Baby Biscuits

Who doesn't love a biscuit? They're soft and fluffy, a perfect vehicle for sweet or savory. For some reason, I decided to make some little mini-biscuits the other day as I was making biscuits for ham and beans. It's nothing revolutionary, just something I hadn't thought of before. Take your favorite cut out biscuit recipe (I used the one below from the Super Suppers Cookbook) and just use a small round cutter. I used a Tupperware midget, but a shot glass would be perfect as well. You might need to watch them pretty closely, but I baked them for about 2/3 of the time called for and they turned out very yummy!

Angel Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 envelope dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups buttermilk
• flour for rolling
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add buttermilk.
• Add to flour mixture. Stir until flour is just moistened.
• Pat or lightly roll to 1/2-inch thick on a floured surface. Cut into desired size, rerolling scraps as necessary. Dip each biscuit in melted butter (I just brushed the tops with butter, rather than dipping the whole biscuit) and place in prepared baking dish. Bake 12 to 15 minutes (for minis, I baked about 10 minutes) or until golden brown.

Sourdough 101: The Starter

Sourdough starter is a beautiful thing. You can use it as a base for bread, pancakes, pizza dough, biscuits... It's simple to make and needs minimal maintenance to last just about forever. Now, many hardcore traditionalists would consider my version a cheat, since I use yeast in the starter and don't just let it ferment on its own via the yeastie beasties that float around in the air. However, I find this version to be fairly foolproof and, while I do love experimentation, I'm a huge fan of things that work without any heartache.

Sourdough Starter

Ingredients:

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

• In a non-metallic bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; let stand 5 minutes.
• Add flour; stir until smooth.
• Cover loosely.
• Let stand in a warm place for 48 hours; stirring several times a day. (The mixture will get all bubbly, smell yeasty-a bit like beer-and a liquid will rise to the top. These are all good things.)
• Use the starter or keep in the refrigerator. Before you use your starter bring it to room temperature. The longer you leave it out before you use it, the stronger the "tang" in the final product will be.

Keeping your starter:

• Whenever you use some of your starter, replenish it with equal amounts of flour and warm water. (For instance, if you use 1 cup of starter, replenish with 1 cup water and 1 cup flour.)
• If, after 2 weeks, you haven't used any, remove half of the starter and replenish with the flour and water.
• If it ever develops mold or a bad smell, discard and start over after sterilizing the storage container.

Irish Soda Bread

I know that St. Patrick's Day was yesterday, but this bread is yummy any time of the year. A slice for breakfast is simply divine! There are a gazillion recipes out there on the interwebs, all claiming to be from someone's Irish nanny, just pick one and you'll probably do just fine. Here's the one I used; my Nanny's not Irish, but the bread was good anyway!

**Yes, I know that, traditionally, this bread does not have fruit in it. But, I like it with fruit. So, I added it. I'm crazy like that.**

Irish Soda Bread
Serves 8
Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup whiskey-soaked currants (substitute raisins if you'd like)**
• 2 tsps caraway seeds
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sour cream (I was running low, so I used 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 plain yogurt)

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9 inch baking pan or cast iron skillet.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, currants and caraway seeds.
• In a medium bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk and sour cream.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix only until moistened.
• Put batter in prepared baking pan, pat down and score with a deep 'X'.
• Bake for 65-75 minutes until firm and golden brown.
• Let cool and remove from pan. Completely cool before serving.

**Whiskey-soaking is not necessary, but it adds a nice flavor to the bread. If you wish to do it, just put your 1 cup of currants or raisins in a small bowl, add enough whisky to cover and let soak overnight. Before adding them to bread, drain off whiskey and discard (or save for later if you're into that kind of thing).

Give this bread a try some time. With no rising or kneading, it's a cinch for every baker!

Pi Day Pie!

Here she is! Oatmeal-Almond Pie. Isn't she a beauty? She is quite tasty, too. How do I know already? Well, I may have sampled devoured the piece I took the picture of. But, hey, I hadn't eaten much of anything today and it has oatmeal in it...healthy...It's got a hearty texture and a sweet, simple flavor.

I got the recipe from Grit Magazine. Here it is with a few notes.

Oatmeal-Almond Pie
Serves 10
Ingredients:

• pastry for a single crust pie (I took a little help here and used a store-bought crust. Spur of the moment pies don't always get home made crusts.)
• 1 cup old-fashioned (not quick cooking) oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (I only had whole, so I chopped them up and used them.)
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350˚F. Adjust pastry in pie pan and flute edges.
• Using electric mixer (I just used a whisk. Dirtying the mixer is not necessary.), combine remaining ingredients (Let the butter cool a bit before you add it to avoid cooking the eggs.) until well-blended. Pour into pie shell.
• Bake for about 45 minutes, or until filling is set.
• Cool completely before cutting.

I did have a few ideas to make her even more yummalicious, including: adding a handful of chocolate chips, chopped dates, or a bit of cinnamon. I'm sure you will enjoy this pie and if you have your own ideas to dress her up a bit more, let me know!

Simple Decadence: Vanilla Sugar

Vanilla sugar has got be the easiest thing in the world to make. Seriously. There are two ingredients: sugar and vanilla beans. You don't even have to measure anything!

Pick a container. I used a cool vintage jar I found at a thrift store and sterilized.

Get yourself some vanilla beans. You can buy them in a grocery store, but they're going to be expensive. I get mine from the Arizona Vanilla Company. I go for the Grade B beans since they're a bit cheaper, but just as good for using. The reasons they are B grade are purely cosmetic.

Cut 2-3 beans (or more if you're using a large container or just want stronger sugar) lengthwise to expose the caviar (all the good pasty seeds in the center). I leave mine connected on one end, but that's not essential.

Place the beans in your container and fill with sugar. Close it up and let it sit. It'll take a week or so before the sugar is really ready, but it will last just about forever. Substitute the vanilla sugar in anything that calls for sugar. You'll be amazed at the lovely aroma and depth of flavor it gives to any baked good or just your morning coffee!