Cheddar Pepper Drop Biscuits Made with Homemade Baking Mix

Today was a day off from school for my kids. My kids were hyper from the time they got up and got worse as the day wore on. I would love to say that my nerves aren't fried this evening, but they are. I never realized when I was young just how loud and destructive two boys could be. Honestly, I never really though I would have two boys. Don't get me wrong I love my two boys, but I was totally unprepared for being the mom of only boys. In my mind I always thought I would have a boy and a girl. When my second son got old enough to move around I quickly realized being the mom of multiple boys and only boys is a feat. They are loud and very physical. Boys don't sit down and read, or daydream. They do fight, and throw rocks to see if they can break, try to kill bugs, get dirty, really, really, dirty, and generally don't sit still. It's even funner when one of your kids has ADHD and so does your husband. There are days where my house might actually resembles a madhouse. Tonight I'm just glad that tomorrow is a school day. I love my kids, but one day off was enough for my sanity. I'm also thinking that my kids will be spending a lot of time at camp this summer, as much for me as for them.

The last month I have posted a couple of times about the Homemade Baking Mix that I have been using. It's really great and tonight I'm going to share a third recipe that utilizes the mix. This recipe is for Cheddar Pepper Drop Biscuits and is great recipe as a side with meals.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Cheddar Pepper Drop Biscuits Made with Homemade Baking Mix

Ingredients

• 3 cups Homemade Baking Mix
• 4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar, grated
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Cooking Directions

1. Combine baking mix, cheese, and pepper in a bowl.
2. Add milk and cream to mixture until a wet dough forms.
3. On a parchment lined baking sheet drop dough into 8 biscuits.
4. Add grated cheddar cheese to the tops of each biscuit.
5. Bake biscuits in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. Serve warm or reheat when ready to eat.

Tips: 

• Since everyone has slightly different measuring cups the amount of heavy cream can vary. The original recipe used 1/3 cup. I found that that wasn't nearly enough. I have made this recipe a number of times and the total amount of cream needed has ranged from 1/3 cup to over 1/2 cup. Basically add cream until the dough forms and is moist. Additionally, if you want to save on fat you can add 1/3 cup cream and then slowly add additional whole milk until the dough is the right consistency. 
• I have used low fat cheese with this recipe and it worked fine. I accidentally bought low fat cheese and was worried that it wouldn't melt etc, but it was a fine substitute. 
• Make sure to store your homemade baking mix in the fridge, it will go bad since it has butter in it. 

Fluffy Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

I seem to have an unstable neighbor. She was somewhat normal until she had her kid, now it's a 180 degree turn. Yesterday she felt the need to throw eggs at our 12 year old dog with arthritis. I heard our dog whimpering and found eggs in our backyard. Needless to say I wasn't happy. She has also forgotten to pick up her kid at the bus stop multiple times forcing me to walk him home so he doesn't get hit by a car. I feel bad for her since I think she might have post partum depression that isn't treated. However, I also am beginning to lose my patience with the entire situation. At the bus stop in the morning she allows her kid to stand in the street and push my children, while I calmly try to explain to my own kids that there is a difference between raising your kids to survive to adulthood and raising your kids to be successful members of society. I miss the 80's when I was growing up. If I acted up at the bus stop my mother would have gotten phone calls from all our neighbors and I would have been grounded or had my tv privileges taken away by the time I got home. Apparently modern parenting isn't something that I do so well with.

One thing that I have learned to do well is to make biscuits. Growing up my mother never made biscuits, we ate them at restaurants, but even those were few and far between. When I moved to WV it was a whole different story. There is a whole breakfast chain that just serves biscuits (and a few other items). Over the years I have learned that there is a right and wrong way to treat your biscuit dough. The following is a recipe for Fluffy Southern Buttermilk Biscuits.

Fluffy Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

Fluffy Buttermilk Southern Biscuits

Recipe Type: Side

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 12m

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup buttermilk

Cooking Directions

1. Combine first 4 ingredients.
2. Cutting the butter into small pieces add it to the flour mixture.
3. I use a small knife and cut off chunks above the bowl and then add the chunks using either a fork or your hands.
4. Add buttermilk to the mixture and stir just until the dough comes together, any longer and it will be tough.
5. Pat the dough into a circle approximately a 1/2 inch thick.
6. Using a 2 inch biscuits cutter cut out the biscuits.
7. Make sure not to twist the cutter in order to get the biscuits out, it will lead to tough biscuits.
8. Place the biscuits a couple of inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes in a preheated 450 degree oven.

Whole Wheat Beer Biscuits

In a week and a half both of my kids will be in school. My youngest is super excited about starting kindergarten and has been talking about it non-stop for pretty much the last two months. I'm excited, but also nervous. I have stayed home with my kids for 8 years and for the first two years after graduate school I looked for work and found nothing. So basically for the last 10 years I have stayed at home. I'm more than a little nervous about both of my kids being in school. Originally I had planned on going back to work when my youngest started kindergarten. However, my area has absolutely no jobs besides fast food and Wal-mart, and when I factor in the additional amount my student loans would go up and child care I probably would probably only break even. So for now I will be staying at home. It will be a time of transition for both my youngest and I and I'm hoping that the next couple of weeks bring lots of positive changes for my whole family.

My family loves biscuits. They are one of their favorite breakfast foods and my youngest will eat two at a time if I let him. I try to add whole wheat flour into my family's diet whenever I can and this morning I made Whole Wheat Beer Biscuits.

Adapted from The Sunset Cookbook.

Whole Wheat Beer Biscuits

Whole Wheat Beer Biscuits

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Summary:

An easy biscuit recipe using beer and whole wheat flour.

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 20m

Total Time: 0h, 25m

Yield: Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup beer

Cooking Directions

1. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. With your fingers or a pastry blender cut in the butter.
3. Beat egg and then add to flour mixture.
4. Add beer and mix just until dough comes together.
5. Pat dough into a 1-inch thickness.
6. With a 2-inch biscuit cutter cut out biscuits.
7. Place on a greased or parchment papered baking sheet.
8. Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

Notes: 

• If your family isn't a fan of whole wheat flour this recipe would also work with white whole wheat flour. It's an easier transition to whole wheat for kids and has a rise similar to regular all-purpose flour. 
• Make sure to not overwork your dough. The difference between great biscuits and mediocre is all in the amount of kneading. Biscuit dough needs a light touch. Never use a rolling pin, hand pat the dough out, and only mix the ingredients until they just come together. Anything more and your biscuits will be tough and won't rise. 
• I have also tried this recipe with only 1/2 cup of butter and had similar results. I try to cut down the amount of butter my family consumes when possible and while the biscuits weren't as rich, my husband and kids didn't notice the reduction in butter once the biscuits had jam and/or butter on them. 

That's it! They have a beautiful rise in the oven and are great either with butter or jam. Any type of beer would work, I used a wheat beer that I already had in the fridge. Have a great week everyone. 

Strawberry Champagne Jam

Strawberry Champagne Jam

I have a problem sitting still, I always have. My husband laughs at how many projects I have going on at any given time. As soon as I finish one project I'm already planning five more. Right now I am working on three craft projects and two home improvement projects. My youngest has decided to start his own craft project so that he can work alongside me, it's pretty cute. While I always have lots of projects going on, I am horrible about writing things out and making lists. Grocery lists I'm great about, but not cleaning, chore charts etc. My mother was list obsessed, she had lists that had baby lists. I have a basket, all the things that I need for my various projects are in that basket. When the basket is empty it's time for another project. The basket is rarely empty though, I prefer the chaos of having many projects going on at one time.

For New Year's Eve my husband and I bought a bottle of champagne. Then we fell asleep at 10 o'clock and never saw midnight. For Valentine's Day we opened the bottle, but each of us only drank a small glass. Since neither of us are big fans of champagne I decided to try a new recipe for Strawberry Champagne Jam with the leftovers.

Strawberry Champagne Jam

This recipe has 5 ingredients. It takes one hour of total time, all of which is active and makes 6 cups of jam. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First, I increased the sugar to 2 cups. Since I was using cava, which is very dry and not very sweet I thought the increase in sugar was needed. Second, I mashed the strawberries with a potato masher. I like my jam to be full of fruit and mashing the berries helps in this regard. Finally instead of simmering for 15 minutes and then a 5 minute rapid boil, I boiled the jam until it hit the jam point (which I tested on a plate in the fridge). Then I water bathed for 10 minutes. I ended up with 4 small jars of jam.

Strawberry Champagne Jam

The taste of this jam is sweet, but with a different undertone than regular strawberry jam. The champagne makes a nice change from regular jam and is a good way to use leftover champagne. My kids enjoyed the jam with homemade buttermilk biscuits, I ate the jam with coconut flour bread. Both ways it was delicious and something I would make again.

Strawberry Champagne Jam

For the recipe go to Strawberry Champagne Jam.

Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns

Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns

I think I must have the messiest family on the planet. Women on-line are always showing and talking about their chore charts. How they break down everything into days so that they can get everything done. While I like the idea, it wouldn't work in my household. Doing one load of laundry a day would end in a huge pile by the end of the week. Only wiping down my bathroom counters and deep cleaning once a week doesn't work with three males in my house. My kitchen has to be cleaned daily, I cook and bake everyday. If it wasn't cleaned everyday it would be disgusting in a short amount of time. Maybe if I had less animals and the males in my house were a little cleaner that I could try the 15 minute a day cleaning charts. As it is I spend half of my day cleaning up from the day before and the other half cleaning up from the messes my kids made while I was cleaning up the first time. It's a vicious cycle.

On Christmas day I made one breakfast that I could eat and one recipe that everyone else could enjoy. My family loves ham, so the recipe I chose incorporated it. I tried a new recipe for Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns from the December 2013 issue of Southern Living magazine.

Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 1 hour and 10 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 16 rolls. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. For the biscuits I used buttermilk country style biscuits. These are the type of biscuits that my family likes, plus they aren't too flaky or crumbly. I ended up with 20 buns, I made my buns a little on the smaller side. I found that they took approximately 35 minutes to cook, the extra 5 minutes would have made the buns overly browned.

Downtown Huntington, WV from Spring Hill Cemetery

My kids really liked this recipe. They thought the sweet and savory combination was delicious. My husband thought that the amount of ham should be doubled. He would have liked the recipe better if there was less biscuit and more ham and cheese. That being said he ate 3 for breakfast, so they were good either way. I liked that this recipe was very easy to prep and make. They also freeze well for quick re-heated weekday breakfasts.

For the recipe go to Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns.

Salt and Pepper Biscuits

Salt and Pepper Biscuits

I did not grow up on biscuits. The only biscuits my mother ever made came from a can. She was a great cook and made many delicious recipes, but she didn't really bake. My husband brings up almost every Christmas about the year she took my great brownie batter and added a bag of raspberry chips to it. They were pretty inedible. Needless to say I had no idea how to make biscuits when I moved 2500 miles away from home to the State of West Virginia. Biscuits are a big deal in this state. I quickly learned that knowing not only how to make a biscuit, but being able to whip up a batch on the fly was an essential part of being a West Virginian. Since my husband and I met and got married in graduate school I quickly realized I was in trouble. My first few biscuit attempts were disasters. I kneaded the dough, I rolled out the biscuits with a rolling pin and they resembled hockey pucks. After a few years my mother in law took pity on me and kindly asked me if I could help her with her breakfast biscuits. In reality she very nicely pointed out everything that I was doing wrong without it feeling like a baking lesson. It worked, the next time I made biscuits they were perfect, they rose beautifully, they had a great texture and my husband would eat them (which is saying a lot I promise). Now she still makes the best biscuits I have had in this state and every time my husband goes home she makes him a big batch. They are the only biscuits that he never adds any jam or butter to, they are perfect as is. So I concede to coming in second best, a place which I think is pretty great considering the competition. I make a number of biscuit recipes depending on if they are for breakfast or as a side. Today I tried a new recipe for Salt and Pepper Biscuits from the November 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

Salt and Pepper Biscuits Sliced 

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 8 biscuits. I made few very changes to the original recipe. The main changes were to the execution of the recipe steps. The recipe states to use a food processor to cut in the butter. While I love food magazines, this is a step I have to debate. I have always cut my butter in by hand with my fingers and so does my mother-in-law. It keeps the butter a great texture and the flavor is always perfect. I cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour mixture with my fingers. It should resemble a lumpy batter when done. You want these butter lumps in order to have flaky, buttery biscuits. The other big change I made was to roll out my biscuits by hand. Do not roll out biscuits with a rolling pin, it makes for flat biscuits. I pat out my biscuits with my hands and then use a biscuit cutter. Avoid too much contact with the dough in general, the less you touch it the better the biscuits.

These biscuits are definitely dinner biscuits. I served them alongside a veggie smoked salmon chowder recipe and they worked well together. As a breakfast biscuit they would not work as well, so remember that these should be a lunch or dinner biscuit/bread. With a little bit of butter my whole family liked this biscuit recipe. My husband still prefers breakfast biscuits, but he may be the pickiest biscuit eater I have ever met so his opinion is a little biased. Overall, these were easy to prepare and were a nice side with soup.

For the recipe go to Salt and Pepper Biscuits. 

Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter

I have a soft spot for honey. As far back as I can remember I have loved honey. Not the store bought generic variety, but local delicious pure honey. It is great in so many ways, on biscuits, in baking or in tea. In the last six months I have been using less white granulated sugar and trying to use more natural sweeteners like honey. One of my favorite foods growing up was honey and peanut butter sandwiches. The combination is delicious and my two kids love it almost as much as I do. As I have written about previously, biscuits are a big deal around here and they are made frequently for breakfast. Before giving up gluten I made them at least a couple of times a month. Biscuits are very versatile and can be great with breakfast or dinner. Last month I made a recipe for Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter from the December issue of Everyday Food magazine, which looked quick and very simple.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. All of the ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store, so I made no modifications. I did use organic butter and buttermilk. I try to buy organic for chicken and dairy. The dough will be very sticky, do not overwork it or the biscuits will end up tough and will not rise properly. Make sure to use parchment paper to bake the biscuits. It really does work better for baking, I highly recommend it. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made these biscuits before I gave up gluten. One of the things that I miss the most about not eating wheat is easy biscuits. This recipe is very easy to make and the honey butter is delicious. The honey butter could easily be used on other things such as sweet potatoes, bread or other baked goods. I could see the butter being absolutely yummy on cornbread. I made a great gluten free cornbread recipe last week that would work with the honey butter. Overall, this is a very easy biscuit recipe that takes little time to make and was very popular in my household.

For the recipe go to Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter.

Blueberry Cream Biscuits

I love berries. Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, yum! My two kids love berries even more than I do and can eat a pint of blueberries in one sitting. It would be great if the price of berries was low all year, but they aren't so during the summer when the prices are low I bake and cook with them as much as I can. Baking has been one of my greatest stress relievers as far back as I can remember and during stressful times in my life I bake a lot. The beginning of the school year is always stressful and I try to calm my sons down as much as possible by baking things that they love. One of their favorite things to eat are biscuits and I bake them frequently. Last week I tried a new recipe for Blueberry Cream Biscuits from the April issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, which looked full of berries and delicious.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of prep and 17 minutes of baking time and makes 12 biscuits. All the ingredients are basic and I either already had them in my pantry or I was easily able to find them at my local grocery store. Make sure not to overwork the dough. I did have to add slightly more whipping cream than the recipe suggested in order for the mixture to come together without over touching the dough. I ended up with 12 biscuits total. My biscuits took slightly longer than the suggested time in the recipe. It's always hard to tell with my oven how long recipes will take. The oven was built in the disco-era and it doesn't always heat evenly. I did rotate my pan halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These biscuits turned out delicious. I originally was going to make the blueberry sauce that was included with these biscuits, but my boys ate all the blueberries before I had time to make it. So instead I made the recipe without the sauce. They were delicious hot with butter and I didn't feel that I was missing anything by not including the blueberry sauce. My two boys ate most of these biscuits all by themselves. They are a nice combination of sweet from the blueberries while still having a nice biscuit flavor. I would definitely make these again and they could easily be modified to use other berries or leave out the blueberries completely for a savory side.

For the recipe go to Blueberry Cream Biscuits.

Black-Pepper Biscuits with Sorghum

I didn't grow up eating biscuits. My mother never really made them and the restaurants in Seattle served great waffles and pancakes, but horrible biscuits. When I moved to West Virginia I quickly learned that biscuits are a big deal around here. There is a whole chain of fast food restaurants centered around them. The first time I attempted to make biscuits after I moved here was a total disaster. The biscuits barely rose and the taste was less than great. The next couple of times were so-so. They weren't great, but not disgusting. Finally, after numerous tries and approximately five years I learned to make great biscuits. Now I love them and make a batch at least once a month. Today I tried a new recipe for Black-Pepper Biscuits with Sorghum from the June issue of Martha Stewart Living.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes a total of 35 minutes, 10 of which is active and makes 10 servings. I was unable to find sorghum at any of my local grocery stores so I ended up special ordering it. I love that the small ethnic grocery store by my house will order me things and that it only takes a couple of days to arrive. I had no problems with any of the other ingredients and I made no modifications. Make sure to not overly touch the dough. The more you touch the dough the tougher your biscuits will be and the less they will rise. After adding the buttermilk you need to mix the dough just until it comes together, if you mix longer than that it will make the biscuits tough and flat. I ended up with 14 total biscuits, not the 10 suggested by the recipe. My biscuits took exactly 14 minutes to cook and no more. I did rotate my baking sheets halfway through the cooking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These biscuits were delicious. I was worried that they would taste overly peppery, but they only have a mild taste of pepper. My two boys loved the sorghum on top of the biscuits and ate their whole servings. I was happy because I was worried that they might be too adult tasting. These biscuits rose very well and browned beautifully on top. This is a recipe I would definitely make again.

For the recipe go to Black-Pepper Biscuits.

Southern Biscuits

Growing up in Seattle I never really ate biscuits. My mom made tons of pancakes and waffles, but biscuits were relegated to restaurants and those were mediocre at best. Fast forward to grad school and I ended up in West Virginia and the middle of biscuit country. There is a whole chain of biscuit fast food restaurants which specializes in biscuits and biscuit sandwiches called Tudors. I quickly fell in love and was determined to learn to make southern biscuits. My first ten attempts were pretty much disasters, I could not get a hang of the idea of not overworking the dough and sadly my biscuits resembled hockey pucks. Slowly I learned to make proper biscuits thanks in large part to my mother-in-law. Everything was perfect until my husband and I went to Washington state for a visit. My husband made the mistake of ordering buckwheat biscuits and gravy at a restaurant. Really I should have warned him, but I didn't. I tried one bite of the dish and could tell they were not proper biscuits. My husband tried to be nice about the dish, but has since re-told the story to every West Virginian that he knows to explain how northerners just can't make biscuits and gravy properly. Since we are very serious about biscuits in our house I rarely try new recipes, but I am teaching my oldest son to bake so we tackled the recipe for Southern Biscuits from the Food Network this weekend for breakfast.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes a total of 40 minutes of time and makes 12 servings. All the ingredients are very basic and I already had all of them in my pantry cupboard and fridge. I did make a few changes, I made my biscuits larger than the recipe suggested, so I ended up with a total of 9 biscuits. My family prefers large biscuits so we can slather them in jam or gravy and the larger the surface area the better. To ensure that your biscuits turn out perfect make sure to do a few essential steps. First, make sure that the butter is very cold. I cut my butter into pieces and then place it in the freezer for approximately 5 minutes. This allows the butter to stay cold while being cut into the dough. This is essential for having fluffy biscuits. Secondly, and most important barely touch your dough after adding the buttermilk, mix the ingredients until they form a dough and no more. Very gently pat the dough into a circle and press your biscuit cutter into the dough, turn the biscuit cutter in a circle. This turning ensures that the edges will turn out perfectly in the oven. Close the door to the oven and do not open for at least ten minutes. If you open the door too soon your biscuits won't rise, so avoid the temptation. That it!

I love how easy this recipe is to follow and the finished biscuits have a great taste. The recipe was so easy that my 6-year-old was able to help me with the entire recipe. The taste is slightly sweet and the buttermilk creates a great flavor. They were perfect with the homemade strawberry jam that I canned last month, yum! I will definitely make this recipe again.

For the recipe go to Southern Biscuits.

Food Network Magazine Soda-Bread Biscuits

We are big fans of baked goods in my household and would be horrible on a low-carb diet. My kids have been known to eat an entire loaf of homemade bread in a day and my husband has a soft spot for brownies. As for me I haven't met a scone, muffin, or biscuit that I don't love. Given my family's love of baked goods I am always looking for new recipes to serve as dinner sides. One of our favorite breads is Irish soda bread, so I was intrigued when a recent issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Soda-Bread Biscuits.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes approximately 30 minutes to prep and bake and makes six biscuits. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. I chose to make larger biscuits, so I had a total of six. I turned my baking sheets halfway through the baking time in order to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The Irish soda bread recipe that I normally use is very traditional, and I love it. However, for biscuits I love experimenting with new flavors and this recipe does a nice job of combining the idea of soda bread with the delicious flavors of caraway and raisins in a biscuit. These were perfect for a side at dinner and they tasted great with melted butter. Overall, an easy biscuit recipe that my whole family enjoyed.

For the recipe go to Soda-Bread Biscuits.

Saveur Honey and Herb Biscuits

Growing up my mom's idea of making homemade biscuits were the ones that we bought to go along with the fried chicken from the grocery store. I remember my mom baking and cooking many things, but biscuits were never on the list. When I moved to West Virginia I remember the first time I went home with my husband to meet his parents, and we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. That was to be the beginning of my love/hate relationship with biscuits. It has taken me approximately 8 years to come to the point that my biscuits are up to my husband's standards. People in West Virginia take their biscuits very seriously and I am always excited to try new recipes. Recently, I was looking through the November issue of Saveur magazine and ran across a recipe for Honey and Herb Biscuits, which looked delicious and perfect as a dinner side.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes approximately 45 minutes of prep and cooking time and makes 2 dozen biscuits. My mother-in-law was in town when I made these and cut out the biscuits. Instead of rolling out her biscuits she pats them out by hand on a plate and then cuts them out with the top of a cup. Her biscuits always turn out fluffy and delicious, so I would highly recommend preparing them this way. When biscuit dough is rolled out flat it causes the biscuits to stay flatter during baking, treat your dough nicely! I had no problems finding any of the ingredients, they were all very basic and I either had them already in my pantry or I was easily able to find at my local grocery store. One major difference that I made to the recipe is the baking time. My mother-in-law and I had a large discussion about this and neither of us could fathom baking biscuits for anywhere near 35 minutes. I normally bake my biscuits approximately 15 minutes, 20 at the most. If I had kept the biscuits in the oven for the full time suggested by the recipe my biscuits would have turned into burnt hockey pucks. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

I served these biscuits with a sea bass pasta dish and they complimented each other nicely. My in-laws were very impressed with these biscuits and they are big biscuit eaters, so I take that as a high compliment. These biscuits were very easy to prepare and I was able to throw them together at eight o'clock at night with a house full of hungry tummies. I loved the combination of fresh herbs and honey, it gave the biscuits a nice well rounded flavor. The best part about these biscuits is that they would go well as either a side dish or a breakfast food, a very versatile recipe.

For the recipe go to Honey and Herb Biscuits.

Food and Wine Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter

Bacon is a big deal in my household. The males in my household love bacon, and when I say love, I mean love. If I want a positive reaction to my baking or cooking I just add bacon and it will be guaranteed to be a hit. Growing up my family was a sausage family. We ate links and patties almost every Sunday morning breakfast. When my husband and I first got married it took some adjusting for me to get used to cooking with bacon grease and not burning bacon in general. I have come along way since then and I now make dishes using bacon frequently. The November issue of Food and Wine magazine had a recipe for Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter, which looked like a great way to appease my bacon loving household.

This recipe has 9 ingredients for the biscuits and 2 for the butter. The total time is one hour, with 30 minutes being active, and it makes approximately 18 biscuits. I chose to use maple syrup instead of ordering sorghum butter. I'm a big believer in using the ingredients that you already own/have. The remainder of the ingredients were basic and I either already had in my pantry or were easily available at my local supermarket. My family prefers thick-cut bacon, so that was the type I used for this recipe. One major modification I made to the original recipe was the cooking time. West Virginians make a lot of biscuits and I have never kept my biscuits in for 25 minutes. I bake my biscuits for 10-15 minutes, 20 at the most and turn the baking sheet halfway through. If I had kept my biscuits in the full 25 minutes, the bottoms would have been way too brown for my family's tastes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

As expected this was a very popular recipe in my family. I made half of the biscuits with a dinner recipe and kept the other half of the dough for fresh biscuits for breakfast the next day. The maple butter was absolutely delicious on the biscuits as well as waffles I made later in the week. My favorite part of this recipe is that it works well as both a dinner side or a breakfast food. Overall, a very versatile recipe, full of bacon and delicious.

For the recipe go to Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter.

Food Network Magazine Lemon-Thyme Biscuits

My husband and two boys love biscuits. Growing up I never remember my mother making biscuits, so they were never something that I learned to make well. That all changed when I moved to a part of the country that loves biscuits and has a whole chain of restaurants geared specifically towards the item. My first couple of attempts were less than successful, but slowly I learned to make a decent breakfast biscuit; I'm still after eight years working on perfecting my gravy. The July/August issue of Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Lemon-Thyme Biscuits, which looked different than my normal biscuit routine and perfect for my biscuit loving family.

This recipe has 9 ingredients and is very easy to put together. The total cooking time is approximately 40 minutes, with 25 being active. All the ingredients are basic and the majority I already had on hand in my pantry cupboard. I made the recipe as stated, with the exception that I left off the chopped thyme on top of the biscuits. I left off the thyme since I am baking for a 2 and 5-year-old in addition to my husband and I, and they are a little more picky on the use of fresh herbs. My baking time was a little longer than the suggested 12-15 minutes due to the fact that I refrigerated my dough before cutting. My biscuits took approximately another 5 minutes to finish baking completely.

These biscuits turned out delicious. I wasn't sure how my two boys were going to react to the fresh thyme and lemon in the biscuits, but they absolutely loved them! Not only did they eat their servings for dinner, they ate the remainder for breakfast the next day. My husband and I loved how well they complimented the baked chicken that I prepared as a main dish. These biscuits would make a great side to a variety of dished and have a delicious savory taste.

For the recipe go to Food Network Magazine Lemon-Thyme Biscuits.