For what it's worth: biscuits

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Showing posts with label biscuits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biscuits. Show all posts

Tuesday

Monkey Bread for Two

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Yesterday was a beautiful 70° day and I took advantage of it getting out and about but another cold front blew in last night so I get to bake today.  I like baking in cold weather for several reasons: warms the kitchen, smells wonderful and the food is comforting.  Right now I am enjoying the cinnamon smell of a small batch of Monkey Bread.  I cook for two most of the time so I adapted the recipe down for us.  Here is my super simple recipe…

Pudding Poppers

pudding popper

In my quest to use up the hoard of pudding and gelatin mixes found hidden in my pantry,  I came across a recipe that looked simple enough to give it a go this morning.  The original recipe was a little difficult to track down through a Pinterest Pin, but I did finally find it at Oh Bite It.  The photography is great.  When I made these they were almost a  Pintrosity because there are a couple of things not stressed that I should have known…but didn’t do.  Fortunately, I only burned the first four poppers before adjusting the hot grease temp.

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First, make the vanilla pudding according to the box directions and set it aside.  Put a couple of inches vegetable oil in a small skillet to heat up to 350° F.  Not any hotter, the biscuits will burn on the outside and be doughy on the inside.  My oil got a bit too hot, so I turned the heat down until it was just right.

Mix up some cinnamon sugar to roll the hot dough balls in and sit it near the stove.  The original pin doesn't indicate what proportions, but I used 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of cinnamon.  That was a little heavy on the cinnamon for me so I would suggest you start with a Tablespoon of cinnamon and adjust up until you are happy with it.

 

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Open a tube of flaky layers biscuits and cut them in quarters.  Roll each quarter into a little ball.  I could only manage four quarters at a time, so ease four biscuit quarters into the hot oil.  I said “ease” because if you drop them in too vigorously you might splash hot grease on yourself.  Turn them over to cook on both sides.

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Remove the cooked dough balls from the pan and immediately coat with the cinnamon sugar mix.  Set them aside to cool completely.  That doesn’t take long.  When you have the balls complete, cut a little X in the top of each ball and use a pastry tube (or even a marinade injector) to push some of the pudding inside each cooked dough ball.

pudding poppers

I think this is a recipe the grandkids will like, don’t you?

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Wednesday

The obvious answer.

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Last night a person (unidentified to protect her humility) text me with this photo and question.  Why did my “made from scratch” biscuits turn out flat instead of fluffy? She explained she used cold butter, cut it in till it was crumbly, didn’t over work it, so what went wrong?    I suggested she test the baking powder for freshness.  All you have to do is put 1/4 teaspoon of the baking powder in 1 Tablespoon of water.  It should bubble and fizz.  Without waiting for her answer I quickly posted on a FB group the question.  “Bakers:  What will make homemade biscuits flat, not fluffy?   Then I got these photo text’s. 
These are the photos and notations.
The set up and experiment.

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Then several minutes later she text this…
it barely fizzed at all.
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And then this came.
Ready for it?
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You can turn the can over! Whoops on that one.
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1st step…check expiration.
We both got a laugh out of it and I posted it on FB, then on this blog.
She still likes me.  She said so.
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PS If you want to test Baking soda freshness:  put 1/4 teaspoon off soda in a Tablespoon of white vinegar.  It should bubble and fizz.