Delicious, easy biscuits

I have been trying to find the perfect biscuit recipe for a while now.  I have tried dozens of recipes and concluded this simple recipe is the best.  Although, I thought butter would be the better fat, I have learned it creates a crunchier biscuit then I prefer.  The crisco makes the biscuit light and fluffy.  Gracie (age 6) actually made this biscuit with a little assistance.  Its amazing how much she can do in the kitchen.

Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup crisco
2/3 cup buttermilk or milk

Preheat oven to 450°.

Cut solid vegetable shortening into flour. Add enough milk to make a dough. Don't over-knead the dough, because it makes it tough.

Roll out dough and gently knead (fold over, roll out, fold over, roll out, and fold over). This makes your layers in the biscuits. Cut out your biscuits and place on cookie sheet.

Bake your biscuits 7 to 10 minutes until they are lightly brown on top and bottom.

Click here to print this recipe!

Bruschetta

My dear friend Jenn makes this delicious Bruschetta.  It’s the best I have ever had.  Here is the recipe.

Bruschetta

recipe by Jennifer Taylor

Ingredients

1/4 onion, diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

olive oil

4 tomatoes

1/2 T basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pkg feta cheese

1/2 c parmesan cheese

kosher salt

fresh cracked pepper

bread (hard, italian style)

mozzarella Cheese

Directions

Dice onion and cucumber.  Cook slightly in olive oil. 

In a bowl, mix onion, cucumber, tomatoes, basil, garlic, feta, parmesan, salt, garlic salt, and pepper.

Cover baking sheet with foil.  Place bread on baking sheet.  Spoon mixture over bread and drizzle with olive oil.

Cover in mozzarella.

Bake at 450 until cheese melts.

The dressing recipe

This is my husband’s family recipe for dressing.  He learned how to make it from his mom and his mom learned it from her mother.  Its a holiday tradition.

 

Bake cornbread as directed on package. Bake biscuits as directed on can.

Spray a large roasting pan with Pam and crumble the bread and biscuits into small pieces into the pan. 

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and celery. Cook until onions are translucent and celery is tender.

 

Add box of chicken broth. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped eggs and remove from heat.

 

Add liquid mixture to bread mixture one cup at a time until desired consistency. Dressing should be wet, but not soupy.  If additional liquid is needed, add chicken broth from can a little at a time.

 

Season with salt, pepper, and sage to taste.

Bake at 350F for approximately 45 minutes and golden brown.

Granny Jo’s Dressing

2 corn-kits

1 can biscuits

1 onion, chopped

½ - ¾ cup celery chopped (incl. leaves)

1 stick butter

1 large box chicken broth & 1 can broth

2 hard boiled eggs chopped

Salt

Pepper

Sage

Bake cornbread as directed on package. Bake biscuits as directed on can. Spray a large roasting pan with Pam and crumble the bread and biscuits into small pieces into the pan.

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and celery. Cook until onions are translucent and celery is tender. Add box of chicken broth. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped eggs and remove from heat.

Add liquid mixture to bread mixture one cup at a time until desired consistency. Dressing should be wet, but not soupy.  If additional liquid is needed, add chicken broth from can a little at a time. Season with salt, pepper, and sage to taste. Let rest is desired.

Bake at 350F for approximately 45 minutes and golden brown.

Honey Butter Rolls

Do you want to make rolls that taste like restaurant rolls?  Its super simple when you use frozen rolls but you can use any kind of rolls you like (homemade or store bought). 

 

Honey Butter Rolls

Rhodes Frozen Rolls (rise and bake)

2 T Butter, melted

1 T Honey

Cook rolls according to package directions. 

Whisk butter and honey together.  Brush honey butter over hot rolls after removing them from the oven. 

Enjoy!

Monkey Bread

My niece spent the night with us this weekend.  I thought it would be fun to make a special treat for breakfast.  I enlisted my niece and Gracie to be the monkey’s in the Monkey Bread recipe.  I let the girls do the mixing, shaking and placing the pieces in the pan.  It was a blast.  I wish Avery was up to join in the fun but she was still asleep.   I found a neat website that explains Monkey Bread and all its variations.  Check it out here.

Let’s get started.  Grab monkeys!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.

Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized plastic bag.

Cut the biscuits into quarters and place eight biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Shake well.

3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue layering until all the biscuit pieces are coated and in the pan.

 

 

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the layered biscuits.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Pull apart and enjoy! 

 

Monkey Bread

adapted from momswhothink.com

Ingredients:

3 cans refrigerated biscuits
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.

2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized plastic bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and place eight biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Shake well.

3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue layering until all the biscuit pieces are coated and in the pan.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the layered biscuits.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Pull apart and enjoy!

Banana Bread Muffins

I came across a top rated recipe for Banana Bread on Allrecipes. I usually don’t make banana bread because it comes out too dry or not done enough.  Since I had old bananas on hand, I thought I would try making muffins instead.  Guess what?  They turned out perfect.  I only had 3 bananas so I split the recipe in 1/2.  It made 8 muffins.  They were done in 1/3 of the time it would have taken to make bread.  Gotta love that.

 

Banana Bread Muffins

recipe from Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 6 medium bananas)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place baking cup liners in the muffin pans. This recipe makes approximately 16 muffins.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl (mixer bowl), cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.
4. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; stir just to moisten. Scoop batter into prepared muffin pans using a large ice cream scoop.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes, until muffin bounces back after being lightly pressed. Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Sausage Gravy & Biscuits

One of my family’s favorite recipes is gravy & biscuits.  It is super easy to make.  On a personal note, this is not my daddy’s recipe.  He can cook some mean gravy if you know what I mean.  However, I can not replicate it.  So this is for the rest of us who so need a recipe for gravy.  Do not fear the gravy.  You too can conquer it.

Buttermilk Biscuits

recipe adapted from Gold Medal Flour

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup butter (plus 1 tablespoon)

1 cup buttermilk (or milk)

Heat oven to 450°F.

Place flour and sugar in large bowl and stir. Cut 1/2 cup of butter into small cubes then add to flour mixture.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly.  Add milk and stir with fork until soft dough forms and mixture begins to pull away from sides of bowl.

Pour dough onto lightly floured surface.  Knead dough just until smooth. Do not over knead.  The mixture will not be smooth, just combined.  Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured biscuit cutter. Place biscuits with sides touching on cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Butter top of the hot biscuits with remaining butter.

Sausage Gravy

1/2 lb ground pork sausage

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

3 cups milk

salt & pepper

Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat.   Crumble while browning.  Remove cooked sausage to a bowl leaving grease in skillet.

Add butter to skillet.  Stir until melted.  Sprinkle flour over melted butter and whisk until butter and flour are combined.  Cook for about a minute while flour mixture slightly browns whisking constantly.

Gradually whisk milk into skillet.  Whisk until smooth.  Add salt and pepper.  I use a lot of pepper (probably 3/4 – 1 teaspoon).  Mixture will begin to boil within a few minutes, then reduce heat and let simmer 5 – 10 minutes until thicken.  Stir frequently.  Add sausage, stir then pour over hot biscuits. 

Enjoy!

Corn Casserole (Paula Deen)

1 can cream of corn

1 can corn, drained

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together.   Pour into a greased casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes.  It will be de done when its golden brown and firm in middle.

More Pumpkin Please – Pumpkin Bread

I have been seeing pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkin everything everywhere.  I really wanted to bake pumpkin bread.  I have to admit I don’t like baking bread loaves because I always over cook them trying to make sure they are done.  So I took my pumpkin bread recipe and made pumpkin muffins.  The results were moist and delicious!

Pumpkin Bread Muffins

Ingredients

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

4 eggs

1 small can pumpkin

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tins with paper cups .

Mix together sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkins.  Mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl.  Incorporate flour mixture into sugar mixture alternating with water.  Stir in pecans.

Pour into pans.  Bake 20 minutes until muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Serve with butter and enjoy!

Makes 2 1/2 dozen muffins.

Baking Cinnamon Rolls

When you have a day to burn and a desire to bake, I would recommend these cinnamon rolls.  You can give away the extras or freeze them.

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls (My Way)

Ingredients

• 1 quart Whole Milk
• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
• 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• 2 cups melted butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/4 cup Cinnamon

FROSTING:

• 5 cups Powdered Sugar
• ½ cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat, remove from heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm (about 120 – 130 degrees), but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 13 to 17 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Enjoy!

You can buy Pioneer Woman’s cookbook at my favorite store if you want to see all her wonderful photos and delicious recipes.