Buttermilk Biscuits

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I love biscuits. I love buttermilk biscuits the most and, when I’m somewhere without my White Lily Self Rising Flour, I use the following recipe. It is modified from one that used to be available on the now defunct Chowhound recipe board. The current site has recipes but is lacking the user interface that made the old site so useful for foodies.

Golden and delicious!

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 cup cold buttermilk, plus more for the top coat

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl to combine. Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture and whisk to coat. Drizzle in the buttermilk and stir just until a moist, shaggy dough forms.

Generously dust a work surface with flour. Scrape the dough out onto the surface. Using floured hands, gently pat the dough into a circle, about 1-inch-thick. Use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut out as many biscuits as possible. Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Gather the scraps into a ball, pat it into a 1-inch-thick circle and cut out more biscuits. Repeat as needed. Use a pastry brush to coat the top of each biscuit with buttermilk.

Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven until the biscuits are golden brown on top, about 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Peach and Apple Cobbler

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We were going through the stand freezer and found two bags of peaches that had been frozen a few years ago. Michelle had a recipe on her phone from the old Bell telephone Bell’s Best cookbook for a fruit cobbler.

She did make a few changes from the recipe in the cookbook, so check out them below. Because some of the peaches were freezer burned, we made up for the loss with applesauce. At my suggestion, she also added some Peach Schnapps to up the peach flavor.

Michelle also pre-thickened the fruit sauce as the cobbler cooks too quickly to do it all in the pan. I advise you to place the pan over a baking sheet in case it overflows.

Peach Cobbler


1 pint frozen or 2 cans peaches, sliced
1 ½ cups unsweetened apple sauce
3/4 cup sugar
8 ounces apple juice plus all the peach juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Peachtree Peach Schnapps (I use DeKuyper), optional
2 cups self rising flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup milk

Butter a 9 x 13 pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put fruit, sugar, apple sauce, apple juice plus liquid from peaches and cinnamon into a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until sugar is dissolved. Place in the butter and melt completely. Cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and pour in Peach Schnapps, if using. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Whisk together flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Shake the buttermilk well and stir it and the milk in until smooth. Pour batter evenly over fruit mixture. Batter will sink to begin with but then rises after cooking.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve hot or cold with lots of vanilla ice cream.

Simple and Delicious Mushroom Soup

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I was craving mushrooms and there was a sale on baby portobellos at the grocery store. These past few days have been cold and blustery so I made soup with my haul. This is a pretty easy recipe to make as is or make it vegetarian or substitute chicken or vegetable broth for the beef broth. You can use any mushrooms here, although I don’t recommend the white button, as their delicate flavor wouldn’t make a very mushroomy soup.

This version uses milk instead of cream so just make sure you turn the heat down to simmer and then temper the milk (add a few spoonfuls of the soup liquid to the milk to bring up its temperature) a bit before adding it so that it doesn’t break in the heat.

The final result tastes rich with a deep flavor of mushrooms. Most everyone had seconds at lunch!

Mushroom Soup

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
¼ cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 ounces of baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups beef stock
1 cup water
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk

Melt the butter in large stock pot or Dutch oven. Sauté the onions until soft and golden, about ten minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté a minute or two until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms and cook for about five minutes or until they begin to release their juices. Sprinkle the flour over and stir regularly for about five minutes to cook away the flour taste.

Slowly pour in the beef stock and water, stirring well. Add the thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Turn down the heat to a simmer and slowly add the milk that you’ve tempered with a couple of spoonfuls of soup. Simmer for 30 minutes or until well thickened, stirring frequently.

Serve with cornbread, crusty bread, dinner rolls or garlic bread. Heck, serve with a grilled cheese sandwich – just serve this soup today!

Cranberry Sauce Bran Muffins

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Michelle has been a huge help lately, so I wanted to make her something nice. She is a fan of bran muffins so I decided to use some of the cranberry relish leftover from the holidays and some Kellogg’s All Bran Cereal.

The result is moist, flavorful and delicious enough for Dad to eat one and reach for a second. High praise indeed!

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups Kellogg’s All-Bran Original cereal
1 cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cranberry relish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together cereal and milk. Let stand for 5 minutes or until cereal is softened. Mix in egg and oil; beat well. Stir in cranberry relish. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, that have either been well buttered or lined with muffin papers. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and firm to the touch. Serve warm.

These may be frozen and thawed in the fridge.

Pistachio Bread

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I made my Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread the other day and one of my nieces then requested that I make Pistachio Bread next. As I love it, I quickly agreed and doubled the recipe so everyone could get a small loaf.

I use instant pistachio pudding to give it some real pistachio flavor. I also chop some of the pistachios really small, some roughly and then leave some whole to give the bread lovely texture.

Big tip – as soon as the pudding mix hits the wet ingredients, it will begin to set so make sure that you’ve done all the pan prep, have the pistachios chopped, have the cinnamon sugar out (if using) and the oven preheated before that step.

So delicious and it smelled so good! I had to use threats to keep my Dad from eating it right out of the oven. He couldn’t even wait 15 minutes for it to cool.

Pistachio Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 small box instant pistachio pudding mix
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup milk
¼ cup chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 1 large or two small loaf pans with butter.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in instant pudding mix, breaking up any lumps.

In another bowl or in a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla extract, beating well to combine.

With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Add the milk, mixing to combine. Add remaining flour mixture and chopped pistachios, mixing just until combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing out the top.*

Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for five minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely (or ten more minutes, if you’re my dad).

*Optional – sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar

Meatloaf For a Crowd

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My sister and her two adult daughters joined us for lunch so I made a larger meatloaf than usual using 3 lbs of ground beef. There aren’t a lot of embellishments here but it is every bit a comfort food and a satisfying centerpiece for a meal.

Beefy and moist, this was a hit with everyone. And, lucky me, there is enough left over for a couple of sandwiches, too.

Meatloaf For a Crowd

3 lbs ground beef (80/20)
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
¼ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil and turn up the corners to contain the juices.

In a skillet, cook onions in butter over medium low heat until golden, about 10 minutes. Place in a large mixing bowl to cool completely.

In a small bowl, stir milk into breadcrumbs and let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine with the cooled onions the beaten eggs, moistened bread crumbs, ground beef, grated cheese, ketchup, Worcestershire, parsley and pepper. Mix until just combined before adding salt and then mixing it together. Form into a loaf shape on the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until the interior reaches 160 degrees F. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Pizza Monkey Bread in a Skillet

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I like the Dorot Gardens Prepackaged and Portioned Herbs that are stored in the freezer and are available for use whenever the urge to cook strikes. For this recipe, I’m using the crushed garlic and chopped basil for a savory monkey bread.

This twist on traditional pizza is made in a skillet and makes perfect pizza bites that just pull apart. With the garlic basil butter, it is a cross between the best garlic bread you’ve ever had and a pepperoni pizza.

Delicious as a meal or an appetizer. Lovely pizza flavor and everyone went back for more until it was all gone.

Pizza Monkey Bread in a Skillet

16 Bridgford Parkerhouse Roll Dough
1 cup pizza sauce
½ cup butter, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced or 4 cubes Dorot Crushed Garlic
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped or 2 cubes of Dorot Basil Cubes
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
¼ cup chopped pepperoni
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Thaw the 16 rolls in the refrigerator. Lightly oil a 10 inch cast iron skillet.

Place ¼ cup butter, garlic and basil in a small skillet. Melt the butter and stir to let flavors combine. Remove from heat and set aside. Combine cheese and pepperoni and mix well. Grate the remaining ¼ cup butter into the cheese mixture and stir.

Place ½ cup pizza sauce in the bottom of the skillet. Dredge the thawed rolls of dough in the garlic basil butter. Then dredge in the cheese, pepperoni and butter. Place the rolls in the skillet until filled. Sprinkle over the top any leftover cheese pepperoni mix. Set aside in a draft fee area for 1 hour or until the rolls are puffy. I put mine in the cold oven with the oven light on.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the skillet on the middle rack and bake for 30 minutes or until rolls are browned and cheese is bubbly. Put a sheet pan beneath to catch any drips. Allow the monkey bread to sit in the pan for 5 minutes to cool before turning out onto a plate (be careful of the small amount of pizza sauce that wasn’t absorbed by the rolls while cooking). Sprinkle the top with red pepper flakes if using. Warm any remaining pizza sauce for use in dunking.

Flan de Satsuma

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Michelle and I wanted to do something different with the extra bag of satsumas my sister brought to me. I collected about a tablespoon of zest and we went looking for a recipe that could take it all. I’ve done a panna cotta recipe but we decided to leave Italy and head to Spain.

We found a flan de naranja recipe that we decided to make with our satsumas. Michelle put everything together and came up with a lovely caramelized satsuma sauce and cream custard sweetened with more satsuma juice.

Such a light, delicate flavor and smooth as silk. A lovely dessert for when you don’t want a hugely sugary snack.

Flan de Satsuma

Caramel Sauce
½ cup satsuma juice
½ cup granulated sugar

Custard
1 tablespoon satsuma zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ cup satsuma juice
2 cups heavy cream
3 large eggs
¼ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the sauce ingredients into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir the boiling mixture constantly and reduce until it is thickened and darkened to a rich brownish color. This will take at least 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and spoon into 6 large ramekins. Do not let the sauce sit in the pan as it hardens quickly.

Add the zest, satsuma juice and cream to a large saucepan over medium heat. Scald the cream mixture and then remove from heat. Whisk the eggs into a medium mixing bowl along with the remaining sugar. Temper the eggs with a small amount of the hot cream mixture and continue until everything is in one bowl and the sugar has dissolved. Strain the mixture back into the mixing bowl, using a fine strainer or cheesecloth. Ladle the mixture into the prepared ramekins.

Place ramekins into a 9×13 pan and pour into water to come about halfway up the sides. Bake uncovered in the water bath for 45 minutes to an hour. Custard is done with a knife comes out clean when inserted midway between the center and the edge.

Carefully remove ramekins from the water bath and let cool on the counter for at least 20 minutes before moving to the refrigerator to chill completely, at least 1 hour or overnight. When ready to unmold, run a knife around the edge of the ramekin. Place a plate over the ramekin and then invert. Tap the bottom of the ramekin and mutter magic words so that the flan slides out onto the plate and is surrounded by the sauce. If that doesn’t work, prod the flan out with a knife and tap harder!

¡Buen provecho!

Cranberry Apple Satsuma Relish

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I wasn’t in the mood to make either a Waldorf salad or cranberry sauce this year when I remembered a relish I had a couple of years ago. It was bright with fruit flavors especially cranberries making it qualify as a Thanksgiving side dish.

That one was made with oranges and still can for those who don’t live in places where satsumas are common. Otherwise, using a satsuma or tangerine gives it a lovely flavor..

Delicious! Sweet and tart enough to wake up any tastebuds that are falling asleep from the tryptophan in the turkey.

Cranberry Satsuma Relish

12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries
2 satsumas
1 Granny Smith apple
½ cup granulated sugar

Wash the fruit.

Pulse the cranberries in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Remove to a mixing bowl.

Zest one satsuma and juice it (you need ¼ cup juice). Cut the other satsuma into quarters and remove any seeds. Pulse in the food processor until finely chopped. Place in the mixing bowl with the cranberries.

Core the apple and cut into quarters. Pulse in the food processor until finely chopped. Place in the mixing bowl with the cranberries.

Sprinkle over the sugar and mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight (can be made up to 3 days ahead). Serve with turkey in place of cranberry sauce.

Any leftovers can be spooned over oatmeal for breakfast or, even, placed with bananas, yogurt in a blender for a superfood smoothie.

Cocoa Mix Dip

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I’ve been trying to come up with things that are easy to make and will also tempt the appetite. I dug into my holiday recipe folder and brought out this one. I first made it with a ½ cup of Ghirardelli’s Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa Powder but, since I was out of that, I grabbed two of the packs of Swiss Miss Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix I found in the pantry.

If you want to make half a recipe, use a knife to cut the Cool Whip in half and make the dip with one envelop or ¼ cup of ground chocolate and cocoa.

Hot Cocoa Dip

½ cup cocoa mix (or two envelopes of cocoa mix)
8 ounce tub of Cool Whip whipped topping
Graham crackers

Soften the Cool Whip for about 15 minutes on the counter. Mix with the powdered cocoa mix and return to the refrigerator until ready to serve. Stir again to loosen and serve with graham crackers.