The Biscuit Method

Alton Brown's cookbook I'm Just Here For More Food is broken up in chapters by baking method, not by types of baked goods like cookies, cakes, pies, and breads. He has the muffin method of throwing everything in a bowl, the creaming method (a recipe I'll write about later this week), plus others including the biscuit method. The difference here is that you mix all the dry ingredients together and then cut in the butter, also like a pie crust, then mix in the wet ingredients. Pat it out, cut it up and bake it.

Last week I made two different things using the biscuit method. The first was for Father's Day- cheddar chive biscuits. The recipe was a combination of about five of Martha Stewart's recipes for different types of biscuits, but I knew I wanted herbs and cheddar and there wasn't one that combined the two the way I wanted. So I mixed the flour, salt, baking powder like a normal recipe then added a little smoked paprika, chile powder, shredded cheddar cheese, and chopped fresh chives. Then I cut in the butter and mixed in buttermilk. I patted it out and cut it up and baked it just until they started to brown. They were so good! Perfect to go with a savory brunch or any kind of dinner. They were slightly salty, cheesey, oniony, and spicy. And they were a delicious moist biscuit.

The second thing I made was this past weekend, I whipped up some lemon poppy seed scones for a couple bridal functions I was going to. Again, I couldn't find a recipe from Martha that was exactly what I wanted so I used the recipe from http://www.marthastewart.com/341387/lemon-cream-scones for lemon cream scones and added a couple tablespoons of poppy seeds to the dry goods. And I don't think I added as much zest as the recipe called for so I added half a lemon's worth of juice. I know the acidity of the lemon juice would cause a chemical reaction with the baking powder and it would make them rise more and be fluffier inside. They turned out pretty good. The recipe called for eggs, which is a little odd for the biscuit method, so they turned out a little cakey but they tasted good and looked great.

The biscuit method is super easy, always quick, and the only way you can really mess is up if you follow the directions is by mixing it too much. I even whipped up a pie crust yesterday and it only took 10 minutes max.

Father's Day Present

For holidays and birthdays I like to give people a gift that is affordable and something I know they'll enjoy. I almost always bake something. For Father's Day this year I made my dad sesame soy cashews from Martha Stewart Living December 2003. It was pretty simple to whip up, I just had to bake it and stir it for almost an hour. But then end result is something amazing. I made this once before for a poker night party and my best friend and I made ourselves sick because we couldn't stop eating them they were so good.

The Recipe:

1/4 cup (abbreviated c. from now on) soy sauce

2 T (tablespoons) sugar

1 t (teaspoon) sesame oil

1 t fresh grated ginger

3/4 t ground ginger

4 c roasted cashews

1/4 c sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and then pour it out on a baking sheet or silpat. Bake at 250 for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes until they're dry.

All these ingredients I already had, besides the nuts, even the ginger, which I've had fresh for a long time. I learned somewhere (probably from Martha) that when you buy a whole piece of ginger root at the store you usually only use a small portion. Keep it in a ziploc in the freezer and use a microplane zester (or very small holes on a cheese grater) while it's still frozen every time you need it. I don't even bother trying to scrape of the paper coating. You can't tell when it's all grated together. Then you can spend a couple cents on something and add a little bit of great flavor to many meals and make it last months.

The label came from Marthastewart.com

Gradutation Cupcakes

My little sister Faith graduated from high school this month and for her present I made 60 cupcakes, three different types. The first one she requested was a chocolate cake with mint buttercream frosting. I had made these before for a birthday party we went to and she loved them. Her second request was a mocha cupcake. The third one she let me pick. I called this one "surprise cupcakes."

I feel like every time I make chocolate cake it turns out dry. I don't have a single chocolate cake recipe I'd want to make again. Randomly, as I was thinking about this, I was talking to my best friend and she mentioned some chocolate cupcakes she had made that were the best she'd ever had, so I asked for the recipe. She googled it and found a recipe called better than sex chocolate cupcakes. But she told me to add a little bit of flour because hers was too thin. So I made them with 1 cup of flour instead of 3/4 cup and they were not too thin, on the contrary they were a little thick so I added a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil to the mix. They baked nicely, but were still a little dry. Turns out hers were thin because she used melted butter instead of softened butter, which makes a world of a difference. Next time I need chocolate cupcakes I'll try the recipe again but with only 3/4 cup flour.

For the mocha cupcakes I used Martha Stewart's recipe from her cupcake cookbook. It is almost impossible to find instant espresso powder, the grocery store had 100 kinds of instant coffee but no instant espresso, which I find surprising. So I got some that was a hispanic brand of instant espresso coffee, at least it had the word I was looking for. The cupcakes baked up beautifully, the most rounded dome on every single one, I almost didn't want to frost them! But again they were a little dry, even though I added a couple tablespoons of oil to these also. I think I'm going to have to start making my own cupcake recipes with a ton of oil in them so they actually stay moist like they're supposed to.

For the mint and mocha frostings I started with the same base- Swiss meringue buttercream. This is a more elaborate frosting, and I was trying to avoid doing it but Faith had specifically asked for the mint frosting that tasted like a cloud, and for that I had to use egg whites. This buttercream starts with whisking egg whites and sugar in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water, so it acts like a double boiler, but as soon as the sugar dissolves you put the bowl into the electric mixer and let it whip for 5-10 minutes until it's not hot anymore. Then you whip in an entire pound of butter. Frosting basically is just sugar and butter, but with the egg whites it is so light and fluffy, and it's firm to it'll keep any shape you pipe it in. I divided this mixture in half; one part I added peppermint extract and green food coloring, the other half I added more instant espresso powder. Both turned out perfectly.

Now onto my surprise cupcakes. With two kinds of chocolate cupcakes already I wanted to do something fruity, but Faith rejected most of my ideas. So then I thought of doing a cupcake like a jelly filled donut. I made yellow buttermilk cupcakes using the recipe from Martha's cupcake cookbook again (I use it almost any time I need to make any kind of cake). They actually baked the worst out of the three I was making. I made twice as many of these at one time so maybe the heat didn't circulate in the oven like it should have, but they all had muffin tops and spilled over the edges and none of them had beautiful domes like the other two batches. They still tasted pretty good, I think buttermilk makes anything taste better. After they had cooled I cut cone shapes out of the middle of each cupcake and filled it with my favorite raspberry jam. Then I made simple fluffy vanilla frosting- just butter, powdered sugar, and a little vanilla- and piped it onto the cupcakes to cover the filling so no one knew it was there. I thought these turned out great, exactly what I wanted and the twist Faith had asked for.

Overall it was a successful catering job for a party, although I didn't get paid I also didn't have to buy a present, because the ingredients and the time it took were expensive enough. And I'm always pleased when people like what I've made.

Pasta with Cream Sauce

It's been a long time since I've written so I have a bunch of things to write about.

About a week ago I made pasta for dinner with asparagus and cream sauce. I've tried to make this before just by using cheese and melting it with the cooked pasta and making it creamy with cream cheese or something else I had in the fridge, but it was pretty bland.

This time I made a bechamel as a base for the sauce. I used the recipe from my Julia Child cookbook. You start by melting butter in a saucepan and mix in flour and cook it just a minute to get rid of the raw flavor. Then you mix in warm milk. I added blue cheese to then make it a mornay sauce. It could have used some herbs but I thought it would be good enough and I couldn't decide what herbs to use.

I mixed the sauce with asparagus roasted with garlic, salt, and pepper. I like it with a little bit of black on it. Overall the pasta was good, but with a little bit of Chalula it was really good.