let's talk about biscuits

I’m on a bit of a baking streak. Are you seeing it? I haven’t forgotten about waffle-palooza. I’m still making waffles every week, but a girl’s gotta have some variety in her baked goods.

Biscuits are a food category all their own in my house. They can be sweet or savory. They can be served on their own with jam or used for a sandwich or served with soup or Thanksgiving dinner. I’m kind of particular about my biscuits. I like biscuits that are tall and flakey and the southern food equivalent of a croissant in buttery-ness. Yes, that is a word. I like biscuits that are on the saltier side rather than the sweeter side. You can’t slather on the jam when your biscuit starts out too sweet. Unless it is a sweet potato biscuit. Those are good all on their own.

Anyway, looking for a little change of pace last week in the breakfast department, I rolled out (ha! didn't see that one coming, did you?) some biscuits from Cooking Together. These biscuits tasted more like a baking powder biscuit than a true buttermilk biscuit in my opinion but that may have been because I used a substitute for the buttermilk (1 tablespoon lemon juice to a scant cup of milk). That said, I’ve made other buttermilk biscuits with the same substitute and that tasted like true buttermilk biscuits.

The brown sugar in these biscuits was a bit sweet for me. I realized later that this may be an altitude thing again and that reducing the sugar might have helped the recipe at 5,000 feet. Either way, as a vehicle for butter and jam, these biscuits definitely passed the test. They also are easy enough for a weekday morning.

Before you go off the rails on me about baking first thing in the morning, I get that mornings are busy. We are all tired and trying to get the lunches made and the kids to school and the showers scheduled and the day started is a chore sometimes. It sounds absolutely crazy to even think about baking in the morning. You know what though? Half an hour before everyone else gets up is sometimes the only quiet that I get all day. It is amazingly relaxing to me to fill that time with scooping and measuring and mixing and the smell of fresh baked goods. It puts me right in the morning. Rather than feeling rushed, I feel like I’ve started the day with something complete. I’ve made something and the day is barely starting. It feels great. Give it a try. Start small with banana muffins or these biscuits. Let me know what you think.

Oh, yeah. And you need some tools in your life. I am loving these plastic cookie cutters from Target. They stack nicely, clean easily, and don't bend in my drawer. Perfect for cookies, biscuits, or play-do. The scraper easily takes dough off of my counter without cutting the wood. I love it.

Clockwise from top: flower cookie cutters, star cookie cutters, and scraper.