 11 th. Now you might already have the perfect gift picked out, or even purchased, but it's also possible that you have no idea what to get Mom.

If she likes to cook and bake, consider giving her my beautiful cookbook Classic Comfort Food, full of delicious recipes and lovely photos. I created it for my Mom for Mothers Day last year. You know if it is good enough for my Mom it is probably good enough for yours, too.

There are classics like biscuits, soda bread, waffles, fried chicken, coconut cake, sugar cookies and more!

Now the great part...you can get $10 off the book if you order it through Blurb by May 2, 2013. That should get it to you just in time for the big day, since they will ship it either to you or to your Mom...whatever address you give them.

To order through Blurb and get that $10 off, click HERE or on the image of the book at the top right of this blog (in the web version). At checkout be sure to put in SHARING10 for the promotion code to get that discount. Don't delay...May 2nd will be here so quickly and Mothers Day is just around the corner.

Also, you can buy a copy just for yourself, or as a Graduation gift (perfect of a grad who will be living in their own place with a kitchen now), or as a gift for a wedding, too. Just use SHARING10 for the promotion code and you are good to go and save $10 on the book.

Not exactly a give-away, but a good deal for a wonderful cookbook!

Hugs and kisses, Elle

Tender Flaky Biscuits

It's been downright chilly around here. Had to move my geraniums under cover on the porch because of the heavy frost that comes during the night. The photo above is a true winter sunset taken on the way home from work. Clear and cold!

When the evenings are chilly, a good beef stew warms you up and is hearty enough that I didn't even want to snack last night once I'd had some. I used the family recipe which I will post in a day or so. Then I made biscuits from scratch, something that I haven't done for ages.

Look at these tender, flaky biscuits! By using self-rising flour they go together very quickly. Since they bake in a pretty hot oven (400 degrees F.) they bake up fairly quickly, too. The whole process takes less than a half hour.

Never made biscuits from scratch? I warn you that you might never go back to the kind in the can in the refrigerator section of your grocery store. These taste sooooo much better!

The only trick to making these is to use a light hand. Cut in the shortening (or butter if you are feeling decadent...it works just fine)gently, and stir in the milk or buttermilk just enough to combine. These are NOT beaten biscuits. My mother taught us that a good way to shape them is to roll the dough out thinner than you want (again, gently), then fold the dough over itself, roll just a bit more, then cut out with biscuit cutter or a glass. I use a straight sided wine glass...the stem makes it easy to hold!

Biscuits Mom's Way
From Family Food, 1994

3 cups sifted self-rising flour (do not use all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup cold butter or room-temperature shortening (like Crisco)
1 to 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the shortening into the flour until consistency of coarse meal using a pastry blender or two knives. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface; knead gently about ten strokes to form into a ball. Roll to a little less than 1/2 of the thickness desired in finished biscuit. Fold half of dough over the other half. Roll to 1/2 the thickness desired in the finished biscuit. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter (or glass).

Place on baking sheet. Leave about an inch between biscuits. No need to grease the baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown.

Makes about 14 2" biscuits.

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.