Mile High Biscuits

I love me some biscuits...how about you?  Smothered in butter, drizzled with honey, smeared with jam...that's what I'm talking about.  I have two recipes that I love and this is one of them.  These biscuits have endless possibilities...a complement to any meal, strawberry shortcake, smothered in sausage or chipped beef gravy, ham sandwiches...use your imagination.

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups of all purpose flour

4 t.baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

3/4 t. of salt

5 T. of  chilled butter

1 cup of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 and make sure you have a rack ready in the center of your oven.  In a food porcessor combine the dry ingredients.  Cut the butter in small chunks and add to flour mixture.  Pulse until the mixture resembles course crumbs (be sure not to over mix...chunks of butter make fluffy biscuits).  Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cup of buttermilk.  Use a spoon to mix until it starts to hold together.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until most of the mixture sticks together.  Try to work quickly so the heat from your hand doesn't  melt the butter.  Pat out into a circle about 1/2 inch thick.  Use a biscuit cutter to cut.  Continue gathering the dough and cutting until all used up (I usually get 8 biscuits)...remember work quickly with as little hand contact as possible.  Place biscuits on a pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until light golden brown.  Serve warm.  Enjoy...everyone needs a good biscuit in their life!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

These lovely little rolls you're looking at are sooo good! I really, really, love biscuits and scones, especially with a good cup of coffee. A lot of people have been turned off by scones and biscuits thinking they are just to dry...and rightfully so. If they are not made right, or handled too much they just don't have that light, fluffy quality that makes them out of this world. I'll give you a little bit of info here. I've read a lot about how to make scones that melt in your mouth and biscuits that are so light they float and here is what I found. Follow these things and your biscuits will be fantastic every time. If I'm wrong, I'll owe you a batch of cookies or pan of brownies;)

~Put your butter in the freezer...the colder the better

~Handle the dough as little as possible. The heat from your hands makes the fat warm. The fat (butter or shortening) is what makes your biscuits so light. Chunks of butter and shortening are a very good thing. During baking the butter melts and creates soft, light flaky layers.

~Put your bowl in the freezer...cold is good, very good

~Use a sharp biscuit cutter, not a glass. Using a glass kind or "welds" layers together as you cut through the dough. A sharp edge creates a clean cut resulting in fluffier biscuits.

*Please note this recipe is different than most because it melts the butter (typically you never do that). Also it uses whole wheat flour which makes it heavier than traditional biscuits, but these are still really good.

You will need:

1 cup plus 3 Tab. of flour

3/4 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2/3 cup of mashed sweet potato

1/4 cup butter

2 Tab. honey

In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, sweet potato, butter and honey; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 8-10 times. Pat or roll dough out into 3/4 inch thickness, cut with a floured biscuit cutter.

Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with butter and drizzled with honey.

Mocha Scones

My husband is the love of my life. Chocolate and Coffee are fighting for second place. Today however the two can share the coveted second place status in these scones. These are worth the effort. Seeing that mocha drizzle dripping down the side of this chocolate studded yumminess should be enough to convince you, but in case it's not I think they are very, very good. I consider myself a scone connoisseur...these ROCK! Go make them.

By the way, wish I could take credit for these babies but I found them here.

Take some time to check out all her great recipes.

You will need:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1 large egg

For the Mocha Glaze

1/4 cup strong coffee
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used semi-sweet because it's what I had and they worked fine).

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease pan and double up your pans...keeps them from burning.

2. In food processor mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add cold butter (cut in big hunks) and process until if resembles course crumbs. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the chocolate chips.

3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, coffee and egg until smooth.

4. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until the dough comes together. I typically just use clean hands for this process. Then use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. The dough will be sticky, but it will come together.

5. Place on a lightly floured work surface. Now at this point you can either pat the dough into an 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick and use a sharp knife to cut it into 8 triangles. Or you can pat it into a rectangle, then use a sharp knife to cut 10 even squares. Then cut 10 even squares in half to create 20 smaller triangles.

6. Place scones on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 for smaller triangles and 18-22 minutes for larger triangles.

7. Cool on wire rack. Once scones are cool, prepare the glaze.

For the Mocha Glaze

1. In a small bowl, combine coffee and confectioners’ sugar and whisk until smooth. Whisk in melted chocolate until thoroughly combined.

2. Drizzle chocolate glaze over the scones (do this however you want. I used a spoon, but you could also use a pastry bag or Ziploc bag with a small hole snipped in the corner...whatever works) .

Pumpkin Scones

I've tried a lot of different Pumpkin Scones but these are definately my new favorite. If you are a fan of scones and pummpkin you should give these a try. I think you will be pleasently surprised at how good they are! This recipe is adaped from one I found at The Shoebox Kitchen.


2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (we used turbinado)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (we used our fresh pumpkin puree)
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg

Spiced Glaze
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 T. of real maple syrup (use more if you need to)

*You don't want the drizzle to be watery. It should be slightly thick and drizzle at the end of a spoon.

Preheat the oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (if you don't have parchment paper, double pan). Combine all the dry ingredients and cut in butter until it resembles small crumbs. I use my food processor for this part because it's so much easier, but a pastry cutter will work just fine. Combine the pumpkin, half and half and egg. Add to the butter/dry ing. mixture and stir till it starts to come together. I used my hands once it started "sticking" together to gather it into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, flatten into a circle about 10 inches or so and then cut into 8 wedges. I suupose you could do a few more if you wanted, but I like thick scones. Transfer to baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes. Mine were done in about 12, so keep any eye on them. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over scones. Serve warm.