Scratch Biscuits

I tried making biscuits maybe 25 or so years ago and they never came out right, kinda like Ellie Mae Clampett's for those who remember watching The Beverly Hillbillies.  So, I gave up and never really thought about making them from scratch until a few weeks ago.  I gave it another shot and I guess some things do get better with age.  Thought I would share my recipe for those who want to give it a try.

I took the recipe off a bag of White Lily flour and changed it up just a bit.  The first time I made them with this recipe, I used it exactly as written.  Here is the recipe exactly how it appears on the bag.  (I'll share my changes at the end).

2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup veg. shortening
2/3 cup-3/4 cup milk

Even though the biscuits come out pretty good with the recipe as written, I thought I could change a few things and make them more to my liking.  So here is my adaptation:

2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
almost 1 teaspoon salt (I thought 1 whole teaspoon made them too salty)
2 1/2 Tablespoons dried buttermilk powder *
4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)-chilled
2/3 (or a little more) water

*you can find buttermilk powder on the baking aisle of the grocery where they carry canned evaporated milk and stuff like that

Preheat your oven at 500 degrees (yep...that's 500).  Preheating is very important.  Measure out your flour, baking powder, salt and buttermilk powder into a bowl and blend it with a fork to get it mixed together.  I like to use White Lily flour for biscuits because it is milled from soft southern wheat which is better for making biscuits.  For more on different types of flour, see my post Flour Power.

Take your butter out of the refrigerator and cut into about 10-12 pieces. Put those into the dry mix and blend with a pastry cutter or 2 knives.  I use a pastry cutter and it makes this step very easy.  It is important that your butter is very cold.  I don't take mine out of the frig until I am ready to put it in the dry mix.  I mash it with the cutter a few times and then scrape the cutter off and repeat 4-5 times.  The butter should be about the size of peas when you are done (there are usually some bigger chunks that don't get mixed up as well).

Next, I add the 2/3 cup water and mix with a fork.  The goal is to get the mixture to "come together" and pull away from the sides of the bowl.  I usually end up adding a little more water to get all the flour incorporated in the mix.  You don't want it to be liquid but you don't want it real dry either.  It is going to be sticky but more flour will be added at the rolling-out step.  This is what it looks like when I put it on the counter to start kneading it.

It's kind of a sticky mess and you will have dough stuck on your fingers.  Make sure you throw some flour out on your rolling surface (I use my counter top) before you turn out your dough.  Add a dusting of flour on the top and flour your hands.  Gently knead the dough for 3-4 times.

Unlike bread dough, biscuit dough should be kneaded very gently.  Kneading bread dough will make you break out in a sweat and give your arms a good workout.  Biscuit dough kneading should be gentle and only done a few times to produce a rollable dough.






Take your rolling pin and roll to about 1/2-inch thickness.  I may have rolled mine out a little thin this morning.  I cut out as many as I can, then re-roll the scraps left over after I pick up the first biscuit cuttings.  Each time you have to re-roll, your dough will get a little tougher.

Cut your biscuits out with a cutter, inverted glass, what ever you have to cut them out with and place on nonstick pan or cookie sheet.  I like to use a silpat for biscuits.  The bottoms never get too brown and they never stick.  They aren't cheap but last a very long time.  I have had this one for years.  You can also use parchment paper.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

I have made these with skim milk in place of the buttermilk powder/water mix.  Just use 2/3+ cup of milk for the liquid.  I have also used a milk/half-n-half blend.  I still like them better with the dry buttermilk powder.  I bought the buttermilk powder for a cake I was making because we don't drink buttermilk at my house and if I buy fresh buttermilk, it will just get thrown out.  You keep the powder in the frig and it will stay fresh for quite a while.  There are directions on the back for using it in recipes as a substitute for fresh buttermilk.

Give these a try sometime.  They are really quite easy and turn out great.

P.S.   In case you are wondering about the blue coffee container in some of the pictures, that is my flour canister.  I searched for quite a while for a suitable canister that had a mouth wide enough to get my 1-cup scoop in easily.  Never found one but this coffee container works great.

Cooking with Mamaw

Some of my great holiday memories are going to my Mamaw's house Thanksgiving & Christmas mornings to help her with the holiday meal.  I once asked her to share her recipes for some of her "signature" dishes, but she didn't use recipes.  She added a little of this and a pinch of that.  So, I decided to bring paper and pen in the kitchen and write down what she was doing as she was cooking.  That is how I learned how to make this recipe that she called Applesauce Cake.



Now, this isn't a traditional cake.  It is more like a quick bread (think banana nut bread or zucchini bread). This cake is great with coffee.   I love the smell of the spices in this cake.











Here is what you will need:

1 stick butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce (natural apple sauce)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans

My Mamaw made hers in a cast iron skillet but I use either a loaf pan or mini loaf pan. The mini loaves are great for give aways.  Be sure to grease and flour your pans.  I use a baking spray like Baker's Joy.

In one bowl, cream the sugar & butter.  Mix in the applesauce.  Don't freak out if it looks curdled.  This is how it looks at this stage when I make it:

In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.  Mix the flour-spice combo with a whisk or fork.  Add the raisins and pecans to the flour mix.  Add the 2 mixtures together and stir to combine.  It will be a thick batter. A VERY thick batter:

Pour into a greased and floured bread pan (or mini loaf pan) and bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean.  If you use a cast iron skillet or bread pan, it will take about 50-60 minutes to bake.  The mini loaf pan will take less time.

Holiday Treats

It's been quite a while since I have written anything for the baking blog :(   I started a new job in the summer and although I am grateful to have a job, this one is both a time and energy drainer.  But - I did have time to make some holiday treats this weekend.

Cookies - I took refrigerated sugar cookie dough and set it out so it would warm up a bit.  Then I rolled it out into a rectangle and sprinkled green and red sugar on it.  I attempted to roll it up jelly-roll style.  It was a little difficult to handle because it was so "melty".  Then, I wrapped it in plastic and placed it in the freezer to harden.  Once hard, I used a knife to slice and place on parchment-lined sheet pans.

On the left, the sliced cookie dough.  On the right, the baked cookies

They did not turn out as jelly-roll looking as I would have liked, but they're ok.

Next project was Christmas mice.  These are pretty easy to make.  You will need:

dark chocolate candy melts (or chocolate chips)
maraschino cherries with stems
Hershey's kisses
thinly sliced almonds
red icing (optional)

Take the cherries and place on paper towel to dry.  It will look much nicer and work better if the cherries have been drained well on a paper towel.

Melt the candy melts in microwave safe bowl.  Be very careful when melting chocolate or candy melts in the microwave as it is easy to over heat.  You should still see some solid in the bowl and as you stir, the chocolate will continue to melt.  I suggest you use a container deep enough for you to easily dip the cherries in.

Dip the cherries in the chocolate and sit on wax paper to dry.  Once they are dry enough to handle, use a little of the melted chocolate to glue the almonds to the end of the cherry that is opposite the stem.  The almonds are the mouse ears.  Then glue on a Hershey's kiss for the face.  If you like, you can add eyes with red icing.  I just used a toothpick to add eyes to these.

The last item on my holiday treat list was Tiger Butter.  This is s super easy chocolate-peanut butter treat that tastes sort-of like a Snickers.  You will need:

1-lb. white chocolate
12 oz. crunchy peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Do not overheat.  Add the peanut butter and place in microwave for about another minute.  Stir until smooth.  Spread this mixture out in a wax-paper lined 9x13 pan.  Then, melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips and pour on top of the peanut butter mixture.  Take a knife and swirl through.  Place in the refrigerator just until set.  Take it out before it gets too hard to score.  If you wait until it gets real hard, it will be very difficult to cut.  I then put it back in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.  Pull out by the wax paper and cut.   Here is a picture of what it looks like before I scored it.  The cherries are in the background waiting for their "faces and ears".

Try one of these easy treats this year. 

That's the Icing on the Cake

There are many, many types of cake icing.  In today's post, I will give a general overview of the 3 types that I primarily use.

American Buttercream
This type of frosting (a/k/a icing) contains a fat (all butter, all vegetable shortening, or a combination of both); powdered sugar and flavoring (vanilla extract, lemon extract, etc).  There are hundreds of recipes for American Buttercream.  I have tried dozens of recipe variations and have recently settled on one that uses a combination of butter, shortening and cream cheese for the fat component.  Personally, I like the little "tang" that cream cheese gives to American Buttercream.  If an all-white icing is required, I have a recipe I like for an all shortening icing that is bright white and tastes like soft ice cream.

American Buttercream is easy to make, takes coloring easy and is a familiar taste and texture to most Americans.  Here is a cake that is iced in American Buttercream:











European Buttercream
As far as I know, there are 3 basic types of European Buttercreams:  French, Italian, and Swiss.  I have never used and probably never will use French Buttercream.  It is made with egg yolks and sounds very complicated.  Nuff said...

Italian Meringue Buttercream is made by heating a sugar and water solution to 245 degrees then slowing adding it to egg whites that have been whipped to a soft peak stage.  Then you add butter and flavorings.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is very similar to the Italian version.  Instead, you heat the sugar and egg whites over a water bath to about 140 degrees.  Then you pour that into a mixer and whip until stiff peaks form.  Once you have your meringue, add softened butter and beat with beater blade on low until fluffy, add flavorings of choice.

I prefer the Swiss version.  I have heard that the taste of the Swiss and Italian are very close and the Italian seems a little dangerous for a clutz like me (pouring a hot sugar syrup into beaten eggs).

The Swiss Meringue Buttercream is light and fluffy.  It works great for piping swirls on cupcakes.  Here is a cake and cupcakes iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream:


Fondant
Fondant is more like a cake covering rather than a frosting.  It was not well known by most Americans until the popularity of cake decorating TV shows.  It is great for giving a smooth and elegant finish.  It is rolled out like a pie dough, then placed over the cake and smoothed.  Fondant is the cake covering of choice in England and Australia.  There are many commercial brands of fondant- some taste horrible and some pretty good.  I have also made my own, but prefer to buy it already made.  I am definitely not an expert in covering cakes in fondant.  I get a little anxious every time I give it a try.  It can be finicky and hard to deal with, especially with larger cakes.  Here are a couple of cakes I have managed to get covered with fondant without pulling all my hair out:

When I first started decorating cakes, I only knew about the American Buttercream and only one recipe for that (the one used in the class).  There is a world of cake icings out there and I have enjoyed trying (and tasting) many of them.

Later...

Worth the Scratches

We've been picking blackberries for the past couple of weeks.  There is a large patch of the thorny canes along our fence with the neighboring cow pasture and they have been producing beautiful ripe blackberries for a few weeks now.

If you have ever picked blackberries, you know it requires some preparation in wearing appropriate clothes and making yourself as "chigger-proof" as possible.  I always end up snagging my clothes on the heavily thorned canes as well as getting my hands all scratched up.  Even though I stuffed my pants leg in my socks and sprayed myself with repellent, I managed to still get a fair number of chiggers.

Blackberries are probably my favorite berry.  It seems to me that their flavor is so much stronger than any other type of berry.

So...what to do with all those blackberries.  I used some of them to add to low-fat vanilla yogurt and some to add to pancake batter.  I think I will use some to add to my cereal muffins (made with Fiber One).  I saw someone on a cooking show the other day (I think Pioneer Woman), make blackberry butter.  She took softened butter, mixed blackberries into it and then froze it till needed for pancakes, toast, etc.

I did make a "cobbler" the other night.  I use that term loosely because it is not the traditional cobbler I grew up with - with pie crust like dough.  This is a very easy cobbler recipe I found in a Southern Living magazine.    

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place 4 cups frozen blackberries in a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish.
Stir together 1 large egg, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup all-purpose flour in a bowl until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Sprinkle over fruit.  Drizzle 6 Tbsp. melted butter over topping.  Bake 40-45 min. until lightly browned and bubbly.

*4 cups frozen mixed berries may be substituted
Fresh fruit can be used (decrease baking time 5-10 min)

Later...

Magically Delicious

It's not Lucky Charms but it is a rainbow.  I recently made a rainbow cake for a cute little girl's birthday and I took some pictures of the process along the way.  In case you haven't seen one of the thousands of rainbow cake tutorials already on the internet, here is mine.

This cake was a sheet cake done in the "tye-dye" style of rainbow with a half-round on top done in the "Martha Stewart" style of rainbow cake.  For the sheet cake, I first filled my pan with water up to the point I would usually fill with cake batter.  Then I poured that into a measuring cup to know exactly how much batter I would need.  Since I was using 6 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple), I calculated how much batter of each color I would need.

Instead of dividing the batter into equal portions, I used more for the bottom 2 and less for the top 2 with the middle 2 being somewhere in between.  Reason for this is that the bottom layers will spread out more and become thinner as shown in the following pics:

              Just take your first color and pour into the middle of your pan. Let it spread a little then add your second color right on top of it.  Then continue with the rest.  The colors underneath will continue to spread as you pour each successive color on top.

That's it-then just bake as you normally would.

For the Martha Stewart style rainbow cake, I divided the colored batter into 6 equal portions.  I baked each layer separately in the round cake pan.  The layers will be skinny (short) because you are only using a fraction of the batter for each "layer" that you normally would use.  Here is what the layers look like once out of the oven and cooling on a sheet pan:    



Once they have cooled, stack with frosting between each layer.

The birthday girl's mom sent me a pic of the cake once it was cut, so here you can see what the sheet cake part looked like:

Give one of these rainbow techniques a try sometime when you want to create a bit more colorful cake.  Note:  I used Wilton's paste colors (not liquid food color).  You can find these now at most Walmarts. You can also get them at Michaels.

Later...

You've Got Ring Around The Collar!

If you remember that commercial, you are as old as I am.  No, this post isn't about laundry, but it is about a "collar".  It is about collaring a cake.  I first heard about this technique several years ago, but just couldn't envision what I was supposed to be doing.  I finally saw some pictures and I was like "oh...duh."  So, if you haven't heard of collaring a cake and want to know a way to get your cake layers to rise taller, this post is for you.

This is one of the things I do to get my cake layers to rise taller.  I was already lining my pans with parchment paper anyway, so this is just a little different way to do that.

The pictures I took for this tutorial are my 3-layer, 9" pans that are just 1-1/2 inches tall.  My other cake pans are 2" tall so I get taller layers with them.



Once you have your bottom parchment piece in, cut rectangular strips that are about 1/2 inch higher than your pan.  So, in this case my parchment collar was 2" in height (1/2 inch taller than my pan).

I use homemade "pan grease" to attach my parchment papers to my pan but you can also use shortening, butter,or baker's spray.  The pan grease is just equal amount of vegetable oil, all-purpose flour and vegetable shortening.  I usually make it in 1/4 cup amounts.

Spread the pan grease on the side of the parchment strips that will be attached to the pan.  Be sure and overlap your strips.  I find it is easier to work with shorter strips than try to put one or two long strips around.  This is what it will look like:



Here is what it looks like with the cake batter:

Those things sticking up in the middle are flower nails.  They are metal spikes with a flat top that are used to make roses and other flowers.  I have a few that I use as a heating core in the middle of my cakes for more even heat distribution.  If you do this, be sure and grease up the nail before you pour your batter in.




Here are the cakes just out of the oven:

The chocolate one rose over the height of the pan.  One observation I made was that the thickest batter (chocolate) rose the highest, while the thinnest (strawberry) rose the least.




Here they are leveled and then stacked.  I am happy with the height I got from these 1-1/2 inch pans using the parchment collars.

Finally, here is the finished cake:

Later...