Breakfast Eats Archives - Page 4 of 5

Blueberry Boy Bait Cake (Gone Bakin’)

By threejamigos | May 31, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

After being on a roll for a couple of weeks I found myself with blogger’s block. I perused magazines, poured over cookbooks and surfed food blogs looking for inspiration. Nothing, zippo, nada, zilch, appealed..how could that be? I usually have more than a few recipes tucked away in the back of my mind that I want to try and then share with you. Maybe I needed a vacation from food. (wow, did I just write that?)

Luckily a favorite blog lifted me out of my food doldrums. I came home from the farmer’s market with a basket of beautiful fresh blueberries and just one pie cookie from 2nd Story Bake House (I am on a self-imposed limit). I plopped down in my favorite spot (the kitchen island) and woke up my laptop to continue my search for inspiration. A post from Smitten Kitchen popped up on my Facebook page that immediately caught my eye. An absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS looking cake called Blueberry Boy Bait.

BOOM!

Search over. The recipe came from a little cooking contest you might have heard of, Pillsbury Bake-Off. Created by a teenage contestant way back in the 1950’s and touted as being so delicious it would land you a young man, it garnered her a second place finish.

Years later the recipe received a “facelift” by Cook’s Country magazine. Shortening replaced by butter, berries were doubled, and brown sugar replaced granulated sugar. This elevated the cake to a whole new level of deliciousness. I started writing this post while the cake was baking, the aroma of butter, sugar, cinnamon and blueberries filled my kitchen and wafted upstairs to my kid’s room. That elicited a “what are you baking, is it ready? and when can I have some?”.

This truly is a get up off the couch now, run to the store, get some blueberries and BAKE THIS CAKE folks. It’s that yummy.

Spread the batter into a 9×13 pan, then top with the remaining blueberries. Finish by sprinkling the cake with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar for a sweet crunchy bite. You can use buttermilk instead of whole milk and substitute raspberries or a mix of fresh berries for the blueberries.

Baking time was a bit shorter than suggested (I baked it for about 35 minutes) so start checking the cake at 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Blueberry Boy Bait Cake

A delicious, easy to make cake filled with blueberries and topped with a crunchy sugar coating.

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword blueberry, blueberry boy bait cake, blueberry cake, easy recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

Ingredients

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Cook's County

Dry ingredients

2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour 250 grams (not including 1 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt

Wet Ingredients:

16 tablespoons softened unsalted butter (2 sticks) 8 ounces or 225 grams,
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 145 grams
1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk 235 ml
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter) about 85 grams

Topping

1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost) about 85 grams
1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 grams
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Substitute raspberries or mixed berries for blueberries

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

For cake:

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.
In mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl.
Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

For topping:

Scatter blueberries over top of batter.
Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter.
Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up).
Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Biscuits! Love, American Style

By threejamigos | March 30, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

The NYT recipe for spicy pork shoulder made quite a bit so to keep things fresh and interesting (the classic leftover dilemma), we looked for different ways to enjoy our Instant Pot Pulled Pork. We quickly discovered all that pure porky goodness goes well with just about anything. Like…BISCUITS. I pulled out Bon Appetit’s recipe, BA’s BEST Buttermilk Biscuit, which had caught my eye during one of my many biscuit quests. The leftover pulled pork gave me an excuse to make biscuits (as if I needed an excuse to make biscuits, who am I kidding?) and it proved to be a winning combination.

Verdict: These are pretty damn good biscuits. Don’t wait until you have pulled pork to make these. They are fabulous with just butter and honey. But when you do make that spicy pork shoulder, make a batch of these bad boys to go along!

Variation 1: Good Morning! Biscuits slathered with butter and honey on a plate next to a mound of pulled pork and 2 eggs, scrambled, soft, runny..breakfast plate ecstasy.

Variation 2: Lunch anyone? Biscuit, still warm, split in half and piled with pulled pork and a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg. The first bite, egg yolk oozes down and all over the pork and biscuit making it even yummier (yep)..ultimate biscuit sandwich.

Variation 3: For the home team! A yummy slider-biscuit, pork, slaw, Q-sauce, football/basketball on TV..GAME DAY food at its finest.

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Bon Appetit's Best Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttery, flaky, just what a biscuit should be...

Course Biscuits and scones, Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, homemade

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Ingredients

2½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3½ cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface
1 cup 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces, plus more, melted, for brushing
1 cup chilled buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°.
Place baking powder, salt, sugar, baking soda, and 3½ cups flour in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add chilled butter and pulse until largest pieces of butter are the size of a pea.
Transfer to a large bowl and gradually drizzle buttermilk over top, tossing with a fork as you go to incorporate. Knead mixture a few times in bowl until a shaggy dough forms (mixture will look a little dry), then turn out onto a clean surface and pat into a 1"-thick square.
Using a knife or bench scraper, cut dough into 4 pieces. Stack pieces on top of one another, sandwiching any loose dry bits of dough between layers, and press down to flatten.
Lift up dough with bench scraper and dust surface with flour. Roll dough into a 1"-thick rectangle and trim a thin border around sides of dough to create clean edges.
Cut into a 4x3 grid to make 12 biscuits (don’t reroll scraps). Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing 2" apart; freeze 10 minutes.
Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400° and bake biscuits until deep golden brown on bottom and golden on top, 20–25 minutes.

Notes

BA's best buttermilk biscuits

There is a video on how to make these biscuits at the end of the recipe. If you are a biscuit making newbie, it is well worth watching.

Pumpkin Apple Bread-Here, There, Everywhere

By threejamigos | December 1, 2016 | Comments 1 comment

Everywhere I turn I am reminded that Fall is upon us. Shorter days, cooler nights, falling leaves blanketing the ground….and pumpkin in EVERYTHING! Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars, cake, cookies, cheesecake, pancakes…augh! It is endless. But as much as the pumpkin onslaught has tempered my enthusiasm for all things pumpkin I still find myself wanting to pull out my loaf pans and bake some pumpkin bread. Today was the perfect day to do so. With rain in the forecast, it was time to hunker down at home in my jammies and bake. I pulled out a favorite recipe, Rebecca’s Apple and Pumpkin Bread from Gourmet magazine’s You Asked For It column. Moist and flavorful, spiced with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, chunks of apples peppered throughout plus a crunchy cinnamon-sugar topping. It is a slice of yumminess. Perfect with a steaming cup of tea or coffee, especially on a wet, chilly day.

TWEAKS

I add chopped toasted pecans to the streusel topping to add some crunch and substitute brown sugar for part of the sugar in the topping. If you like the contrast of tart and sweet, use Granny Smiths or Pippins. I have used Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Mutsu apples with great results. Really, any apple that doesn’t break down works well. At times I use mace instead of nutmeg for a milder, subtle flavor and I add ginger to up the spice. The recipe makes two loaves of bread, one for now and one you can wrap and freeze for another day. Enjoy!

Apple Pumpkin Bread

Delicious, moist, spiced pumpkin bread with apples added.

Course Breads

Cuisine American

Keyword apple, crumb topping, Pumpkin Bread

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Ingredients

For topping

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons granulated sugar I use 3 T granulated sugar + 2 T brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or mace
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 15-oz can solid-pack pumpkin (original recipe calls for 16 ounce, add 1/4 cup applesauce if desired)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2-1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs lightly beaten
2 apples peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups) I use Pippen and Fuji, your choice

Instructions

For topping: Blend together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add nuts. Set aside.
For bread: Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans. Set aside.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg or mace, cloves, ginger and allspice into a medium bowl.
Whisk together pumpkin oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl.
Add flour mixture, stirring until well combined.
Fold in apples.
Divide batter between buttered loaf pans. Sprinkle half of topping evenly over each loaf.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
Yield: two loaves.

Strawberry Jam, Beyond Stupid Easy

By threejamigos | September 2, 2016 | Comments 3 comments

I still haven’t made that transition to feeding two instead of five. This is no more evident than when I go to the farmer’s market. At my favorite vendor, I linger over baskets of beautiful, ripe strawberries. I pop one in my mouth, hmmm yum, they taste as good as they look. Okay, STOP. Yes, the berries are wonderful but it’s only Wes and me. Well, there’s Sammy, but he doesn’t eat strawberries. I really should buy just one basket. But no, I pick up a three-pack, and Ruiz, who I have known for years, adds more berries on top. Well, at least I didn’t buy a half flat. A three-pack is still too many berries. What to do.

Berries in the Air, Berries Everywhere

I had read about a new bread baker named Josey who collaborated with Four Barrel coffee to open a shop called The Mill in The City. Coffee and toast are their game. I LOVE toast and I LOVE coffee. Am I the only idiot I know who owns a cookbook all about toast. Made a mental note to try The Mill and finally dragged my friend Mel with me to check it out. As soon as we walked in the average age jumped at least 10 years. Music played on a retro turntable and everyone else was dressed in skinny jeans, glasses, a cool slouchy hat, and Vans.

Yes, Welcome to Hipsterville.

We stood in line (yes, a line for toast) got to the front, and ordered.

ME: “I’ll have a slice of country bread with fresh strawberry jam and a latte…

HIPSTER SERVER: Ok, that will be 8 dollars” Whaat? Ok, keep cool Deb, try not to act like an incredulous old fart. Yes, I could get a bowl of noodles in Chinatown for less but sans Madonna on vinyl or copies of the New York Times. I have to admit the toast and jam were delicious.

The fresh berry jam at The Mill was the perfect answer to my extra strawberries I wanted a simple delicious jam, like theirs. I wasn’t looking to make jam that I could preserve. No canning for me thanks to a long-ago article in Reader’s Digest about one family’s nightmare with canned veggies and botulism. I was scarred for life.

Bingo, I found a recipe for jam that you could make and keep in the fridge or freeze and it is INCREDIBLY STUPID EASY. If in fact I were selling a book and I included this recipe I would feel silly. But, if I didn’t tell you about it you might never know something this stupid easy exist. Luckily this blog is free. Here is the long list of ingredients you will need-strawberries, sugar, lemon juice. That’s it.

So, there you go. An easy way to use all those strawberries that you couldn’t resist. Simmer it to the desired thickness. Be sure to keep an eye on it as it reduces. Stir to keep it from sticking and burning. Mine was thick like a classic jam after about an hour on the stove. Reduce the time for jam more like the Mill’s, looser and chunkier. I added a tiny bit of vanilla to keep everyone guessing.

You can also use a combination of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries which would be gorgeous and amazing. I plan to try lime juice instead of lemon or perhaps add a few chili flakes for some zing.

Here’s to Toast, Homemade Jam, and Summer.

Beyond Stupid Easy Fresh Strawberry Jam

A quick and easy freezer berry jam.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword Berry jam, blueberry, jam, Strawberry

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 1

Ingredients

4 cups halved strawberries or blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or combination
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract or paste optional
1/4 tsp lemon zest optional

Instructions

Combine strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan, let it sit and macerate for approximately 10 minutes.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until desired thickness (loose and runny 15-20minutes, thick approximately 40 minutes to an hour) stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice and zest. A dash of salt if desired to round out flavor.
Cool to room temperature.
Can be stored in refrigerator for approximately 1 month or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

The Perfect Pancake

By threejamigos | June 19, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

I got home from rowing the other morning and spied our stainless steel mixing bowl sitting on the counter. Hmm….looks like Wes made pancakes for breakfast. There was just enough batter left in the bowl for one good size pancake. The griddle was still on the stove so I turned the flame on, higher than I should have as a grumbling stomach will do that to you, and ladled the batter onto the pan. I watched as the pancake began to rise, bubbles formed and just as the edge of the pancake began to look dry I flipped it over. Immediately the pancake puffed up and I thought THIS IS THE PERFECT PANCAKE. I need to take a pic (ok, multiple pics) and wax poetically about this puppy.

As I was taking the photos a horrifying thought popped into my head. WHAT IF Wes actually used Bisquick this morning?! I couldn’t possibly immortalize a pancake made with a box mix. This was the perfect pancake, no chance this was a from a box but I had to be sure….I called him and this was the conversation that ensued.

Me: So, you made pancakes this morning?

Him: Yep. I left you some batter.

Me: Yep. Saw that.

Him: Yep. It’s pretty good.

Me: Ok (exasperated tone), is it Bisquick or from scratch.

Him: What do you think?

Me: Noooooooooooooo

The smug look that crosses his face whenever I guess wrong…makes me shudder even thinking of it. It’s the look that says “HA, Ms. Foodie you are wrong, epic tastebud fail”.

Me: Scratch (with conviction)

Him: Yeah, scratch (with a tinge of resignation)

Me: HA, I KNEW IT! No way was that from a box. Happy Dance, uh huh, uh huh…..

In all fairness, Bisquick pancakes are pretty darn good and Wes does tweak them by adding melted butter. In a pinch or when feeling lazy we pull out that bright yellow box with the bold blue letters….and in a blink of an eye, pancakes anyone?

Our favorite pancake recipe comes from…don’t laugh, The Friends Cookbook. Yes, those friends..Ross, Rachel, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Phoebe. Trust me…the pancakes are delicious. Fluffy, tender, buttery, perfect with maple syrup or adorned with fresh berries or bananas.

Darn, why didn’t he leave me more batter!

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Aurora’s Pancakes

Classic pancake from the Friend's cookbook

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword pancake

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup milk 2% or whole milk works
2 large eggs
4 tbsp 1/2 stick, butter, melted, plus extra for the pan

Instructions

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl, using a whisk to remove any large clumps.
Pour the milk into a large measuring cup. Add the eggs and melted butter and beat with a fork until smooth.
Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula. Do not overmix the batter.
Heat a griddle or large skillet. Grease the pan with a little butter. Drop several tbsp of batter on to the pan for each pancake.
Cook until the tops are covered with bubbles. Flip and continue cooking until the bottoms are golden brown. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

Notes

Makes about 15 4-in pancakes.

Anatomy of a Breakfast Bowl (Char Siu & Egg Over Rice)

By threejamigos | May 16, 2016 | Comments 1 comment

I love Sunday morning breakfast. Instead of the rushed quick bite Monday through Friday grind, weekend breakfasts are leisurely and quite the production.Waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and homemade buttermilk biscuits or if we are feeling ambitious, puffy French omelets. Just brewed coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice round out the meal, or mimosas for special occasions, ahhhhh the good life. Often, our Sunday breakfasts will have an Asian vibe.

During football season you will always find a big pot of congee sitting on the stove. Congee or jook is a delicious savory rice soup and is great for breakfast or halftime. The soup starts with chicken stock flavored with ginger and scallions. Add rice and simmer until the kernels have softened to an almost creamy consistency. Hot steaming bowls are brought to the table where everyone adds their own toppings. Shredded chicken, green onions, pickles, lettuce, and cilantro. To go along with the jook, Chinese donuts–deep-fried pillows of yumminess that give beignets a run for their money.

Hands-down, a favorite breakfast for my kids is homemade Chinese bbq pork (char siu) served with eggs–barely scrambled or sunny side up (keep that yolk runny) on top of a bowl of steamed white rice. I found a new recipe for char siu on Burp Appetit’ that looked and sounded mouthwateringly good. Naturally, I had to try it. Instead of oven roasting, it calls for braising the pork in a sweet, salty sauce which includes hoisin paste and 5 spice powder. By braising, we don’t need marinading which shortens the cooking time. Best of all, it’s delicious! With a batch of char siu made, this past Sunday’s breakfast was a no-brainer, Char siu, eggs, and rice. Yep living life one bowl at a time.

Char Siu and Egg over Rice: Anatomy of a Breakfast Bowl

The perfectly cooked egg by Jamie

Kid tested and approved by Jordan

Hi Claire 🙂

Char Siu, Chinese BBQ Pork (Braised method)

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Keyword barbecue pork, char siu, Rice Bowl

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 30

Ingredients

~1-1.25 pound pork belly without skin, or pork neck or cheek meat cut into strips (3)

Marinade/Sauce

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon Hoisin sauce for a less sweet version, sub oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1/2 -1 tsp 5-spice powder

To cook:

2 tablespoon oil
1 cup water

Instructions

Method:

1. Heat wok on medium heat. When the wok is hot enough, pour 2 tbsp vegetable oil into the wok.
2. Place the pork belly strips into the wok and brown both sides for about 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients into the wok. Stir and ensure the pork strips are coated well with the sauce.
3. Turn the heat to low and gently simmer for 40 minutes or until pork is tender. Turn the pork every 10 minutes to ensure both sides are evenly cooked.
4. By 30 minutes, the sauce will be reduced by half and start turning sticky. Once the pork belly is tender to touch, remove from the wok. Then pour the sauce into a clean bowl and reserve that to dress your steamed rice. Leave a tbsp of sauce/oil in the wok.
5. Heat the wok on medium heat and return the pork belly back into the wok. Sear the meat on both sides for about 2-3 minutes each side until they are charred to your liking.
6. Remove and glaze with honey. Then, slice the pork belly. Serve with warm steamed rice, noodles or bao.

Adventures in Bread Baking (Milk Bread)

By threejamigos | April 22, 2016 | Comments 4 comments

I love to bake. I bake when I’m stressed, I bake when it’s rainy. I bake for my kids, coworkers, friends, and my favorite Monday morning coffee moms and sometimes I just bake for the hell of it. You can often find me in my kitchen surfing cookbooks or the internet looking for inspiration (or an excuse?) to pull out my butter and flour.

Monday was that kind of day…tick tock tick tock, my “bakeological” clock was going off…. time to send care packages to my kids. All of them are in the homestretch of classes with finals looming around the corner, and they need a lift, on top of that Jamie is dealing with Noah’s Ark-like flooding in Houston…yep, it was time to send some boxed love.

So, all of the usual suspects made it into the boxes, CCC, Wes’s Good Cookies, granola, dried mango, trail mix and one newbie…Japanese Milk Bread Rolls. Yummmmmmmm.

As much as I bake, yeast breads are not something I have tried very often. As enticing as it sounds to knead dough and then PUNCH it down after a rise, waiting a couple of hours for the dough to sit just isn’t all that appealing. I do have a bread machine (gadget addiction) but all I do for that is dump in the ingredients and forget about it until the aroma of freshly baked bread fills the house. It’s like cheating.

I came across this recipe for Japanese Milk Bread on one of my favorite sites, Ipso Fatto. Despite being yeast bread, it seemed pretty easy (it was) and sounded delicious. It is best described as a cross between Hawaiian Sweet Bread and the sweet soft bread rolls found in Asian bakeries. Trying it became a no-brainer when I discovered the source of the recipe was King Arthur Flour. Here is the recipe.

First batch was tasty but texturally dense and biscuit-like. Not enough kneading!

The first time I made it I used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook. Being a novice at bread making I don’t have a feel for how long to knead bread or what the dough should look like. My first batch, though tasty, texturally was a little dense and more like a biscuit. Puzzling, since words like airy, fluffy, and soft were most used to describe these Hokkaido treats. Back to the drawing board. The next batch, I admit I CHEATED. I used the dough cycle of my bread machine which took care of the mix, knead, and first rest cycle. All I had to do was shape the dough and let it rise one more time before popping them into the oven.

EASY PEASY YEAST BREAD EASY

JapaneseMIlkBread — These were soft and fluffy! Knead dough until smooth!

The dough was much smoother and softer in look and feel than the first batch. My second batch of rolls I can proudly describe as soft and fluffy and delicious! A home run. For all of you that haven’t tried baking bread, try this recipe. And if you have a bread machine, cheat! Use the dough cycle to make it even easier. It is a keeper and definitely makes me want to try my hand at more bread baking and without using my bread machine!

P.S. My kids LOVE these rolls, I vacuum-packed them and sent them out priority-mail.

Flat & Flaky Nancy Silverton’s Biscuits

By threejamigos | March 3, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

I haven’t posted in more than just a few days. It’s not because I have been busy and have pushed my blog to the back burner, nope. I just haven’t been all that enthused about the recipes I have tried lately. Then I thought, I should be posting the good, the bad, and the meh.

I found a couple of recipes that fall into what I call my “Quest for the Holy Grail” list. Dishes that I have pretty darn good recipes for already but if I find a new recipe that sounds yummylicious, I’d try it. Such is the case for Nancy Silverton’s Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and 2 recipes for banana bread. One from the Violet Bakery Cookbook and another from America’s Test Kitchen Essentials Cookbook.

So about those biscuits…I came across a cool website Panna Cooking that features a lot of heavyweight chefs in videos making their favorites. Think of it as a video food magazine. Their Facebook page has some of their videos or you can subscribe to their site. I watched Nancy Silverton’s video for making her biscuits and immediately ran to my kitchen to make them. Much like croissant dough, it calls for folding the dough and rolling it seven times. This creates the flaky layers. Mine had layers but the biscuits weren’t as tall as the ones in her video. The biscuits were tasty but not quite as light as I would have liked. I did tweet Nancy Silverton asking if she had any tips..stay tuned, hope I get a response.

On to banana bread. I love my recipe for banana bread, its moist, light, cake like and versatile but I have grown tired of making it. Along comes this beautiful cookbook, the Violet Bakery Cookbook with this absolutely lovely looking banana bread. Unlike many of the recipes for banana bread it contains double the amount of bananas. Six bananas for 1 loaf of bread! Zowie. The bread came out a little heavy and gummy perhaps from insufficient baking time. Disappointing but I may try it again, I am thinking baker error (me, me, me) I have tasted it made by friends and it is filled with flavor and quite good. The recipe can be found on the blog Local Milk. Maybe you’ll have better luck. While paging through ATK Essentials cookbook, I came across their Ultimate banana bread recipe which also called for 6 bananas but with an additional step of extracting the liquid from the bananas, reducing it, and adding the now banana syrup back to the recipe. It also called for slices of bananas and nuts on top and sprinkling it with sugar. The bread was definitely less gummy, pretty dense but packed with banana flavor. The addition of the sliced bananas and chopped pecans on top adds a nice carmelized finish. Is it better then my original recipe? I don’t think so. The next time you have 12 or so very ripe bananas on your counter, give these recipes a try. Let me know which one you like!

Quest for the Holy Biscuit

By threejamigos | February 13, 2016 | Comments 2 comments

I might have mentioned my obsessive tendencies when it comes to food. For the most part I can control it but there are certain dishes that stay on the brain and whenever the opportunity arises, i.e. a restaurant that features it or I find a new recipe…I AM COMPELLED TO TRY IT. This is true for cookies like shortbread and lemon bars but it is especially true for biscuits. Having kids in the South has added fuel to the fire. As soon as I know I am going to the South, I scour the internet looking for the best biscuits. My current favorite in Nashville is Biscuit Love, (their Bonuts, fusion of biscuits and donuts served with fresh fruit and lemon curd, kill me now good). A trip to North Carolina began and ended with biscuits. No sooner had we arrived at the Raleigh-Durham Airport we made a beeline for Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in Chapel Hill, a drive-thru that closes at 2 pm. We made it just in the nick of time for their fried chicken biscuit sandwiches, freakin delicious. Heading to the airport to fly home we took the circuitous route so we could stop at Rise Biscuits & Donuts in Durham for our last biscuit fix…delicious ending! I have found yummy biscuits in Portland, Oregon at The Tin Shed and Pine State Biscuits and right here in California at The Nickel Diner in LA and Brenda’s French Soul Food in SF. I love biscuits, it’s my crack.

In my mind, there are 2 kinds of biscuits, soft tender almost cake-like biscuits, and buttery FLAKY biscuits. My current quest is for the latter, biscuits so flaky you can peel & eat them in layers. I came across a recipe from Dishes and Dust Bunnies that I wanted to have a go at. My first batch accompanied me to Mom’s Monday morning coffee where they were gobbled up. Flaky, buttery, slightly salty, tender, I inch ever closer to the perfect biscuit.

I made a few changes to the recipe….somewhere along the way I learned the addition of baking soda to biscuits made with buttermilk reduces the tangy flavor. Despite being a native San Franciscan I am not fond of sour flavored food. Sourdough bread, I’ll take a pass (blasphemous I know). I used unsalted butter and reduced the salt to 1 teaspoon. Remember the golden rules for making biscuits, keep the ingredients cold, and don’t over mix. After chilling the dough, I rolled the dough into a 1/2 inch rectangle and folded the dough like an envelope (thirds) rolled again into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Repeat twice. For taller biscuits roll dough to 1 inch thick on the final time. Expect biscuits to about double in height when baked.

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

¾ cup buttermilk
2 cups all purpose flour plus more on the side for dusting
2½ tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
¾ cup cold unsalted butter 1½ sticks, cut up into 1/2 inch piecs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Combine dry ingredients bowl of food processor, pulse 2-3 times to mix
Place butter on top of dry ingredients and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. It is ok if there are some pea sized pieces of butter left.
Pour mixture into shallow bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the buttermilk to the mixture
Combine with your hands or a dough scraper gently mixing to blend. The dough is supposed to be crumbly so don't over mix.
After the dough has come together, chill in the fridge for about 10 - 15 minutes.
Take the dough from the fridge and drop it onto a floured surface. Sprinkle a little flour over the dough.
Roll the dough out into the shape of a rectangle about ½" thick. Sprinkle with a little flour.
Fold the dough in thirds and roll it out to about ½" thick again.
Fold over 2 more times and roll out to 3/4 - 1" inch thick. Sprinkle with a little flour.
Use a circular cookie cutter (2" cutter), cut out the biscuits and place them onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Do not twist cutter when cutting out biscuits, press straight down.
Alternative use a pizza cutter and cut cut dough into squares.
Leave at least 1" of space around each one.
Bake for 11 - 12 minutes until tops are golden.
Optional - Brush melted butter over the tops of the biscuits once they come out of the oven.
Serve with jam or butter