Rosemary Buttermilk Biscuits

Today I realized that somehow, despite snow and freezing temperatures over the last few months, my rosemary plant from last summer is not only still alive, but thriving. I was already planning on making soup for dinner tonight, so I started searching through my cookbooks for a simple biscuit recipe that would use up some of the rosemary. These biscuits were fantastic, and I have a feeling I will be making them often in the future.

Ingredients:

2 ½ T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground black pepper
1-2 T diced fresh rosemary (use half as much if dried)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
½ t baking soda
2 T cold butter
¾ cup buttermilk*

*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute milk and vinegar at the ratio of 1 cup milk to 1 tablespoon white vinegar. For this recipe, I combined ¾ cup milk with ¾ teaspoon of white vinegar.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add garlic, pepper, and rosemary and sauté for a few minutes, stirring often and being careful not to burn the garlic. Remove from heat.

I wish I could somehow post the smell of this fragrant home-grown rosemary.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Stir with a fork until mixed well so that you do not end up with chunks of nasty baking soda surprise in your baked goods (something my grandma was known for, unfortunately). Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or a fork. This is easier if you cut the butter into small cubes first. Add oil and spices from pan and mix well, again using pastry cutter or a fork.

Add buttermilk and mix well until dough forms a ball. Move dough to a lightly floured surface and slice into 8 equal pieces with a sharp knife. Form each piece into a rough ball and arrange on a non-stick baking sheet. Brush tops with olive oil.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until brown on top. These biscuits go well with my Herbed Carrot Soup.

References:
The Moosewood Collective. “Biscuits à la Focaccia.” Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2001. 392. Print.

Cheddar & Garlic Biscuits

A few weeks ago, I took a break from creativity for the night and made some very cheesy cheddar biscuits out of a box. I ate one biscuit with my dinner, and left them sitting out on the counter when I went to bed that night. When I woke, the biscuits were gone... and my boyfriend had all sorts of creative excuses for how they disappeared, finally admitting that they were so good that he couldn't help but eat them all.

Unfortunately, that yummy biscuit mix was kind of expensive, so I set out to find a recipe so I could make them from scratch. After much research, I finally settled on this recipe that I found on Pinterest. James agrees they taste just as delicious as the ones that came from a box, and they barely cost me anything to make.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. I plan on freezing half of it to ensure there are some left when I wake up tomorrow.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 t garlic powder

1/2 t salt

5 T butter, cold

1 cup buttermilk*

1 1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (or more, if you like!)

*The original recipe advises that if you don't have buttermilk, mix one cup milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar and let sit for ten minutes before using. I did this, and my biscuits turned out fine.

Butter topping:

2 T butter, melted

1/4 t dried parsley

3/4 t garlic powder

Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients (first 4 ingredients) well in a large bowl. Add cold butter and cut into dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no large chunks of butter are visible.

Mix in grated cheese. Add buttermilk and stir minimally; over-mixing will effect the final texture of the biscuits. Using your hands and a soup spoon, drop golf-ball sized chunks of dough onto a non-stick baking sheet, again handling the dough minimally.

Bake biscuits at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes. While the biscuits are baking, mix the butter topping so it is ready when the biscuits come out of the oven. Remove biscuits from tray to a cooling rack and immediately brush with melted butter and spice mixture. These biscuits taste great still warm from the oven. Makes 18 biscuits.

Source: http://forkinit.blogspot.com/2010/09/cheddar-and-herb-biscuits.html