Honeycomb Sourdough Biscuits

I'm not a great chef or anything, but sometimes even the most mediocre cook comes up with a recipe worth sharing. This one is actually "adapted" from GRIT Magazine's special baking issue they put out a while back. It included a great section on sourdough and since I'm a sourdough fanatic, (I have had well, digestive problems all my life to put it nicely, and eating sourdough fixed me up perfectly. I wish I'd discovered this simple solution sooner.) I made almost all the recipes. They were all excellent, and I really liked the biscuit one because it was quick and used a cast iron pan. I have a large collection of cast iron and use it almost exclusively except when I need a non-reactive pan for something.

The only problem was that the recipe in the magazine made too many biscuits for me and my husband, even eating leftovers the next day or so.

So the first thing I did was to cut the recipe in half. That worked okay, but in the days that followed, I made a few other changes. One change came about because the only honey I had was some really good honey with the comb in the bottle.

I also developed this because I wasn't using my sourdough starter every day and yet didn't always want to keep it in the refrigerator. And I'm cheap and didn't want to keep throwing away starter. Since the sourdough helps me digestive-wise, I found that making biscuits everyday used enough starter to keep it going on my counter without wasting it, and it gives us good biscuits for breakfast.

Anyway, here is the recipe. It makes about 9 biscuits and you finally have a use for that small cast iron skillet that you thought was only good for frying an egg. That's the one that is  6.5" but 8" will also work. NOTE: I've never tried this in a pan other than cast iron and I don't think it would come out as well in plain aluminum or glass.

This recipe takes about an hour, all told, when you count in collecting the ingredients, mixing, rising, and baking.

Honeycomb Sourdough Biscuits
1 cup of sourdough starter
1 cup of flour
1 Tbsp of very cold butter cut into pea-sized chunks
1 tsp (generous tsp) of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (you can add more if you like them a little saltier)
2 tsp honey with a bit of comb scrapings

1 Tbsp melted butter

Process

NOTES - Sourdough - This is a variable. If you keep your starter on the "thick" side (like puffy, risen dough) then you may need to add a teaspoon or so of water. The recipe depends upon the sourdough starter for moisture. You should be able to work in all the flour--it will be a very stiff dough--but if you can't, your sourdough starter may simply be too "thick" so a small bit of extra water may help.

Honeycomb - If you scrap your teaspoon over the honeycomb as you get the honey out of the jar, you'll get little bits of the comb. We find that this gives the biscuits a bit of a chewiness and extra honey flavor that we really like. You don't have to do this, but we really like it. You may like less honey in your biscuits or no honeycomb scrapings.

Butter - You can use either salted or unsalted. The salted butter will make it less sweet and more like a biscuit. The unsalted will bring out the honey notes and make a sweeter biscuit. Using margarine isn't worth it (in my humble opinion). The flavor and crumb just aren't the same.

Ingredients - The measurements are not exact. In fact, I just use a regular spoon and sprinkle in what I think looks good for the baking powder, salt, butter, and honey. The recipe is VERY forgiving so you can get a little sloppy with the measurements and it will still come out well. I also tend to use an exceedingly generous cup of sourdough starter, fed or unfed.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. You don't have to use this order of ingredients, but I find it makes mixing easier. In a small to medium mixing bowl, add the cup of sourdough starter, 1/2 of the flour, sprinkle in the baking powder, salt, butter, and honey, kind of distributing it over the surface. Then put in the rest of the flour.
3. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. It will not be smooth and it will be stiff.
4. Using a spoon or scoop, place egg-sized biscuits into the cast iron skillet. The sides of the biscuits should touch. You'll probably get about 9 biscuits or so.
5. Drizzle the melted butter over the biscuits.
6. Let rise for at least ten minutes in a warm place. Anywhere from ten to twenty minutes is good. There will just be a slight rise, but enough to "fill in" the spaces in the skillet.
7. Bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven until the tops of the biscuits are brown. We like them brown because it gives them a crunchy crust, but technically, you can take them out when they are only slightly brown to get a more moist, tender biscuit.

Variations

These biscuits can also be made with whole wheat and wheat germ as follows:

Instead of the 1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour, use:

1/2 c. unbleached, all purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat

If you want to add wheat germ, too, put 2 Tbsp of wheat germ into your 1/2 cup measuring cup and then fill it the rest of the way with the whole wheat flour.

The whole wheat and wheat germ combination is actually my favorite way to make these biscuits as the whole wheat goes really well with the honey. In fact, that is the kind of biscuit that is in the picture.

If you want your biscuits to look smoother, you can shape them a bit (not too much as it will melt the bits of butter) and smooth them into egg shapes before putting them in the skillet. I prefer not to mess with them too much and I like the crinkly/crunchy top.

Another variation

You can also add about 1/2 tsp of honey to the melted butter which you drizzle over the biscuits before baking. This gives them extra sweetness.

I made the mistake, once, of baking them far too long. This made them very crunchy, but oddly enough, my husband really liked those as a snack. ha, ha. They were almost like big, round crackers.

So like I said, this recipe is very, VERY forgiving even if you over-bake them.

I imagine you can add just about anything you want to them, as well. Raisins are great and make them more "breakfast-y" and almost like scones. Dried berries are also great.

If you have any left the next day, you can put them in the microwave for up to 30 seconds to make them soft and warm.

There you are: Honeycomb Sourdough Biscuits. Enjoy!

Supper Time - Quick Mexican Chicken

We love Mexican food, but so much of it takes a long time to make and seems a little, well, complicated. Last night, we found out at the last minute that hubby had to go to a meeting, so I needed to make a quick dinner. The following is one of our favorite meals because I can make it in 30 minutes (or less) and ironically, it is composed of recipes that I made up!

I kept thinking that there had to be an easier, faster way to make Mexican-like food. That notion, compounded with the fact that I've been watching cooking shows like Chopped, Good Eats, and a bunch of others, gave me the courage to try my hand at creating my own dish. Chopped is especially good for building your courage because frankly, if someone can take a basket of foods that really don't go together and make a cohesive dish, why maybe I can too!

When I have more time (or am better organized) I also make the corn tortillas to go with this because that's just water and the tortilla flour, which I stir together, roll out with a drinking glass, and cook quickly on my cast iron skillet. I didn't have time last night, though, and with the beans and rice, we really didn't need them.

So here is what we had for our quick supper last night. Note that you'll want to get the rice started first (unless you're using 5 minute rice) because it takes the longest to cook, depending upon the variety you select.

Black Beans - those were from a can, so I didn't do anything there except open a can. We like the black beans you can find in the Mexican food aisle, so that's what we had. See? I said this was an easy, fast meal.

Easy Mexican Chicken
2-3 (or more--you can increase/decrease as needed) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut up into 1 or 2" pieces
2 tomatillos, chopped into large chunks
1 tsp minced garlic
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 (15 oz) can of chopped tomatoes (I like fire roasted)
1 handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, minced + 1 tsp of the sauce (I put the rest into a freezer bag and mush it into a thin layer so I can break off pieces later, and freeze it.)
2 Pinches of cloves per chicken breast
2 Pinches of cinnamon per chicken breast
1 tsp cumin (or more, to taste)

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the cloves, cinnamon, and cumin, then cut up the chicken. Please note that you can add more or less of every ingredient to fit your tastes. We really like spices and garlic, so we tend to add a lot more than I've mentioned above. I don't measure it, I just sprinkle the spices directly on the breasts and then cut up the chicken.

In a frying pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbsp butter and 1Tbsp olive oil together. When it is hot, add the chicken chunks and cook until the chicken loses its pinkness. Add the garlic, chipotle chili and adobo sauce. Stir for about a minute.

Remove the chicken to a bowl and add the onions and bell pepper to the same frying pan and cook until the onions are clear, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken and any juices that have accumulated in the bowl back into the frying pan with the veggies. Add the can of chopped tomatoes. Let this simmer over med/med low heat until the liquid is reduced by half. This takes about 5 minutes or so.  Right before serving, add the chopped, fresh cilantro.

You can "dress this up" with guacamole, or sour cream, or both, or neither. :) If you have time to make/buy tortillas, you can wrap this chicken up in the tortillas. You can even use this as the filling for chicken enchilladas, which are really good, too!

Yummy Rice
You can use any rice for this, including instant/five minute rice. I prefer brown jasmine rice, but we've used this recipe with every kind of rice there is.

1 minced shallot or 1 Tbps minced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp butter
1 c. rice
chicken broth (usually 2 1/2 c. but you should use the amount of broth listed on the rice package)

In a saucepan, melt the butter and then add the minced shallot/onion and garlic. Cook over med low heat until the shallot/onion turns clear. Add the cup of rice to the butter/shallot/garlic and cook over med to med/low heat until the rice starts to brown.

Add the appropriate amount of chicken broth using the proportions on the package of rice. Bring to a boil then put the lid on.

Finish cooking according to the package directions regarding time.

This makes a great rice that is super with Mexican food as well as curries, etc.
For curry, you can add things like diced apricots or raisins and add about 1/4 c. more broth than the rice package calls for, to allow for moisture absorption by the dried fruit.

That was "what was for supper" last night and it was tasty. :)
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My latest book, a paranormal romance called A Fall of Silver, is getting great reviews, too, so yesterday was a pretty good day!

A woman bent on the destruction of all vampires discovers redemption in the arms of an ex-priest determined to save the undead.   

BLURB

The only good vampire is a dead vampire: that’s Quicksilver’s philosophy and she sees no reason to change it. In fact, she’s about to kill one of the undead when Kethan Hilliard confronts her, promising peace and redemption for both vampires and humans in exchange for an end to the slaughter.

But Quicksilver knows that’s not going to happen.

Someone is killing humans and vampires, and sweet words aren’t going to end the nightmare.

The events awaken terrible secrets from Quicksilver’s past, and she’s not about to repeat her previous mistakes. This time, she’s going to end the madness and silence the horror, forever.

Note to readers who are curious about the title: The title has to do with the weapons the heroine, Quicksilver, carries. She uses specially crafted whips to defend herself against the undead and the "fall" is the part of a whip near the end. It's usually about 24" long and the "popper" or "cracker" at the very tip is attached to the fall. Whips are incredibly accurate and even deadly in the hands of an expert and Quicksilver is definitely an expert.

What's for dinner?

Baking Bread
When I finally retired to enable me to concentrate on just one job, my writing, I realized that I could finally get back to doing what I used to do: baking my own bread. While I'm willing to eat pre-sliced "store bread" as toast, I've always disliked it for almost everything else and especially sandwiches. Maybe I got spoiled when I was a kid and my grandma baked bread at least once a week and taught me how to do the same. Maybe I'm just hopelessly picky. Deli bread is okay, but somehow, it just can't match the flavor of bread you make yourself.

So today I baked four loaves of French bread so I could freeze two and we could finish up the week with crusty, fresh bread. French bread is one of the easiest breads to make: the list of ingredients is very short (basically flour, yeast, water, shortening, salt and sugar for the yeast to eat) and it bakes very quickly. The only tricky thing is getting a good crust, which you do by spritzing the bread with water and having a pan of water in the oven during the first 15 minutes of baking.

My tip for French bread, though, is to get one of those foil lasagna pans and use that for your water reservoir in the oven (you can put it on a cookie sheet to stabilize it). The reason? If you make a lot of French bread, over time, any pan you use to hold the water will build up a white crust as the water evaporates out of the pan during baking. This is ugly and can be difficult to remove, so I just keep a foil pan that I use over and over again. While it has built up white scale, that's fine with me since this is all I use it for and when it gets too yucky, I'll use it in the garden to hold paper pots of seedlings. When it won't work for that any longer, well, I guess it can make the final trip to the dumpster.

This batch of French bread is by no means my last for this week. On Saturday, I plan on baking a couple of loaves of bread with wheat germ and oatmeal added to the flour for a more rustic and nutty tasting loaf. My husband prefers the French bread, but I like a little variety and the wheat germ really adds wonderful flavor. I also plan on making some sourdough starter because I love sourdough bread and am dying to make some sourdough French bread. My husband hates sourdough, but as I tell him, "Then don't eat it." LOL

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to make--and eat--my own bread! It's wonderful to have time again to do so.

What Was For Dinner

What was for dinner with the French bread? Bratwurst and sauerkraut! Yummy and women are supposed to eat lots of sauerkraut and other cabbage dishes, so it worked out great for me.

Hope you had a great dinner and will think about making your own bread. You won't believe the flavor and its a lot of fun. I find the kneading very soothing.

And Let's Not Forget The Writing
One of my publishers contacted me and asked if I could write a 20,000 word Regency romance, right now. LOL. It is extremely hard for me to write something "on demand" and quickly, in fact, my biggest "flops" were created under those conditions, but I'm going to give it a shot.

In the meantime, my paranormal romance, A Fall of Silver, is available now in almost any ebook format through Amazon and Smashwords.

A Fall of Silver

Allison “Quicksilver” Bankes has a simple philosophy is: the only good vampire is a dead vampire. After a brutal encounter with the undead, Quicksilver wants revenge and she’s about to kill one of the undead to save a young woman’s life when Kethan Hilliard confronts her. Kethan promises peace and redemption for both vampires and humans in exchange for an end to the slaughter, but Quicksilver knows that’s not going to happen.

Someone is killing both humans and vampires, and sweet words aren’t going to end the nightmare.

As events spiral out of control, terrible secrets from Quicksilver’s past awaken, and she’s forced to turn to Kethan to survive. Kethan and Quicksilver may have opposing goals concerning the undead, but neither can deny the attraction growing between them that threatens their everything they hold dear. However, Quicksilver is determined not to make the same mistakes twice, and with Kethan’s help, she hopes to silence the horror, forever.

Enjoy your evening! 

Valentine's Day - Truffles

My husband is a choc-a-holic and his birthday falls the day after Valentine's day, so even though he's not supposed to eat sweets, once a year I make him truffles. They are ridiculously easy to make and if you're scratching your head, wondering what the heck you can do for your significant other, it's a great last minute idea.

Here's the basic recipe...

Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
1 & 2/3 c. heavy cream
7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 lb of semi-sweet chocolate
2-3 Tbsp Bourbon (Amaretto or Grand Marnier are also good), optional
Cocoa powder

Directions

1. Chop up the chocolate roughly
2. Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the butter in chunks.
3. Heat the cream and butter over medium heat until the butter melts, stirring constantly.
4. Turn up the heat and keep stirring until it's just starting to boil. Remove from the heat.
5. Add the chocolate and stir it in until it melts and starts to thicken & cool.
6. Add the liquer (if you wish--this is entirely optional).
7. Cover and cool for 2-3 hours (or longer). While it is cooling, stir it about every 45 minutes or so.
8. Sprinkle some cocoa on a plate and coat your palms. Form the truffles by scooping out 1 tsp (you don't have to be exact--this is just a rough size and you can make them larger or smaller at your discretion). Roll them briefly to make balls (don't hold them too long or they will melt) and then roll them on the plate to give them a nice coat of cocoa.

Keep them refrigerated.

Note: I like to wash out and save the glass instant coffee or mason jars to use as truffle jars. They make really cute gifts when you tie a red ribbon around them. 

So there you are--easy, right? These truffles have a deep, rich flavor and you can have fun adding different liquers if you wish. Orange-flavored liquer is excellent, although my husband is a big fan of bourbon-flavored truffles.

I've got my mixture sitting in the refridgerator right now and I'm planning to surprise my husband with a jar of his favorite bourbon truffles this evening, right after a scrumptious dinner of venison bourguignon, pasta, and a huge salad.

Happy Valentine's day (a little early, but...)