biscuit bonanza!

Today I felt like baking something new, that I have never baked before.  So .. I did biscuits.  I ended up liking them so much that I experimented and made 3 different kinds.  I found a recipe at thejoyofbaking.com and followed it exactly, which is probably why the dough was perfect to work with and they turned out exactly like the picture.  ha ha.

I was very impressed with the dough!  I used a pastry cutter to cut in the butter but then ended up kneading everything with my hands, to make sure that that the butter turned into little pieces, almost like a pie crust.  The dough was easy to work with the rolling pin .. I didn’t have to chill it at all.

I ended up adding in some cheddar  cheese to some of them as well.

Here is the standard recipe:

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

3/4 cup (180 ml) milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Topping:

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

In a large mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (use pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips).  Add the milk and slightly beaten egg and stir until just combined.  (The texture should be sticky, moist and lumpy.)

Place mixture on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently until it comes together and is a smooth dough.

Roll out dough to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thickness.  Cut out biscuits with a lightly floured round cookie cutter or the bottom of a glass.  Place on prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with the beaten egg and milk mixture and bake for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the biscuit comes out clean.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.  Serve warm with butter.

Makes about 12 3-inch (7.5 cm) biscuits.

And these ones are apple Cinnamon.  I sliced some granny smith apples, mixed in some sugar (I didn’t have brown .. only white, but I would have preferred brown) and cinnamon.  I cut out one dough round, put in the filling, then put another one top.  It’s important not to over fill them or they will spill over.  When they came out of the oven I glazed on some caramel and sprinkled with icing sugar .. they are soooo good!

when life gives you lemons… bake lemon cake ;)

Here is the same lemon cake recipe made in two different pans – a loaf and a bundt.  I garnished the bundt cake with dark chocolate covered hazelnuts and white chocolate pine nut clusters.

Lemon loaf cake w/ chocolate covered hazelnuts & pine nut clusters

Lemon bundt cake

entry #1 .. and a #1 recipe .. !

Well, well, well.  I’ve been baking for years and take pictures of everything that I make, so I thought it’s about time to share some of the things that have worked well (and those that have not worked so well .. !) in a blog.

so .. how about some tiramisu  for a first entry?!

This is a tiramisu that I made for my mother’s pot luck at work.  I’ve been making this for about three years now, changing up ingredients and techniques each time.  It’s a family favourite at Christmas!  One special ingredient that I use that is normally not found in many tiramisu recipes is mixing in a cup of whipped cream into the marscapone and custard mixture, to make it a little sweeter and more creamy.

Mmmm… recipe to come!