Cream Biscuits

Summer is nearly over, and I'm back.  It's been a busy few months, and somehow time got away from me.  I have tons of tasty food pics just waiting to be posted, so don't be surprised if you see fresh corn and tomatoes in the middle of November.  In the meantime, I give you these cream biscuits.  They're probably the easiest biscuits you'll ever make--and so very good.  There's no butter (or shortening or lard even) to cut in, so they come together in no time at all.  The recipe, from Sara Moulton, calls for heavy cream, but I've used light cream just as well.  I also use slightly less baking powder than is called for, as the full amount tasted a bit too metallic to me.  Make these--don't make them all the time, or at least don't blame me if you do--but they're so good, and so easy, that you'll want to.

Cream Biscuits
(based on Sara Moulton's recipe)

2 c all-purpose flour
3/4-1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1.5 c heavy cream (light will work too)

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Then pour in about 1 cup of the cream, stirring with a fork and slowly adding more cream til it all comes together.  Gently knead the dough a few times--you don't want to overwork it, but you want it to be well-blended--and form it into a ball.  Flatten the ball somewhat and slice it into eight wedges.  Or you can do what I did and make two balls and 16 smaller wedges.  Put them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 20 min. or so, til pale golden.  Let cool slightly on a wire rack, or risk your fingers (and mouth) and eat them hot out of the oven.

Raspberry Shortcake with Lemon Curd

Our Easter this year was a more quiet celebration--but no less fun or tasty.  For dinner, I roasted a chicken with some oranges and scallions.  There was also sauteed tofu with ginger and honey, mashed potatoes, carrots, deviled eggs, and a spinach salad.  And then for dessert, mostly after finding what are apparently elusive at Whole Foods this week--fresh raspberries (though clearly I've bought a lot lately)--I made raspberry shortcakes with lemon curd.  Flaky, slightly sweet biscuits were layered with chantilly cream, lemon curd, and then piled with raspberries.  It's hard to go wrong with that combination really.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

These biscuits really are as good as they look.  I thought the sweet potato might weigh them down some, but they're super light and flaky ... and kinda hard to stop eating.  So here's the recipe, with my changes in parentheses.  Make these now. 

Sweet Potato Biscuits

(from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

2 c flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg
2 Tbs light brown sugar, packed (I used 1 Tbs)
6 Tbs cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 15-oz cans of sweet potatoes in syrup, drained and mashed (Dorie suggests that if you want to use leftover sweet potato, mash it up and measure out 3/4-1 c of it.  I had about 1/2 c and made up the difference with milk.  Not sure how the two cans equal one cup ... but it all worked out.)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon/nutmeg, and brown sugar.
3. Then cut in the butter (I use my hands, but you could use two forks) til the pieces are pea-sized or so.
4. Add in the mashed sweet potato (and milk, if it's too dry and/or you don't have enough sweet potato on hand), and mix quickly til it forms a soft (not sticky) dough.
5. On a floured counter, knead the dough briefly, maybe three or four turns, and then roll or pat out til it's about one-half inch thick.  Using a 2 or 2.5-inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.  Gather the scraps together and roll out again, cutting as many biscuits as possible. 
6. Bake for 14-18 min., or til puffed up and golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes and enjoy.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bakewell Cream Biscuits

These biscuits are about the simplest I've ever made, and they're by far the tallest, too. The difference is that I used Bakewell Cream powder instead of regular baking powder. Bakewell's is a Maine thing, one I'd heard about for a while but never tried, and I just followed the directions on the back of the tin. They bake for just five minutes and then sit in the hot oven for another five to brown. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicken Stew With Biscuits

More cold weather cooking! Chicken stew, based on a Barefoot Contessa recipe, topped with starry buttermilk biscuits--I managed to tuck a few into the freezer before the rest disappeared. I baked chicken breasts, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then added them to onions and leeks that had been sauteed in butter, and then mixed with a little cream and chicken stock. I diced up some carrots, added some frozen peas, and poured the whole thing into a baking dish. Since the biscuits were already done, the whole thing needed only about 15 min. in the oven. On the side, we had a simple salad of baby spinach and blood oranges, which I lovelovelove.

Billions of Buttermilk Biscuits and Quiche

We have eggs delivered here from a farm in Pennsylvania each week. Thing is, a dozen eggs is sometimes a lot to use up in a week, and if you don't cook much one week, suddenly you have lots of eggs waiting to be used. So, faced with nearly 3 dozen eggs, I decided to make quiche the other night--ham and cheddar in one, and broccoli and cheddar in the other. I also had a recipe for buttermilk biscuits I'd wanted to try from Gourmet, so I made those and a big salad and called it dinner. The biscuits were good, though I have other recipes I like better, and it made a lot--but having teenagers in the house helped to make quick work of them.