Smitten Kitchen Buttermilk Biscuits

Just when you think you can't have enough biscuit recipes, then you make another one. I wouldn't have even blogged the recipe (thinking ok, ok I have enough) except that the Robber really liked these and... ok fine, they are pretty delicious. I will make something that is not from Smitten Kitchen eventually, but my cookbooks have been packed in boxes for years now, and I haven't the time to be more creative in internet browsing. And why would I when Deb does such a good job? We ate the biscuits with barbecue chicken and corn on the cob-- a perfect end of summer meal.

Notes: Deb states you can use cake flour for a more tender biscuit, and when I made these for the Robber I used half all-purpose and half cake flour and liked the result. I used 2 tsp. of sugar. I felt they tasted a little too much of baking powder, so I would half this or omit it in the future. Makes six large biscuits.

From Smitten Kitchen:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/03/my-favorite-buttermilk-biscuits/

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour, cake flour, or a mixture of the two
2 tsp - 1 1/2 T. sugar
1 T. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. (or less?) baking soda
9 T. chilled unsalted butter
3/4 C. buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl and using a pastry blender or form, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal.

3. Add buttermilk and stir until roughly moistened. Flour hands and knead the mixture in the bowl under it holds together.

4. Transfer the dough to your parchment paper-lined baking sheet and shape into a disc approximately 1/2 - 3/4" inch deep. Using a floured knife, cut the disc into six (or desired number) wedge shapes and space the wedges out evenly on the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the top.

Truly Short Shortcake

The redeeming thing about these (and the plum gratin before it) was that I was able to eat these in one of my favorite summer ways: the biscuit split open, with a layer of plain Greek yogurt on each half, and fruit (or fruit puree) scooped over the top. Like a strawberry shortcake with yogurt instead of cream, and more mash to the fruit. Otherwise, this biscuit was a little disappointing. The texture was nice and biscuity, but I like my other biscuit recipe better, and this lacked flavor even with me using buttermilk. The problem is I just keep trucking along, hoping to find alternates when I have things I am already perfectly happy with. So the chances of making this again are slim, but this is not a blog about perfection, just about archiving. Trying. Experimenting. Being. 

Note: I only made the cake part, not the berries. Also, the recipe says this makes 12, but what a mighty small 12 those would be. I made six more substantial sized scones by cutting a round of the dough into six triangles.

From Mark Bittman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/dining/the-minimalist-truly-short-shortcake.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 C. cake flour or all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

4 tsp. baking powder

4 T. cold butter

7/8 C. milk (low fat is ok)

6 C. cleaned and sliced strawberries

Sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the strawberries with 1 cup sugar. 

2. Mix remaining sugar with flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into bits, and either pulse it a few times quickly in the processor with the dry ingredients or take a little of the dry ingredients, rub a bit of butter into them with your fingers and drop back in the bowl. All the butter should be thoroughly blended.

3. Slowly add the milk to the bowl, stirring it in with a large spoon until the mixture forms a ball. The mixture should be sticky; use a little more or less milk if necessary. 

4. Drop mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet, one heaping tablespoon per cake. 

5. Bake about 10 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown. (Keep an eye on them; once browning starts, it goes quickly.) Let cool a bit; top with strawberries and their juices and the whipped cream.

Pumpkin Walnut Pancakes

I made these for my friend J. for brunch and they were sweet and autumnal and light and delicious as a pancake should be in the fall. You can either put the walnuts in the pancake or sprinkle them on top, it's pretty equivalent either way. The recipe is originally from Mirror Lake Inn at Lake Placid in New York (there's a little nostalgia here for upstate New York in the fall), found on the internet by way of Epicurious, but I have modified it somewhat here as per the reviewers comments.

The original recipe at Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Walnut-Flapjacks-108613

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C. buttermilk

3/4 C. canned pure pumpkin

4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

2 T. sugar

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

2 T. unsalted butter, melted

1 1/3 C. cake flour (can also use regular or 1/2 whole wheat)

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ginger

3/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Vegetable oil or butter

1/2 C. finely chopped walnuts

Pure maple syrup

Directions:

1. Whisk buttermilk, pumpkin, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend; whisk in melted butter.

2. Whisk flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl to blend.

3. Add dry ingredients to buttermilk mixture and whisk to combine.

4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whites into batter.

5. Lightly oil or butter heavy large skillet set over medium heat. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto skillet; cook until bubbles form on top, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn flapjacks over and cook until second sides brown, about 1 minute.

6. Transfer flapjacks to plates. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve with syrup.

Rhubarb "Big Crumb" Coffee Cake

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen by way of Eggs On Sunday to this little bloggo here. Our neighbors the Reams have a beautiful rhubarb plant still growing away and have been urging us to partake of it and this morning we made a pre-Conference trek out to their place with a little chopping knife and devoured part of their rhubarb plant. The Robber thinks this is not so much coffee cake as just cobbler-ness, but regardless he ate over half the pan in one go so that tells you what he really thought of it. More work than a regular coffee cake, but definitely delicious. Ultimately, however, if the amount of rhubarb you have is limited, this is not a good way to use it because the rhubarb gets lost in the cake and the flavor isn't emphasized as much as it is in rhubarb pie or just rhubarb puree, which we have also been making lots of and eating on Greek yogurt. The cake would probably be just as delicious without the fruit or with pears/plums/other fruit as substitution for the rhubarb.

I found the recipe here:

http://eggsonsunday.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/rhubarb-big-crumb-coffee-cake/

Ingredients:

For the rhubarb filling:

1/2 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed

1/4 C. sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

For the crumbs:

1/3 C. dark brown sugar

1/3 C. granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 C. (1 stick) butter, melted

1 3/4 C. cake flour (I’ve used all-purpose as well and it works fine, but do use cake flour if you have it)

For the cake:

1/3 C. sour cream

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C. cake flour (see note above about AP flour substitution)

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6 T. softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.

2. Slice the rhubarb into 1/2-inch pieces, toss with the sugar, cornstarch and ginger, and set aside.

3. Make the crumbs: In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, spices and salt. Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth. Dump in the flour and stir it into the sugar/butter mixture until fully incorporated. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Set aside.

4. Make the cake: In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the pieces of butter along with a spoonful of the sour cream mixture, and mix on medium speed until the flour is moistened and the butter is broken into bits. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds, then add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and set aside 1/2 cup batter.

5. Scrape the remaining batter into the pan, spoon the rhubarb over the batter, and dollop the reserved 1/2 cup batter over the rhubarb (don’t worry if it’s not even).

6. Break the topping mixture into big crumbs with your fingers. The recommended crumb size is 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Sprinkle the crumbs over the cake, and bake cake until a tester comes out clean (it might be moist from the rhubarb), 45-55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Classic Scones

So basically I'm addicted to scones.

These are from our friend Mark Bittman and they are rich and creamy and biscuity and sooooo good with some Greek yogurt and a little apricot puree spread on the top. Kind of like clotted cream and jam, only my version. Thank you once again Mr. Bittman my friend.

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/dining/13minirex.html?ref=dining

Ingredients:

2 C. cake flour, more as needed

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

3 T. sugar

5 T. cold butter, cut into pieces

1 egg

1/2 - 3/4 C. heavy whipping cream, more for brushing

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

2. Add the egg and just enough cream to form a slightly sticky dough. If it’s too sticky, add a little flour, but very little; it should still stick a little to your hands.

3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead once or twice, then press it into a 3/4-inch-thick circle and cut into 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass. Put the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again. Brush the top of each scone with a bit of cream and sprinkle with a little of the remaining sugar.

4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the scones are a beautiful golden brown. Serve immediately.

Yield: 8 to 10 scones.