Basic Drop Biscuits

Drop biscuits are some of the easiest biscuits to make because you don’t have to roll them out or cut them with a biscuit cutter which makes for less equipment to use and less handling. Remember, the more you handle your dough, the tougher your biscuits turn out so you want to handle your dough as little as possible. These biscuits are Old Goat Honey’s favorite because he loves how they’re all crispy on the outside but chewy inside. I love making ham and cheddar drop biscuits, like the ones I have pictured, and serving them with eggs and coffee for breakfast.

BASIC DROP BISCUITS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup cold buttermilk (can substitute milk)
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter, for brushing on top (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, melt 1/2 cup butter in the microwave and let cool about 5 minutes.
4. Pour melted butter and buttermilk into flour mixture and stir just till mixture comes together. You’ll have a soft, sticky dough.
5. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter onto prepared baking sheet, about 1½ inches apart.
6. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until tops are golden brown and crisp.
7. Take biscuits out of oven and immediately brush tops with 2 tablespoons melted butter, if desired.

VARIATIONS:  You can add things to the dry ingredients like ½ cup shredded cheese, or ½ cup chopped ham, or ½ cup crumbled bacon, or ¼ cup minced herbs, etc., alone or in combination with each other, before combining with the wet ingredients. You may have to increase the buttermilk to moisten the dough some more if you add other ingredients.

NOTE:  For the biscuits pictured, I added ½ cup shredded cheddar, ½ cup minced ham, 2 chopped green onion stalks, and about another ½ cup buttermilk.

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Waffled Biscuits and Gravy

My sister-in-law, Anna, loves Biscuits and Gravy. It’s one of her favorite American breakfasts. Whenever she comes to visit, we always make sure to go out for breakfast and invariably, that’s what she orders. Biscuits and Gravy is an old American favorite, especially down south. It’s literally a biscuit topped with sausage gravy, sometimes also called Sawmill Gravy.

For this recipe, instead of just baking my biscuits in the oven, I cooked them in a waffle iron. The little wells made by the waffle iron made perfect little pockets to catch more of the savory gravy. Yum! Added to that, they looked so darn cute! If you don’t have a waffle iron or you’re feeling lazy to pull it out, just bake your biscuits in the oven like normal.

WAFFLED BISCUITS AND GRAVY

• 1 lb. bulk breakfast sausage
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 cups milk
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage, optional
• 1/4 tsp. pepper, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp. salt, or to taste
• 8 biscuits, homemade or purchased refrigerated biscuit dough (like Pillsbury)
• butter for greasing the waffle iron

1. Brown sausage in a medium pot, breaking up with a spoon, until completely cooked.
2. Sprinkle in the flour and stir till flour is all absorbed.
3. Pour in the milk, stirring well.
4. Add green onions, sage, pepper, and salt. If using refrigerated biscuits, you may want to omit the salt because store-bought biscuits are pretty darn salty.
5. Continue to cook, stirring until thickened.
6. Cover and keep warm over low heat.
7. Preheat waffle iron on medium-high heat. Brush center lightly with melted butter.
8. Place 1 biscuit round into waffle iron and gently close without pushing down.
9. Cook halfway, then close lid completely and continue cooking until biscuits are golden and cooked through.
10. Repeat with remaining biscuits.
11. To serve, place a biscuit on a plate and top with sausage gravy.

Cornbread Trifle

I needed a side-dish to take to a barbecue. Well what could be better than cornbread and a veggie salad? Enter Cornbread Trifle. This recipe has a lot of my favorite components for barbecue side dishes. Plus it looks so beautiful all layered up in your trifle bowl. It’s guaranteed to wow everyone with its gorgeous looks and just wait till you taste it! It’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser for sure!

This recipe makes a lot so you’ll need a large trifle bowl. Otherwise, be prepared to have some leftover veggies (which are great tossed with chopped lettuce and ranch dressing the next day).

CORNBREAD TRIFLE

• 1 box cornbread mix (I used Krusteaz Honey Cornbread mix)
• sour cream (amount according to milk called for on cornbread package)
• ¼ cup milk
• 1-2 jalapeño peppers, depending on how spicy you want it
• 1 lb. thick sliced bacon
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1½ cups chopped tomatoes
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ small red onion or sweet vidalia onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cans (15-oz. each) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (15-oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• 8 ozs. smoked gouda cheese, grated (If you can’t get smoked gouda, you could use smoked cheddar or even just plain sharp cheddar cheese)
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Make the Cornbread:

1. Preheat oven as per package directions and grease an 8 or 9-inch baking pan.
2. Cut off the stem end of the jalapeños, then remove the inner membrane and seeds.
3. Finely mince the jalapeños.
4. Prepare batter following the directions behind the box, but replace the milk with sour cream to make the cornbread moister.
5. Add ¼ cup milk and the minced jalapeños to the rest of the ingredients for the cornbread batter.
6. Bake according to the time and temperature directed on the package.
7. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool completely.
8. Cut cooled cornbread into approximately 1-inch cubes.

Prepare the Bacon:

1. Lay the bacon slices on a foil covered sheet pan.
2. Bake at 400ºF for 15 minutes or until brown and crispy.
3. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.
4. Stack the crispy bacon and cut them into ½-inch pieces.
5. Set aside ¼ cup of bacon pieces for garnish.

Make the Dressing:

1. Place the mayonnaise and ranch dressing in a bowl.
2. Whisk together until smooth and well blended.

Prepare the Veggies:

1. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, corn, black beans, and cilantro.
2. Stir to combine well.

Assemble the Trifle Layers:

1. Place half the cornbread on the bottom of a large trifle bowl. Press down lightly.
2. Top with half the veggies.
3. Next half the cheese.
4. Then half the bacon. Don’t touch the ¼ cup you reserved for garnish.
5. End with half the dressing.
6. Repeat the layers a second time ending in dressing.
7. Garnish the top with the green onions and reserved ¼ cup bacon.
8. Chill in refrigerator at least an hour before serving.

[Adapted from 52 Ways to Cook]

7-Up Biscuits

I got this recipe from one of the girls at work. She said her mom makes it for them all the time. I’d never heard of biscuit dough made with 7-Up so I was really curious to try this. The biscuits turned out pretty good. The recipe makes a super sticky dough but if you sprinkle your work surface generously with extra bisquick before turning the dough out, and then sprinkle the top of the dough with more bisquick before patting it flat, it really helps a lot. You could substitute flour for sprinkling if you like.

7-UP BISCUITS

• 4 cups bisquick baking mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup 7-up
• ½ cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Place butter in a 9×13″ pyrex baking dish and put into oven to melt the butter.
3. Remove baking dish from oven once butter is melted.
4. Mix bisquick, sour cream and 7-Up together in a bowl. The dough will be very soft and sticky.
5. Sprinkle extra bisquick onto work surface and turn dough out.
6. Sprinkle a little more bisquick on top of dough.
7. With your hands, gently pat the dough to about 1-inch thick or so. These biscuits don’t rise very much so you want to have your dough be fairly thick.
8. Cut out 12 circles using a biscuit cutter or an overturned glass.
9. Arrange biscuits on top of melted butter in baking dish. A bench scraper or spatula helps to transfer the soft dough from the work surface to the baking dish.
10. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Note:   I like to cut 2½-inch diameter biscuits which fill up my baking pan nicely, but you can certainly cut them larger or smaller. It’s up to you to decide what size you want your biscuits.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Rollups

I saw a recipe for these roll-ups in a magazine years ago. I don’t remember which magazine it was, but I always remembered them and had it in the back of my mind to try them some day. Well, my Mom was here to visit and I wanted to fix her a cup of coffee and an afternoon snack to go with it so I thought it would be good to try making them today. I couldn’t find the recipe I copied down all those years ago, but I had a general idea of what to do. They turned out really yummy! Definitely one for the family favorite archives!

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE ROLLUPS

• 1 loaf white bread
• 1 pkg. (8 ozs.) cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ cup melted butter or margarine (add more as needed)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to  350ºF.
2. Cut crusts off bread and save for later use. (I love making bread pudding with them.)
3. Blend cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth.
4. Spread a little cream cheese mixture on each slice of bread.
5. Roll each slice into a log, pressing ends lightly to seal.
6. Pour melted butter into a pie plate.
7. In a second pie plate, combine 1 cup sugar and cinnamon.
8. Roll each log in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar.
9. Arrange on baking sheet.
10. Bake for 16-19 minutes or until light brown.

Aebleskiver (or Ebelskiver)

Aebleskiver (pronounced ey-bluh-skee-wuh) are puffy little sphere-shaped Danish pancakes. The name literally means “apple slices” in Denmark where they were traditionally filled with pieces of apple or applesauce. Since the 1600’s, aebleskiver has historically been served in Denmark at Christmas time accompanied by glogg or mulled wine. Nowadays you can find them pretty much year round. They’re often made plain, then sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served with jam. You also find them filled with a variety of sweet or savory fillings like chocolate, peanut butter, cookie butter, fruit preserves, fresh fruit like blueberries or raspberries, cheese, bacon, or sausage.

They’re cooked over the stove in an aebleskiver pan which looks like a deep frying pan with several round wells in it. You can easily find cast iron aebleskiver pans on the market or non-stick cast aluminum ones like the one made by Nordicware (which is the kind I have). The trick to making aebleskiver is to be patient. Take your time turning the little pancakes one by one in quarter increments so you end up with a perfect little round ball. It takes some patience, but with practice you’ll have the hang of it in no time! Have fun!

AEBLESKIVER

[Makes about 30 aebleskiver]

• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

1. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, and melted butter.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar, whisking until smooth.
4. Gently fold in beaten egg whites, taking care not to deflate.
5. Heat aebleskiver pan over medium heat until hot.
6. Generously brush each little well in aebleskiver pan with butter. You want a little pool of butter at the bottom.
   
7. Pour batter into each cup, filling to just below the top. They’ll puff up a little as they start cooking.
   
8. Cook till they start to get bubbly around the edges.
9. Carefully lift and turn a quarter turn using aebleskiver turners, bamboo skewers, chopsticks, knitting needles, or even a fork will do.
   
10. After a minute or so, lift and turn a quarter turn again.
    
11. Continue cooking, lifting and turning each ball a quarter turn, until completely done. You’ll want to turn the balls a total of 4 to 5 turns each.
    
12. After the last turn, let cook a couple of minutes, then keep rotating them in the wells to ensure they cook evenly and don’t burn.
    
13. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
14. Serve with jam or syrup on the side.

NOTE:  If you want to see the traditional way to cook aebleskiver, watch this. It takes a little practice but you can do it!

Cranberry Scones

Well, here goes. My first blog post. I thought I would start with my cranberry scones. Is there anything better than waking up in the morning to the smell of hot coffee and freshly baked scones? I love all things bread-y and doughy and these scones fit the bill. They’re warm, comforting, easy to make, and my kids love them.

This is a very forgiving recipe. You can substitute plain yogurt, sour cream, whipping cream, half-and-half, or buttermilk for the liquid (milk) in the recipe. It all works. If you want to, you could also switch the dried cranberries for raisins, dried blueberries, or some other dried fruit.

The secret to making nice, tender scones is to work quickly and handle the dough as little as possible. The more you knead the dough, the tougher your scones will turn out, so don’t over work it and your scones will be just fine.

CRANBERRY SCONES

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. orange zest (optional)
• 2-1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup cold margarine or butter
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine flour, sugar, orange zest (if using), baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Cut in margarine with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; then stir in dried cranberries.
3. Combine milk and vanilla and stir into flour mixture.
4. Gather dough together and turn out onto floured work surface.
5. Cut in half and form into two balls.
6. Pat each ball into a flat disk, at least half an inch thick.
7. Cut each disk into 6 wedges.
8. Place each wedge on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
9. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

NOTE:  I usually omit the orange zest because I’m too lazy to zest an orange. This recipe turns out fine without it. Otherwise, Trader Joe’s sells orange-flavored cranberries that work great in this recipe. You can omit the orange zest and use the Trader Joe’s cranberries instead, if you prefer.