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Sour Cream & Sour Cherry Scones

07 Mar

So, here we are again.  Surplus ingredients that need using are staring at me, accusingly.  I have my dairy products delivered by Smith Brothers and a pint of sour cream is one of the things they bring.  Usually I have no problem going through it, but somehow I ended up with a stack of them in the fridge.  While sour cream does have a long shelf life, it seemed to me that three pints was excessive.  I used one last night for Sour Cream Chicken (recipe to follow) and whipped these up for today’s Brunch.

2 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 – 1 Cup Dried Sour Cherries (or other dried fruit – Apricots are nice)

4 Tablespoons Butter (cubed & chilled)

8 Ounces Sour Cream

1 Egg (seperated)

1 teaspoon Vanilla

grated fresh nutmeg (enough to cover the sour cream like a dusting of snow)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place all dry ingredients in food processor and combine.  Add cherries and process until there are no whole pieces remaining.  Add butter and pulse until thoroughly incorporated.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg yolk, sour cream, vanilla and nutmeg until smooth.

Dump the contents of the food processor into the cream mixture and fold in with a spatula.

When there is no more liquid, dump on to kneading surface.  It will be a crumbly mess.  Be not afraid.

Press dough together with hands, turning,  folding and kneading  until it becomes solid.

Roll out about 1/2″ thick.  Cut with your favorite biscuit cutter or slice like a pizza for wedges.

Place on lined baking sheet (parchment or silicone) and brush with beaten egg white (I like to add a splash of water to make it looser.)

Wait five minutes and brush again.  Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once for even browning.

(When looking at my pictures, remember that I always make a double batch for Brunch.  The recipe, as posted, will make enough to fill a 1/4 sheet pan, usually about 12.  In wedges, you can cut 6 or 8.)

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Cinnamon Biscuits

01 Mar

Oh my!

You can thank my sister for this recipe.  She came across a company that sells frozen biscuits by mail order and was smitten with the idea of their Cinnamon Biscuits.  I used their photo as inspiration.  These are reminiscent of cinnamon rolls, but because they don’t include yeast, we don’t have to wait for them to rise, making them a quicker option.

I began with my basic cream scone recipe (find it here and delete the lemon zest).

Before rolling it out, split the dough in half.  Roll each sheet to roughly the same size.  Lay one sheet out and sprinkle with the following:

grated frozen butter (grate a frozen stick of butter (4 ounces for you non-Americans) on the coarsest holes of a box grater.)

brown sugar

ground cinnamon

Cover with the other sheet and roll lightly before repeating the sprinkles.

Fold it up like an envelope (both sides in, then top and bottom) and turn over so the seam side is down.

Roll it about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and cut with your favorite biscuit cutter.  (I used a 2″ round.)

Brush tops with a bit of beaten egg and cream and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake until golden brown & delicious (turning once during baking)!

WARNING: There is a lot of butter in these.  While making them, I wondered if I had used too much, but no one who ate them thought there was too much.  That being said, I think you could easily reduce the butter (either by omitting the grated butter in the layers or reducing the amount in the basic scone recipe by 1/3) and still have a delicious breakfast item.

Enjoy!

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Whack-A-Mole Biscuits

15 Feb

Make these biscuits when you feel like beating someone or something.  Take your aggression out on the the biscuits!

I will warn you ahead of time that these biscuits call for twice as much fat as my standard go-to recipe.  I put off making them for that very reason!  I know that you people think that I am the fat queen, but I have to say that sometimes even I am am startled by a recipe.  These biscuits were a hit at Brunch, but I just can’t say that they were enough of an improvement to move them up into the top spot.  The other blogs where I saw these mentioned referred to them as “perfect“  and “the best biscuits ever made or tasted“, and I just can’t agree.  They are flaky and tasty, and if you rarely make biscuits, this might be your favorite.  But, DAMN! That’s a lot of butter!  Make a few different kinds and let me know what the friends and family say.

  • 2 Cups AP flour
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 Teaspoon sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, plus 4 Tablespoons, melted
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°

Mix together dry ingredients

Cut in butter (I prefer to dice the butter then pop it in the freezer for a few minutes, then whiz the frozen cubes into the dry ingredients in the food processor. )

Add buttermilk and combine with a large spoon until mostly cohesive.

Turn out on floured board (or silicone mat) and knead until all crumbs are into the solid mass.  Then, roll out a half inch or so thick, and fold in thirds.  Then beta the hell out of it with your rolling pin.  Turn the dough 90° and repeat the process.  Do this a half dozen times or more (we are building flaky layers here!)

When you are tired of beating your dough and you no longer harbor resentment for whom or whatever angered you in the first place,  roll the dough about 1/3″ think and cut with your favorite biscuit cutter.  Always press straight down, then twist slightly if you need to get the cutter loose. (Straight cuts allow better rising.)

Place them, just touching, on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking tray or baking stone and brush the tops with melted butter before placing in oven for about 15 minutes.

Brush them again when you remove them from the oven.

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Meyer lemon scones

01 Feb

I can’t believe I lived more than 40 years without tasting a Meyer lemon.  I feel like the Children of Israel, wandering in the desert for 40 years.  My first taste was life changing.  (Much the same as my first taste of Balsamic vinegar. ) I have become the Meyer lemon evangelist.  I can’t stop talking about them, cooking with them, and forcing other people to have a taste.  (Best hot toddies, ever!)

There is a reason I haven’t tasted them before.  I don’t live where they grow, and they don’t travel well.  I had some last year because a friend got them in a care package from his friend in California.  (Yes, I did live in California long ago, but it was Death Valley, people.  Not a lot of citrus trees growing there.)

This year, I found the little balls of sunshine hiding in the vast stacks of fruit at my local Costco.  They came in a pack of about a dozen.  The first pack I made almost exclusively into cocktails.  When I went back and there were more, I used those for cooking, replacing any other citrus I would normally use.  And I made marmalade so that I would have something to remember.  I am on my third package now.

We have been enjoying the marmalade at brunch for a couple weeks, and I thought maybe we should have Meyer lemon overload this week.  So, on the the scones.

This recipe is adapted from the Culinary Institute of America’s Mastering the Art of Baking & Pastry.   (Get out your scale for this one or use my rough conversions.)

180 g AP unbleached flour (1 2/3 cups)

180 g cake flour (1 1/3 cups)

14 g baking powder (1 tablespoon)

1 g salt (1 tsp)

45 g  sugar (1/4 c)

120 g cold butter, cut into cubes (1 ½ sticks)

1 large egg, plus 1 yolk (reserve white for egg wash)

250 ml heavy cream (1 cup) minus 1 tablespoon for egg wash

zest of 2 Meyer lemons

Preheat oven to 400°

Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder & zest.  Add butter and incorporate thoroughly (I like a food processor, but you can use a stand mixer or your fingers.)

In a separate container, mix egg, yolk  & cream, then add to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface (I use a large silicone mat) and work as little as possible until the dough is a cohesive mass.  Roll out to about an inch thick.

Cut to your preferred size and place (shoulder to shoulder, just touching) on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Handle scraps as little as possible while re-rolling.

Mix the remaining egg white with a the reserved cream and brush the tops of the scones.  Let sit a few minutes and brush again.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating pan once if necessary for even browning.

I am going to try making these into chocolate scones for our Valentine’s Wine Tasting this week.  I will let you know how it goes.  :)

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Grab & Go Breakfast

26 Jan

No time for a sit down breakfast?  That is no reason to eat crap!  Grab one of these on your way out the door.  If you make them ahead, you can eat them cold or pop them in the toaster oven for a few minutes while you do your hair.

What are these magical morsels?  Kind of like quiche, kind of like a frittata, in the end it’s really just scrambled eggs & a biscuit.

In that case, we had better make some biscuit dough.

2 Cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoons chilled bacon drippings*

1 cup buttermilk or heavy cream

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, add fat by the tablespoon, mix by hand until evenly incorporated, stir in dairy.  Roll it out about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick.

Grease up your muffin pan (I like butter.)

Find something with about a 4″ diameter to use as a template and cut out six circles.

Stretch the circles a bit by hand, beginning to shape them in to cups before placing them in the tins.

Mix 6 eggs with a splash of cream and salt & pepper.

Place a few crumbles of bacon in each cup, pour in eggs (don’t over-fill or you will run out!) and top with grated sharp cheddar cheese.

Bake at 400° until eggs are just set.  (You want a TINY bit of movement when you shake the tray, but not much.  The eggs will firm up while they cool.  It is a fine line between runny and rubbery.)

Wrap them in a paper towel and throw them at your family as they run out the door.  Or dunk into a little sour cream.  Or take them to work and have them for lunch.

*Did I lose you with the bacon drippings?  You can use butter in it’s place, but would you just try it once?  If you cook bacon, you have bacon drippings.  It used to be common for that fat to be saved for other uses, but somehow we have stopped.  I keep a plastic container of it in the fridge and I can measure it out by the tablespoon quite easily.  It also mixes into the flour more easily because it is softer than butter.  Just try it, will ya?

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Loaded Baked Potato Biscuits

17 Jan

Preheat oven to 450

2 cups four
2 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 T salt
1/2 cup chopped bacon
1/2 shredded cheese
1/2 cup chilled bacon drippings (or butter)
1 cup leftover potato (mashed or baked)
1 cup sour cream

In food processor, combine flour, leavening & salt. Add bacon & cheese & mix thoroughly. Add fat in small clumps or cubes, process until no lumps remain.

Mix potatoes & sour cream together, add to previous mixture & pulse until it barely comes together as dough. Turn onto a floured surface and fold and pat by hand to fully combine adding more flour as necessary if dough is too sticky. Pat out 1 inch think and cut with 2″ biscuit cutter.

Place on baking sheet (lined with parchment or silicone sheet) or stone baking slab with edges just touching. When combining scraps to re-cut, use as few motions as possible to keep dough from getting tough.

Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter and bake for 18-24 minutes, turning tray once, halfway through.

Immediately upon removing from oven, brush again with melted butter. Serve warm.

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Spread some sunshine on shortcakes

17 Jan

So, now you have Meyer lemon marmalade. It is some mighty tasty stuff.  You might be tempted to eat it by the spoonful like one of my co-workers, but I suggest shortcake.

Now, as we get to know each other, you will see that my biscuit recipes always make a half sheet pan full.  But Aura, you say, there are only 2.5 people in your house.  How can you eat all these?  Well, every Sunday I go to Brunch.  This is a standing date with friends/family.  There may be 10 people there or there may be two dozen.  It is bad form to run out of biscuits (or scones, or shortcake, etc.)  Some people like to take a couple home for Monday breakfast, and I like to have a couple for nibbling while preparing Sunday Dinner.  Feel free to cut the recipe in half.  Or don’t. Take some to work, to church or to school and be a hero.

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour (another half cup on the board)
2 T plus 2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 T sea salt
1/4 Cup sugar
8 T (1 stick) cold butter
1 Pint cold heavy cream

1/2 stick melted butter

Preheat oven to 450°.

The traditional method:

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and stir together. Add fat in small cubes and using fingertips, work flour into fat until grainy.

Make a well and add buttermilk. Stir until just incorporated and turn out lumpy mass onto lightly floured work surface.
Turn over itself as few times as possible to get something that looks like dough.

Aura’s method:

Combine dry ingredients in food processor.  Add chilled butter (I like to cube it up small and put it in the freezer while I assemble everything else.  I have heard some people freeze & grate their butter.) Mix until you can’t see big chunks.  Add cream and pulse until it is sort of clumping together, then dump on to a silicone baking mat that you have dusted with 1/2 cup of flour.

Use a rolling pin or your hands to pat it out about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut with a 2″ cutter and place on a parchment covered baking sheet (or silicone baking mat) five across, just touching.
Fold scraps gently back together for second pass. Any scrap from that pass, hand form to similar size.

Paint melted butter over the top.  Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 15-20 minutes (look for golden brown) rotating pan once.


Remove from tray when just cool enough to pick up.  Now spread a little dollop of Meyer lemon marmalade and get ready to smile.

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