The World's Best From-Scratch Biscuits

They are even fluffy and delicious with half white and half wheat flour.

Prepare yourself for an extremely long-winded recipe intro.  If you are already cringing at the idea, just skip down to the recipe and directions below.  

I have been on a crusade to make fabulous biscuits for some time.  It's not that I haven't made biscuits, but they've usually been somewhat lacking in one way or another.  Somehow I soldiered on.

Several years ago, I was at my Mother-in-law's house eating dinner and had the best biscuits I'd ever had up to that point.  She is a truly fantastic cook and gifted baker who cooks nearly everything from scratch.  Having a Mother-in-law who is a great cook can lead to problems, as I've seen in the lives of some of my friends.  There is the problem of the husband who always compares his wife's cooking to his mother's and finds his wife's therefore lacking.  There is the problem of the mother-in-law who relishes her role as supreme cook and refuses to share recipes and tips with the daughter-in-law in a pathetic bid to retain her top spot, at least in terms of her son's stomach.

Thankfully, my husband, my mother-in-law and I are above all this nonsense.  We just like great food.  My mother-in-law and I are both the types who like to serve what tastes fabulous to us and evangelize about it to whoever will listen.  She is always generous with her recipes and tips, although like many great masters, she often has a hard time explaining the how of some of her recipes, as she does things (even baking) mostly by feel and taste rather than by measuring things perfectly.

Anyway, back to the biscuits.  I ate them, and immediately turned to my mother-in-law and asked her for the recipe.  She said, "You aren't going to believe this..." and pulled a bag out of the freezer--Pillsbury Biscuit Grands?!?  I was surprised--but mostly sad, because the truth is, that I'm something of a cooking-from-scratch snob. I was hoping I'd discovered the holy grail of from-scratch biscuit baking only to find out that it was actually a plastic cup.  My heart felt heavy, not unlike the biscuits I was baking at the time.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago.  I figured out how to make the best biscuits ever.  Really.

Here is the secret: most biscuit recipes call for shortening, and that is where they fail.  And granted, shortening can make some fabulous biscuits, but it is really, really not good for you.  Plus, it coats your mouth with a weird film.  And health and taste scruples aside, on this particular day I didn't have any shortening in the house.  So I had a genius idea.  I had a big tub of coconut oil from Costco, and decided to try using it with butter to make biscuits.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

The World's Best From-Scratch Biscuits 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil (room temperature, unless it is hot enough in your kitchen that it is liquid, in which case you should refrigerate it)
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
1/3 cup milk

Set you oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

I use my Kitchenaid with the flat paddle attachment, but you can do it by hand instead.

Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in the mixer bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the butter and coconut oil.  Cut in in until the fat is in pea-sized chunks or smaller (either by using the flat paddle, or by using a pastry cutter or two knives or crumbling it with your fingers).  Mix the yoghurt and milk together, and pour in all at once.  Mix until dough is just starting to come together (with a Kitchenaid, this is about 5 or 6 rotations).  Turn out onto a floured surface (I use a piece of parchment paper on my counter to make my life easier).  Use your hands to smoosh everything you turned out into a mound of dough.  Knead 5-6 times.  Roll out until it is about 3/4-1 inch thick.  Cut out your biscuits.  Gently smoosh the leftover pieces together and cut out the rest of the biscuits.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet (I usually use a Silpat or line it with parchment paper).  Cook for 10-15 minutes.  Take out of the oven.  Behold, inhale and consume their awesomeness.


1.  Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in the mixer bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients.

2.  Add the butter and coconut oil.

3.  Cut in the butter and coconut oil until the fat is in pea-sized chunks or smaller (either by using the flat paddle, or by using a pastry cutter or two knives or crumbling it with your fingers).

4.  Mix the yoghurt and milk together, and pour in all at once.

5.  Mix until dough is just starting to come together (with a Kitchenaid, this is about 5 or 6 rotations).

6.  Turn out onto a floured surface (I use a piece of parchment paper on my counter to make my life easier).

7.  Use your hands to smoosh everything you turned out into a mound of dough.

8.  Knead 5-6 times.

9.  Roll out until it is about 3/4-1 inch thick.

 10.  Cut out your biscuits.

11.  Gently smoosh the leftover pieces together and cut out the rest of the biscuits.

12.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet (I usually use a Silpat or line it with parchment paper).

13.  Cook for 10-15 minutes.  Take out of the oven.

14.  Behold, inhale and consume their awesomeness.

Molasses Cookies--An Autumn Tradition

 

Much of the excitement I feel about the changing seasons is influenced by our family's food traditions--the smells, the sights, the textures and colors--and obviously the tastes.

Last year I posted about my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread--and it is definitely a culinary herald of Autumn for our family.  Another are these cookies.

They look very brown and humble, I know--but they are delicious.  If you think you don't like gingerbread ("Too spicy!  Too...whatever!"), try these.  I promise you won't be disappointed.  Plus they make your house smell like it's just been smacked with an Autumn goodness stick...in the best possible sense :).

Molasses Ginger Cookies

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or 3/4 cups butter (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil, but usually use butter)

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 cups unbleached flour (I usually use 1/2 whole wheat, but went decadently all-white this time)

4 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt (I use Kosher because I prefer the little salty crunch, but normal table salt is fine)

1 Tbsp. ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Cream together butter or oil and sugar.  Add eggs and molasses and stir until combined. Stir in dry ingredients until they are evenly mixed in.  Chill dough for one hour.  Scoop out (I use about 1 oz of dough) and roll dough into balls, then roll in the extra granulated sugar.  Bake on 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, or until they are starting to get a little more brownish golden on the top.  Let them sit on the cookie sheet for another 10 or so minutes to firm up, then put on a rack to cool.  Enjoy!

Pie! Pie! Pie! (and Chocolate Mousse Cake Recipe)

Thanksgiving is only a few days away (did you know? :) ).

Anyway, I'm hosting 16 people, which will be fun but hectic.

I love all parts of the Thanksgiving meal, but I really, really, really love pie.  So does the rest of my family.  We may love pie a little too much, in fact.

We even have a family song about pie.  My husband writes and records songs as a hobby.  A few Thanksgivings ago, in an attempt to keep the hungry hordes out of my way in the kitchen, he made up a great song.  It is aptly entitled, "Pie" and features a resounding chorus of "Pie! Pie! Pie!" (repeated about a million times).

Our pie obsession may have gone a little too far.  Most Thanksgivings, our pie to people ratio is 1:1.  That's when I started to realize that we may need a pie intervention sooner rather than later.

However, since we have so many people coming this year, I am happy to report that our pie to people ratio will be more like 1:2, which feels a little more respectable somehow.  We will be having: 2 pumpkin, 1 apple, 1 peach, 2 key lime, 2 chocolate cream and a pumpkin cheesecake.

In the meantime, my little brother's birthday was on Sunday, and I made him a Chocolate Mousse Cake with a shortbread crust.  Really, I think it should be considered a pie--it has a crust after all.  I guess cheesecake does, too, though.  Confusing.

Anyway, pie/cake distinctions aside, it was delicious.  It is sort of like eating a great big truffle in a shortbread cookie crust.  In other words, heavenly.  It is perfect when eaten just a little warm with whipping cream (don't even think about using Coolwhip) or a scoop of ice cream on top (or both, like we did ;) ).  Also, this crust is great to use for any pie that calls for a graham cracker crust in case you're still looking for pie inspiration.

Shortbread Crust

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

1/2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel OR 1/2 tsp extract (almond or vanilla)

1 cup flour

2 T sugar

Mix all the ingredients together until you have a cohesive rubble (I use my Kitchenaid with the flat paddle).  Then press into the bottom and an inch and a half up the sides of a Springform pan (or pie plate, if using it for a different recipe).

Chocolate Mousse Cake/Pie

2 8-ounce packages (16 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped up (or use 16 oz. good-quality chocolate chips, like I did)

1 cup whipping cream

6 beaten eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Melt and stir chocolate and cream over low heat until chocolate melts (or microwave on medium or using your microwave's melt setting).  Transfer to a large bowl.  Combine eggs, the 3/4 cup sugar, and flour: beat 10 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored.  Fold 1/4 of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture, then fold chocolate mixture into remaining egg mixture.  Pour into crust-lined Springform pan.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 55 minutes or until puffed around the edge and halfway to the center (center will be slightly soft).  Place on a cooling rack.  Cool 20 minutes and remove sides of pan.  Cool for 4 hours.  Chill leftovers.  Serves 16 (it is really rich).

If I don't manage another post before then, I hope you all have a happy, delicious, blessed Thanksgiving surrounded by the people you love!

Oh, also--I was very moved to read about another blogger's experience with a premature birth and loss of her baby here.  Definitely grab a tissue before you follow that link, though.  What a sweet, faithful Mama, and what a poignant reminder to me to make sure I tell my Heavenly Father how grateful I am to be the mother of six healthy children.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

 MMMMMmmmmmmmmmm.  Pumpkin bread.

This is my favorite recipe for Pumpkin Bread and is guaranteed to make your house smell Autumnal and Amazing (what is it with me and alliteration?  Enough already! :) ).

The original calls for raisins, and I love raisins--just not in most baked goods.  They get all slimy and bloated.  Not very appetizing, see?

But substituting chocolate chips is genius, if I do say so myself, even though I can't take credit for the idea of pairing pumpkin and chocolate.  When I first moved to Utah to begin college, my sister would come visit every so often.  When she did, she would go get some groceries for me at a local grocery store called Smith's (sadly no relation).  They made something delicious there called pumpkin chocolate chip cookies--I realize that probably they have been around for ever, but to me, these cookies were a revelation.  If you haven't tried them, I recommend them highly.

So anyway, onto the recipe, which comes by way of Deb Drake from The San Francisco West Portal Lutheran Church's cookbook.  Church cookbooks are the best!  It was my maternal Grandmother's church, and she gave my mom, my sister and me each a copy for Christmas the year before she passed away.  Cooking from it makes me happy, remembering her.

Okay, really--onto the recipe.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

2/3 cup butter
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 lb. pumpkin (I use canned usually, but it also works with one you bake and puree yourself, too)
2/3 cups water
3 1/2 cups any mix of white and whole wheat flour (I use finely ground white whole wheat, but anything works)
1/2 tsp ground cloves (the original recipe called for more cloves and less cinnamon, but I like this mix better)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamon (cheapest source is from a whole foods bulk spice aisle--don't pay $10+ a bottle at the grocery store!)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or 9 ounces roughly chopped chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Generously grease two 9" x 5" loaf pans.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  beat in eggs until well blended.  Stir in pumpkin and water, mixing well.  Sift dry ingredients (or just fluff them around in the bowl after you dump them on top of the wet ingredients like I do :) ).  Stir into pumpkin. just until blended.  Add chocolate chips or chocolate.  Divide into pans.  Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out cleanish with no batter stuck to it.  I usually just poke the center gently with my finger and when it is solid instead of mushy when you push it, it is done.

Enjoy my favorite taste (ok, one of 'em) of Autumn.




I'm linking up to: Modern Country Style's Fall in Love link party.

This is how we roll...corn buttering at the Smith's

We had corn on the cob for the first time this season just last night.



I bought it from the Farmer's Market, and it was delicious--and cheap!  Just 3 cobs for $1.  I got 9.

Anyhoo, it brought up something that has been an inner (and sometimes irritatingly outer) struggle for me for some time.  

Namely, how should we butter our corn?

There is the hygienic and pretty method, which entails taking neat little individual pats of butter from the butter plate and using your own pat to butter your own corn.  This method is much better from an aesthetic point of view, but way harder from a practical standpoint.  The pat of butter never stays stuck to your knife, so you have to keep retrieving it, and your whole cob is usually only unevenly buttered at best.

Until very recently, I have advocated the individual pat method, despite its drawbacks.  I airily dismissed naysayers, pretending that it was just as easy and efficient to use your own pat.  Yes, I was lying.  The reason for my lies was that I truly hated the corn buttering alternative.

 You know the alternative I'm talking about...  You take a cube of butter and put it on a dish.  Then everyone takes their cob and rolls it around on the butter.  What starts out as a normal cube of butter, ends an un-usable (for anything else, anyway), misshapen lump of sad-looking butter.  With corn husks and the odd half-kernel stuck to it, it isn't good for anything, ever again.  It is ugly, and it is wasteful (unless you are planning to eat corn-on-the-cob every night).  And I don't like ugly and wasteful.

But on the upside, the corn is buttered perfectly.  Every kernel has just the right amount.

Yes, I've given in to the dark side and mangle my butter in the the name of tasty corn-on-the-cob.

And it is....bliss.




So, how do you butter your corn 'round your house?

Microwave Hollandaise Sauce

Green Bean Benedict--a quick but tasty dinner (we usually do this with Broccoli, but I was out, so I improvised and it was still delicious)

I know that the word microwave doesn't sound like it should be anywhere near Hollandaise Sauce.  Hollandaise Sauce should be a venture fraught with peril--carefully adding a chunk of butter at a time to your egg yolks and lemon juice over a double boiler, hoping and praying it doesn't curdle.

I thought this was the only way--consequently I never made Hollandaise Sauce.  However, I noticed the microwave directions in the margin of my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook one day over a decade ago.  I tried it and it was delicious!  I have never, ever had this recipe fail.  We serve it over fish, steamed veggies like broccoli, green beans or asparagus or on one of our favorite recipes from my mother-in-law, Veggie Benedict (just like Eggs Benedict but with a steamed green veggie--usually broccoli--instead of the poached egg).  I'm regrettably the only one in my family who likes poached eggs.

So, here are the steps:

1. Gather:

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter

1 T. lemon juice (fresh is best, but I'm not above using the concentrated stuff if I don't have any lemons hanging around)

1 T. water

3 egg yolks, separated from the whites

2. Put your egg yolks in a large microwaveable bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Stir the yolks until mixture is smooth.

3. Put butter, lemon juice and water in a Pyrex measuring cup.

4. Microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until butter is melted. 

5. Whisk melted butter into egg yolks, pouring slowly. 

6. When the two mixtures are smoothly combined, cook in microwave for 30-40 seconds, stopping every 10 seconds to stir (and try to ignore the spooky reflection of a woman with a camera).  I find it easiest to just cook for 10 seconds at a time rather than set it for the full 30 seconds.  You can resurrect it, but it is better  not to overcook your sauce.

7. It is done when it has thickened and doesn't run easily off a spoon.  It will be the consistency of runny pudding.

Hint: If it does curdle, add 3-4 drops very hot tap water and whisk like a mad woman (or man :) ) until it looks smooth again.

Also, if you're wondering and need more instruction, Veggie Benedict is simple.  It is just an English muffin toasted and lightly buttered, which you top with ham and a slice of Swiss cheese, then broil until the cheese melts.  You top with steamed veggies (we usually use broccoli because all the kids like it and it's so nutritious) and tippy-top with Hollandaise Sauce.  Eat with a knife and fork.  It really is great.  If you can go the egg route because your family members have taste ;), use a poached egg instead of the broccoli.  Still great.

Bon appetit!

I'm linking up to:   Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam   AND