Jun 24, 2006

The Multi-purpose Biscuit

Okay, we're from Texas and we eat southern!

We had some missionary friends come down from Budapest to stay with us. Well, I made breakfast one morning, biscuits and gravy and to my surprise they had never had either. The family is from the New England area and apparently they aren't blessed with southern cooks up there. ;o) No offense to any of you wonderful northern gals! :0)

I found this wonderful biscuit recipe several years ago and it really is wonderful. The best thing is that is calls for oil and not lard. I really hate using lard so the oil thing is great. I use this recipe for biscuits of course, monkey bread and cinnamon rolls.

BIG DADDY BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
1/3 c. oil
smidgen less than a c. of milk



Mix all the dry ingrdients together. Add oil and cut in with a pastry blender until it looks like rough meal.

Add the milk and combine with a wooden spoon (a must for a good southern cook), sprinkle a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Flour a working area and roll your dough out to about 3/4 of an inch. Okay, for you who have a special cutter for biscuits, get it out, for the rest of us country folk, find that glass that works best. Flour the glass or cutter, :o) and start cutting.

Make sure to reuse the left over dough, I remix it and finish it off.

Put in a preheated over at 150 C. I think thats 325 F. Let bake until lightly brown on top, the darker they get the dryer they will get.

Ta Da!!! All finished. Start to finish is about 40 minutes including cooking time.

Ya know, there are alot of different things you can do with a good biscuit recipe. Here is the recipe for monkey bread that I make with this recipe.

MONKEY BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

Above Biscuit recipe, doubled
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 175 C or 350 degrees F. Grease or spray (non-stick spray) a 10 inch tube pan.
Mix white cinnamon and sugar medium bowl. Roll out dough to 1 inch thick. Use either a pizza cutter or knife to cute the douch into 1 to 1.5 in square cubes. Coat several biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan. If using nuts and raisins, arrange them in and among the biscuit pieces as you go along. In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.
Bake at 175 C or 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart.

CINNAMON ROLLS

INGREDIENTS:

Single bath of above biscuits
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
6 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tsp. cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare a single bath of biscuit dough. Roll the dough on a floured surface to about 1/3 inch thinckness. Spread the melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle the brown brown sugar and cinnamon over the buttered dough. Roll up jelly roll-fashion, starting with a short end. Place on a lightly floured surface to cut. Using a piece of stron thread, slide the thread beneath the roll and cross thread to cut the rolls with out mashing them. Place in an ungreased metal baking pan and cook until lightly brown., about 35 minutes.

You can mix powdered sugar and milk together to make a loose glaze for the rolls. I sometimes use orange juice instead of milk, delish!

12 comments:

  1. You and I are just kindred spirits...HONESTLY! I just did a post late last night on Southern cooking and gave a recipe for fried green tomatoes and then we both did a post on the Bible this week. Maybe not the same subject area, but still about the Bible. How funny.

    Thanks for those recipes by the way. My hubby doesn't like the "whomp em'" biscuits. You know, the kind in the can that you whomp open on the counter? LOL He likes the "hand sqarshed" biscuits. :)

    ~Kristi

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  2. So funny, Okay I'm headed to check out your blog. I honestly have never made fried green tomotoes. The southern food varries so much in the south, state to state.

    Oh by the way, I like the hand squarshed ones too. :o]

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  3. Well, we ain't from Texas, but my Arkansas-born grandma made bicuits every morning for my grandpa. With Bisquick! Of course, Tori, you and I can't get bisquick. I'll have to try your recipe, mine calls for margarine rather than oil. The Chileans love them! For a special treat for ladies meetings, I take biscuits, whipped cream and strawberry jam.
    But I think the monkey bread will be even better. I have childhood memories of my best-friend's house (in New Mexico) and her mama making Monkey bread!
    BTW we like hand-squarshed AND whomp em biscuits;)
    R

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  4. Hi Tori,
    Everything looks so good!! I printed out the recipes and noticed the amounts of the salt, baking powder and sugar are missing. I hope you are around this morning...the flour is already in the mixing bowl..hehehe.
    Kelli

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  5. So sorry Kelli,
    I fixed that. oops :op

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  6. Hi Tori,
    I looked up another biscuit recipe and guessed correctly. While they were baking in the oven, my BIL and SIL came over and we had them with English Breakfast tea. Everyone loved them!!! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
    Kelli
    P.s. I use a glass to cut my biscuits too. :0)

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  7. Sounds yummy! I'm from the south but have never made a biscuit from scratch....I know, the shame *says this with head hanging down*. I, too, like the idea of no lard so I'm going to print these out and give them a try.

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  8. Anonymous12:30 AM

    I'll have to try these recipes out!

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  9. Thank you so much for sharing. I can't wait to try these out. They look yummy. YAY!! We have a big breakfast every Saturday morning before church. The last thing I want is our bellies grumbling, and we are concentrating on our hunger more than the sermon. lol I will have to add these into our Sabbath morning breakfast routine. Do you think they will still taste good if I do them the day before?

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  10. Shereen,
    I usually make them fresh so I don't know. I have made them before hand and they do pretty well in a sealed container for several hours but who knows for a day. Let us know if you try it.

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  11. How delicious! Those treats look scrumptious. Isn't baking the best?

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  12. I hope you don't mind my copying those awesome recipes! My mother made the best home-made biscuits and I never was able to get the recipe before she passed...I was too young to think about it! BUT...WOO HOO...these look awesome!

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Hey thanks in advance for leaving a comment, sure do appreciate it!!