Thursday, November 29, 2007

Yummy Biscuits



I made these biscuits last night for dinner. They turned out wonderfully. I used the following recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. I didn't freeze them, I just baked them straight away.





Paula's Purty Nearly Instant Biscuits

6 cups self-rising biscuit flour (OR 6 cups flour, plus 3 tablespoons baking powder & 1 Tablespoon salt)
1 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk OR sour milk OR yogurt thinned with a little milk or water
This recipe is inspired from a very dear friend named Paula. It involves preparing biscuits from scratch and then freezing the unbaked biscuits. Paula created the idea because her family always wanted her good biscuits for supper, and she needed a way to make them hot, and fresh, even on days when she didn't feel like baking. The results are divinely inspired.
First get out a large mixing bowl. Measure in the self rising biscuit flour (or flour, baking powder and salt). Add the firmly packed shortening and mash it into the flour with your fingers or a fork. DO Not Overmix. The shortening should be casually combined with the flour, and small chunks the size of dried beans should remain. This is what makes the biscuits flakey. Now stir in the buttermilk or sour milk or thinned out yogurt. Stir it up until you have a nice soft dough. Knead the dough about 10 or 12 times. NO more, No less. This activates the gluten in the flour just enough to make good biscuits. Roll the dough out into a nice thick slab. I use a rolling pin, but any sturdy jar or glass will do. Cut the dough into biscuit shapes. Use a clean can or glass rim, if you don't have a biscuit cutter. Tuna cans are just the right size for big breakfast biscuits. Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough is used up.
Lay waxed paper on a plate or large pan. Arrange the shaped biscuit dough on the waxed paper. Freeze overnight. The next morning the biscuits can be gathered up and stashed in plastic freezer bag.
When you want to cook them, just take out the specific number you want and place them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake in a preheated 425 to 450° oven for about 10 minutes. The biscuits will rise up beautifully and will be a nice golden brown when done.
These biscuits are better tasting, and much cheaper than canned whack-'em-on-the-counter-biscuits. The whole recipe makes between 30 and 35 medium sized biscuits, or about 20 big breakfast size biscuits (grand-sized).

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Chocolate Soda Cake

A couple of weeks ago I picked up some diet chocolate cherry Dr. Pepper. I drank one, it was alright. It was a little to chemically for me, if you know what I mean. :) Anyway, I had been looking for ways to use it up. In my search I came across this recipe for Chocolate Soda Cake . I figured it would be a great way to use up this soda.

Chocolate Soda Cake
Recipe #147890

12 servings
40 min 10 min prep

1 (18 1/4 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cups diet cola- (which is a tad less than one can of soda. I used the diet chocolate cherry dr. pepper I mentioned earlier)

Mix dry cake mix with soda. Don't pay any attention to adding oil, egg, etc.
Pour into floured cake pans, bunt pan, muffin tins, etc.
Bake according to directions on box.

**********************

So, Griffin and I are making this cake for dessert tonight. It was super easy to mix up. We poured it into my Pampered Chef Fluted Stoneware Pan that I picked up somewhere for $5. :) I also sprinkled some halved maraschino cherries onto the batter and sorta poked them into the batter. It's in the oven and has to cook for about 40 minutes. I am going to melt some chocolate chips and drizzle that over the top once it is cooled. I will be sure to update later and let you all know how it turned out.

*****CAKE IS DONE*****

So, here it is. :) The whole drizzled chocolate thing didn't quite work out, so I had to spread it on the top. It looks delicious and I am sure it will be.



Griffin is so excited about it. He can't wait to eat it. I hope he makes it until after dinner. :)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Long time no post.

Well, it's been a while. I never did get those brownies made. We moved halfway across the world since that last post. We have finally adjusted to Texas after spending the last 8 years in England. Well, maybe not 100% adjusted, but adjusted enough. LOL

We have finally settled in and I am just getting back to blogging. :) So, look for more posts, more pics, and more recipes shortly.