Homemade Biscuits

Biscuits.  Light, fluffy, dense.  The last two may seem contradictory, but in fact it is possible to achieve a light and fluffy biscuit that is rather solid.  The key is to make them correctly with the best ingredients.  Now, if you are reading this saying "oh yeah, I've had biscuits!  My favorite kind come from a can," then we seriously need to have a talk.  It is true that some people just didn't grow up with homemade biscuits and don't really know where to start.  Others claim they don't have the time to make them.  Well folks, biscuits take a whole 10 minutes to make and 10-12 minutes to bake.  Period.  So, tell yourself you are worth the 20 minutes and just say no to all those nasty, chemically, preserved alternatives that you find in the refrigerated food section at the grocery store.

While there exists much debate among biscuit connoisseurs over whether buttemilk or cream reigns supreme as the liquid agent in stellar biscuits, I maintain there is room for both.  For years I regularly made the buttermilk variety, thinking that the only way to get a fluffy biscuit was to have that necessary ingredient and the reaction between the buttermilk and baking soda.  As of the past few years, I've really enjoyed biscuits made with half-and-half or cream.  What you get is a creamy biscuit without the tang that is present in the buttermilk variety.  Again, make no mistake, I'm a big fan of the buttermilk biscuit.  I just prefer a change once in a while, especially depending on what I'm making to serve along side them.  Love, love, love this recipe, and my favorite thing to serve it with is a chicken soup or the like.

Homemade Biscuits
(from Ina Garten's Family Style Cookbook--a must have in your cookbook library!)
(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, diced
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 egg mixed with 1 Tbs. water for egg wash (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients and butter in a bowl and use a pastry blender (or a fork if you don't have one; just may not want to use your hands because they will bring up the temperature of the butter and you don't want that) until mixture resembles coarse meal. 

Next, gradually add the half-and-half and stir together using a fork.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead it until it comes together, only a couple minutes.  Press or roll out dough to desired thickness--I prefer about 1 1/2 to 2 inches.  This creates a really puffy biscuit.  **A little trick I do once I've rolled out the dough is to gently pat/push in the sides of the dough toward the center.  This gives the dough a little slack and allows the dough to not be so pressed down and thin when I cut/punch out the biscuits.

Finally, punch out or cut into biscuits.  I'm a tad traditional and like the rounded shapes, but if you don't have one, just use a sharp knife, make sure to dip it in flour repeatedly, and cut into desire shapes of equal sizes to allow for equal cooking time.

Place biscuits on a cookie sheet and coat in egg wash if desired. I find the biscuits can sometimes have a bit of flour on the tops of them, so the egg wash is a nice, quick little step to make ‘em golden brown.  Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

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Apple Crostata

After making this, I just may swear off apple pie forever!  This is quicker, easier, A-MA-ZING and practically full-proof!  Once again, make this and you'll be famous (just like Ina Garten who I adapted it from).

Apple Crostata
(Print this Recipe)
makes 2 apple crostatas
Ingredients

For the pastry:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1/2 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
½ cup very cold lard, cut up in pieces
2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:
(this filling is for 2 crostatas; if you are only making one, cut the portions in half.)
5 large Granny Smith apples
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated or superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and lard and toss lightly to coat all sides of the butter and lard. Not sure why we do this--only that is is a critical step to making a fantastic crust--so just go with it.

Next, dump this mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a disk that is a 6-8-inch circle (this will allow it to chill faster and also make it easier to roll out later without cracking). Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or you can put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet.

For the filling, peel, core, and cut the apples into 8ths. Cut each wedge into 3 chunks—they will look big, but when they cook they will be the perfect size and texture. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Cover the tart dough with the apple chunks leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly on the apples. You can take your index finger and poke the filling down into the apples here and there—this is a trick I learned when making apple pies—it makes sure the flavors of the topping get down into the apples and don’t just stay on top. Of course you want the filling mostly on top, so do it in about 4 places.

Gently fold the border over the apples to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle. Also, no egg wash is necessary. When I originally made this, I thought that in order to have such a nice, golden brown crust that someone must have egg-washed the dough to make it look pretty. NOPE! It turns that beautiful color all by itself (due largely to the butter content in the crust).

Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples are tender. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla icecream.

Yumm!!! 

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Black Bean Balsamic Salsa Salad

This is a very flavorful dish, sweet really, but not sickeningly so.  I like to serve it along side various protein dishes, like salmon or bbq ribs.  It is technically a salsa, but i enjoy it more like a salad.  Thus, salsa salad.  This is a perfect dish to take to a party or potluck, or just to have if you need a tasty side dish.

Black Bean Balsamic Salsa Salad

Serves 6
(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (11 oz.) can corn, drained
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small green bell pepper (or 1/2 of a large), diced
1/3 red onion, diced
1/4 tsp. dried cilantro or 1/2 tsp. fresh
2-3 scallions (green onions), white and 1/2 of the green part, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
4 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
small pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:
1.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving to allow flavors to combine, or make the day before.

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Spinach Salad with Apples, Pecans, and Dried Cranberries

Spinach Salad with Apples, Pecans, & Dried Cranberries

Makes 4 servings
(Print this Recipe)

2 handfuls of spinach, washed and dried
1 large English cucumber (or 2 regular), sliced with seeds
1 cup dried cranberries (I prefer Craisens—big resealable bag from Costco)
1 apple, peeled and diced
¾ cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup pecans, chopped but not minced
Note:  If you are not a fan of feta, simply omit it.


Directions:
Toss all together with with ¾ cup vinaigrette or serve on the side.

White Wine Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (could use lemon juice as a substitute)
1 Tbs. dijon mustard
1 tsp. fresh garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt or to taste
1/8 tsp. pepper or to taste
3/4-1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1.  In a small bowl, combine together vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. 
2.  Whisk in olive oil to emulsify.

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Cheese Log of Love

Photo Courtesy of ThePioneerWoman.com

Let's face it--cheese packs a punch in the fat department, especially when you are combining three different kinds into a fantastic concoction.  So unless said concoction is really, really tasty, and I mean worth the extra workouts and/or living on salads for a few days afterward, there is no way I will go near it.  So I found myself daring to taste a new cheese log on New Year's.  For the record, most cheese logs I have encountered have been bland, dry, and pretty tastless.  For that I can just go to my cheese draw and cut myself a slice.  You can imagine my surprise when my taste buds ignited into a self-propelled frensy of the firework proportion.  While the New Year's celebration is over, the tastes don't have to be!  The recipe was moist, tasty, with a melody of different flavor that all just worked!  This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog!  Here is the link to print it out in full!

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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Centers and Mascarpone Frosting

I was at my sister's house over the holidays and one of her friends brought these over.  Suffice it to say, I just about died at how good they were!  I'm talking, A-MA-ZING!  Maybe it was the silky smooth ganache center, or the mascarpone whipped cream frosting, or the over all exhilaration that comes when all the flavors combine into one.  When I got home, I asked for this recipe because I was dying to share it with my own family, and of course, because I wanted more...

A great thing about these cupcakes is that they seriously look professionally done, but they aren't!  A few simple tricks can make a regular dessert look tremendous, which I'm all about.  If you've never made ganache before, don't be intimidated.  A ganache, after all, is just a fancy word for a chocolate sauce that is equal parts chocolate and cream all melted, heated and mixed together and allowed to cool.  It is known for it's shiny, glossy appearance.  Also, marscarpone, if you haven't baked with it before, is just a type of creamy cheese, much like it's counterpart...cream cheese.  This recipe is courtesy of Sarah Young--thank you so much!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Centers and Mascarpone Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes
(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
1 red velvet cake mix (Note: if you are purist, use this red velvet recipe to make the cupcakes from scratch and ignore the ingredients below)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1 cup whole milk
3 eggs

For the ganache:
1 (12 oz.) package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (if you can, use high quality like Guttard)
1 1/4 cup heavy cream

For the mascarpone frosting:
2 (8oz.) containers mascarpone cheese, room temperature (this can be found in your "fancy" cheese section at your grocery store.  Mine is near the deli counter)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cupcakes:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, milk, and eggs together until smooth. 

3.  Spoon into cupcake liners (with a small ice cream scoop if you have one for easy and equal measuring) and bake at 350 for 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Do NOT overcook.  (Note:  If you live at a higher elevation, cook for 21 minutes.)

4.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before taking them out and allowing them to cool on wire racks.

5.  Once the cupcakes are COMPLETELY cooled, use a small melon baller or a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop out a little bit of the center of each cupcake.

6.  Place cooled, thickened ganache in a ziplock bag, squeeze the air out, seal it, snip off one of the bottom ends, and pipe the ganache into each of the cupcake center.  Make sure the ganache doesn't spill over onto the top of the cupcake (just looks better this way.)

7.  Place the mascarpone frosting in a ziplock bag the way you did for the ganache, snip the bottom corner, and pipe the frosting, starting with the outer edge, onto each cupcake.

8.  Sprinkle semi-sweet chocolate shavings on top of each cupcake (do this with a zester or the fine part of a cheese grater.)

For the ganache:

1.  In a small saucepan, heat chocolate and cream over low heat until melted, stirring regularly.  Stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth and glossy. 

2.  Let it sit at room temperature (you can use the fridge in a pinch) until mixture thickens.  Note:  If it has come to room temperature and it hasn't thickened, put it in the fridge for 15 minutes--it will thicken that way also.)

3.  Cool completely before piping into cupcakes.

For the mascarpone frosting:

1.  Put the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixer and whip until almost soft peaks.

2.  Add the mascarpone cream and combine with whisk BY HAND.  If you just add the mascarpone to the mixer, it will become one massive chucky mess.  Whisk by hand, breaking up the cheese, until soft peaks form.  Do not be frightened if the mixture looks like curdled eggs--this is normal and just the texture of the cheese.  

3.  Place in a ziplock bag and place in the fridge for 10 minutes if the mixture seems too soft to pipe.  When read to finish cupcakes, cut the bag tip and pipe in a circular motion. 

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The BEST Chocolate Ice Cream

I’m always a little bit skeptical when I hear claims like “this is the BEST (insert food item here) I’ve ever had!” In all actuality, I truly want to believe their claim about whatever food they are raving about. But, unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed one too many times. I go ahead, have a taste of their salad, their cake, or whatever, only to gag on said item because it is actually vile! Now, I’m not a pessimist by nature. On the contrary, I consider myself quite open minded when it comes to trying new dishes or new versions of my favorites. But you can see my dilemma! I find myself launching into a stream of questions like “does this person even know what constitutes good food?”

Before you label me as a food snob (which I might not entirely refute by the way), let’s get our definition of “good” or “the BEST” nailed down. For me, it involves awesome ingredients, like butter, cream, eggs, and good quality vanilla—aka, from scratch where at all possible. It also means amazing flavor, with a perfect balance of texture. Did I mention that I am unequivocally NOT a fan of aftertaste! It might surprise you that some the tastiest things I’ve eaten don’t exclude things like cake mixes, but keep in mind that the oil and water has been substituted for butter and whole milk—yah get my drift?

So you can see my hesitation when I find myself about ready to make one of these claims, but here I go…This is the BEST chocolate ice cream I have EVER had! No joke, you will be famous with all those whose pallet it touches! I make it in an old-fashioned ice cream maker, and old-fashioned doesn't mean you can’t buy them anymore, but that they are much different than the $40 dollar Cuisinart jobbies you can buy at target that are made of plastic.


White Mountain
Ice Cream Maker

 The kind I use is made by White Mountain and is an outer bucket made from wood, with a tall metal canister that goes inside to hold the goods, and motor on top that does the work. That said, here is the recipe and further directions for the ice cream in the old fashioned maker—depending on what size you have, I generally double the recipe. Note: If you only have the Cuisinart kind, never fear—it can be done. Just cut back on the quantity to match the size of maker. I can’t vouch that you will get the exact same consistency and quality, but you will still get a wonderful, tasty ice cream.

The BEST Chocolate Ice Cream (you will ever eat!)

Note: This ice cream is best served IMMEDIATELY! Since it does not contain any preservatives or other such chemicals, it is NOT better once it is frozen solid and served later. It will still taste amazing, but the texture will not be silky smooth like when it is served fresh.

Makes 2 quarts
Ingredients:
(Print this Recipe)
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
3 cups whole milk
2 eggs yolks
3 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 (5.33 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate over low heat.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in whole milk. Stir over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer (small bubbles form around the edge of the pan).
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Temper the eggs by very gradually adding 2 cups of the hot milk mixture, stirring constantly, into the beaten eggs.
4. Add the egg mixture back to the hot milk mixture and stir constantly. Reduce heat to low heat and stir constantly until slightly thickened.
5. Add the chocolate to the thickened egg mixture, beat with a whisk until smooth, and remove from heat.
6. Stir in the evaporated milk, whipping cream, and vanilla.
7. Cool to room temperature, or refrigerate overnight. If you are in a pinch, you can put it in the freezer to reduce cooling time.
8. Pour into ice cream canister. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

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