Almond Flour Biscuits

I can't remember what prompted me to make these, maybe because I was craving bread. But I wanted to give them a try. I made them exactly as written. Shown served with cream cheese and cured salmon.

Verdict: The crumbly texture that almond flour tends to give things works really well for biscuits. I liked these and would make them again.

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RECIPE: Keto Almond Flour Biscuits (Arman Liew, The Big Man's World)

Cinnamon Rolls

I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from making gingerbread cookies and a hankering for cinnamon rolls, so I made these.

Notes:

• I used active dry yeast instead of instant yeast (letting it bloom in the milk/butter mixture for about 10 minutes before adding it to the recipe) and it worked fine.
• I used a stand mixer to mix and knead the dough.
• I did not make the icing in this recipe so I haven't tried it yet, but this particular recipe author tends to know what she's doing so I bet it's great.
  

Verdict: These are probably the best cinnamon rolls I've ever made. They had a really nice texture, very soft and pillowy on the inside. I would absolutely make them again, and now that I have a recipe I know I like, I can keep using it!

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RECIPE: Easy Cinnamon Rolls (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Brown Soda Bread Scones

I read Smitten Kitchen's Castle Breakfast post and *had* to try these.

Notes:

• I could not find a coarse wholemeal flour in my store so I used the whole wheat flour/wheat germ/wheat bran mix she suggests. She says it should come out to 145 g but unfortunately she didn't include weights for each individual ingredient in the mix, so I weighed them myself:
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour = 75g
• 3/4 cup wheat germ = 55g
• 1/4 cup wheat bran = 15g
• I have used coarsely ground oatmeal to make up part of the wholemeal flour substitute mixture when I didn't have enough of everything and it worked all right. I think as long as it's not the majority of the mixture it should be OK.
• I made a buttermilk substitute. (To make 1 cup, put 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup, fill with milk to 1 cup, and let stand for about 10 minutes to thicken a bit.) I did not need to add extra. I also used Greek yogurt thinned with water a couple of times but the dough ended up a lot thicker and the breads were not quite done in the middle so you may want to cook it for longer, or make sure the consistency of the thinned yogurt is fairly liquid.
  

Verdict: Quick, easy, and delicious, and the absolute perfect vehicle for jam, especially a homemade jam. They reminded me of the oatmeal soda bread I've made before. I will be making these again, both because I like them and because I now have big bags of all three of the components for the wholemeal flour substitute.

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RECIPE: Brown Soda Bread Scones (Smitten Kitchen)

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

This is a recipe I've wanted to try for a long time and finally got around to making.

Verdict: I don't know that I'd go out of my way to make them again because they kind of fell apart as you ate them and were a little fussy for how good they were, but they tasted fine.

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RECIPE: Cinnamon Sugar Scones (Smitten Kitchen)

Apple and Cheddar Scones

I made these because I wanted to use up some odds and ends in the kitchen and this knocked out the most things at once.

Notes:

• I have used Cortland apples and a mix of Fuji and Gala apples. The Cortland apples tasted better to me but ended up very soft. The Fuji and Gala apples kept their shape a bit better but maybe aren't the best for baking.
• I think the dough turned out a little too soft/sticky for me both times I've made them (the final product has less structure than there looks to be in the original recipe photos) and I'm not sure why. I have tried measuring the flour by weight and volume, and I mixed the dough more thoroughly the second time because there were puddles of melted butter during baking the first time. Maybe I cooked the apples too much? I'll have to keep working at it.
  

Verdict: Definitely keeping this recipe around for later. Even with the dough being a bit too soft the flavor is great, much better than I anticipated. They're a little more fussy than I'd like but not prohibitively so. I missed them after they were gone the first time and made a second batch a month later.

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RECIPE: Apple and Cheddar Scones (Smitten Kitchen)

Watermelon and Strawberry Smoothie

I have been making this for so long I forgot where I originally found the recipe, but it is a great way to use up a lot of watermelon and is a nice fruity drink for summer. It also lends itself nicely to becoming an adult beverage with the addition of vodka or gin.

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RECIPE:

Watermelon-Strawberry Smoothie
Makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 cups fresh watermelon, cubed
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 tbsp sweetened lime juice (or 2 tsp lime juice and 1 tsp your favorite sweetener), or to taste

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, about 20-30 seconds. Pour into a tall glass. Serve immediately.

Blackberry, Lavender, and White Chocolate Scones

A visiting friend (it feels so nice to say that) left me some blackberries, my neighbor brought me some lavender from her garden, and after making matcha chocolate covered strawberries I had a bunch of white chocolate left in my pantry. Enter these scones.

Notes:

• I did not put the glaze on top, but in hindsight I think I would have liked it for a little more sweetness.
  
• The dough was a bit wet for a scone and a little hard to shape, but it ended up working out.
• I made my own buttermilk (1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup, mix and let stand for 10 min to thicken slightly).

Verdict: They were surprisingly good! If I make them again would put more lavender in next time, and maybe add some lemon zest, and add the glaze that was in the original recipe.

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RECIPE: Blackberry, Lavender, and White Chocolate Scones (Half Baked Harvest)

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

 

What do you do with a large surplus of ricotta when there's still a lot and you're sick of pasta? Make this, I guess.

Notes:

• The weight measurement for the ricotta cheese is really inaccurate; I went by the volume measurement. 
• You might have to adjust your heat as you go. It says to cook them on medium-low but that was too cool for mine so I cranked it to medium and after a couple of batches that was too hot.
• My batch made 14 pancakes.
• I served them with raspberry sauce instead of the sauteed apples because it was what I had, and I liked it.
  

Verdict: I am glad I tried them but they were kind of fussy for pancakes, and I don't usually keep ricotta cheese in the house so I don't think I'll go out of my way to make them again.

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RECIPE: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (Smitten Kitchen)

Oatmeal Pancakes

Once I was finished with college in the late 2000s and finally had a significant amount of time to pursue my hobbies, I got heavily into cooking. I don't remember how I got there but I found the blog Orangette, Molly Wizenberg, and her book A Homemade Life. It introduced me to several staple recipes, including this one for oatmeal pancakes. I liked it so much I made them for my parents once, and it has now become a favorite among my whole family. I liked pancakes as a kid (especially chocolate chip pancakes!) but didn't really make them once I got out on my own because I didn't think they were very healthy. The oatmeal in these satisfies my need for pancakes to be more healthy and it honestly makes them taste way better too. Paired with real maple syrup and some fruit on the side (and maybe some bacon or a sausage link or two), they're one of my favorite breakfasts.

Notes:

• I usually make it with half the butter it calls for, and my mom has left it out entirely before with no ill effects cooking-wise, though it might taste a little different.
• I usually have milk but not buttermilk on hand, and it's easy to make a substitute (1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup, mix and let stand for 10 min to thicken slightly). I have also thinned out Greek yogurt with water in a pinch. My mom has made it with buttermilk powder + water.

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Pancakes (Orangette)

Oatmeal Soda Bread Scones

I made this bread a couple of times a long time ago and had a craving for it recently, so I trotted out the blender and made it again. This time I made it into scone like shapes instead of one big loaf and I think I like it better that way. It's easier to portion and store.

Notes:

• I bake mine on ungreased parchment paper.
  
• Instead of buying buttermilk specially for this, I usually make my own (put 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or a neutral tasting vinegar into the bottom of your measuring cup, pour milk into it to measure 1 1/2 cups, then let stand for about 10 minutes), or dilute some yogurt.
  
• If you make them into scones like I did, shape the dough into two equal sized rounds about 3/4 inch thick, then cut them into 6 wedges each. Bake for about 12-15 minutes at 450 F. (I tried one large round cut into 8 wedges, but I thought the finished product was rather large for a single serving.)
  
• These are best the day they're made, but will keep a couple of days at room temperature in an airtight container. They also freeze well after being baked.
  

Verdict: I love this and have made it four times now. I love the heft and heartiness that the oats impart. Eat with liberal amounts of soft butter and any kind of jam you like -- strawberry and cherry jam are my favorites with this bread!

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Soda Bread (Simply Recipes)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Another thing I like to make periodically but never remember which recipe I used. Dear future me: you liked this recipe.

Verdict: I liked these a lot! The glaze unfortunately melted into them after I covered them, but I liked their texture a lot.

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RECIPE: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Two Peas and Their Pod)

Ultimate Banana Bread

I have been eating banana bread ever since I was a kid. However, I do not have the church cookbook recipe my mom used when I was little, and I have a feeling it would have a bit too much sugar for me these days anyway.

I mostly tried this one because it had LOTS of banana and I had lots of banana to use up.

Notes:

• I made this in muffin cups because I prefer that to a loaf. It made 17 muffins. I baked them for about 23-25 minutes.
  
• I omitted the raw/turbinado sugar on top because I didn't have any.
  

Verdict: I loved it! It was sweet without being too sugary or cloying, and the texture was nice. I shared some with a friend and she really liked them too.

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RECIPE: Ultimate Banana Bread (Smitten Kitchen)

French Toast Casserole

I watched this Basics With Babish video recently and got really hungry for French toast, plus realized I'd never had French toast bake before. We were also needing to get groceries, so we got all the ingredients to make it the very next day.

Notes:

• I used a mix of 2% milk and half-and-half instead of whole milk in the custard.
  

Verdict: Absolutely loved it. It's not the healthiest breakfast in the world, but my goodness it is magical, and smells as good as it tastes. Any morning you'd make this would feel like Christmas morning, presents or not.

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RECIPE: French Toast Casserole (Binging With Babish)

Vanilla Cardamom Stewed Rhubarb

I've been looking for ways to eat the rhubarb I grow for a while, and this was on my list of things to try for a long time because it mixed it with vanilla and cardamom (these three things together taste wonderful to me). I was trimming my rhubarb plants and decided to use the stalks to make this. I ate it with yogurt.

Verdict: I really enjoyed this! It was tart and tangy, and just sweet enough. Easy to make. I would definitely make it again.

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RECIPE: Vanilla Cardamom Stewed Rhubarb (Fare Isle)

Banana Pancakes

I had old bananas and wanted to use them up but wanted something that wasn't banana bread. I've had banana pancakes before and hadn't made them in a long time, so I decided to give them another try. I made them exactly as written, so no notes this time, other than that they behave a little differently than plain pancakes and don't get bubbly on the top as quickly, so it's not as reliable an indicator for when to flip them.

Verdict: It's a solid recipe. They're sweet and smell nice, and were pretty easy to make.

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RECIPE: Banana Pancakes (Alicia Skousen, via Lil' Luna)

Basic Pancakes

I don't often eat pancakes, and when I do make them I like oatmeal pancakes the best. However, I found myself craving plain pancakes recently, and landed on this basic recipe.

Notes:

• I ended up with about 10 4-inch pancakes from this recipe as written.
• These are a good blank canvas for any kind of toppings you might want to add. I gave mine a dessert type treatment with chocolate sauce (it was leftover ganache that never firmed up to its intended consistency), fresh berries, and chopped almonds.

Verdict: This was an easy recipe with solid results. If I ever feel like making plain pancakes again I'd happily use this recipe.

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RECIPE: Easy Basic Pancakes (Martha Stewart)

Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits

I made these because my friend Molly posted about how good they were and included pictures and enough information for how to find the recipe she used. It turns out I had everything I needed already so I was able to make them for breakfast the next morning.

Notes:

• I used 2% Greek yogurt thinned out with some milk instead of sour cream because it was what I had.
• I cut them into 12 smaller biscuits instead of 8 large ones, and reduced the baking time.
• I served them as part of biscuits and gravy but they are also delicious on their own with some butter.

Verdict: YUM. I would definitely make these again. Biscuits are not all that good for you but they do taste amazing.

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RECIPE: Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

This recipe is a common Southern breakfast dish and comes to me through my sister's boyfriend, Sam, who is not Southern but genuinely likes cooking. He cooks things on his own from scratch, not just when she invites him to cook together! Yay.

My mom came to visit this weekend and stay overnight at my house. We normally cook breakfast together when we see each other, so we all convened in my kitchen to cook breakfast in the morning. My sister and Sam brought ingredients for biscuits and gravy, and I was excited when I heard Sam had made this recipe before. I tried biscuits and gravy one time and thought it was fine, but it is not something I grew up eating, and I was unmotivated to make it for myself because I didn't like it enough to go through the process of trying recipes until I found one I liked, and it seems like biscuits and gravy is something for which there would be a lot of dubious recipes.

I love biscuits as a food and have tried to make them from scratch at least 3 or 4 times, but I was never satisfied with the end result. Each time I was disappointed they didn't taste like the canned ones. They were all bitter and metallic tasting so I didn't try for a long time. Today was different. He handed me the recipe for the biscuits, and my sister and I worked on them while he made the gravy. They were pretty easy to make since I was familiar with the process. I got them out of the oven and they actually. tasted. good. Not bitter at all. I can make biscuits I like now!

Notes:

• The photos in this entry depict a doubled batch. We served it to 5 people and had a little less than half left over.
• Use aluminum free baking powder! The biscuits are less likely to be bitter that way.
• Sam sometimes makes these as drop biscuits, either as 8-10 small biscuits like the recipe calls for or 4 larger ones (you may need to bake them longer). I shaped the dough into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle and cut it into 12 pieces (for a single batch, cut into 6) with a chef's knife.
• Sam liked the flaky and layered texture of my batch. I attribute this to not overhandling the dough and cutting in the shortening with a pastry blender rather than a fork -- this keeps the fat in larger chunks.
• I lined the baking sheet with parchment paper instead of greasing it and it worked great.
• I baked the 12 biscuits for 13 minutes and it was perfect -- they were golden brown on top while being fully cooked but not dry in the middle.
• I'm considering making the biscuits with another fat sometime (butter in particular) and seeing how they go because I'm not a fan of shortening.
• If you end up with extra biscuits, they taste great warm with butter and/or jam.
• Sam usually uses Italian sausage for the gravy but I think breakfast sausage might also taste good.
• The leftover gravy can be refrigerated and reheated. It thickens more as it cools, so you will likely need additional milk or water to thin it out.

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RECIPE:

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

from Baker's Corner Baking Powder (biscuits), Betty Crocker (gravy)

Serves 4, up to 6 with additional meal items

Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup Crisco or other shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp butter, melted (for brushing)

Sausage gravy
1/2 lb pork sausage meat (breakfast sausage or mild Italian sausage)
1 tbsp butter or canola oil
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup milk (we used 1%)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Prepare biscuits: Preheat oven to 475°F. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the texture of coarse crumbs (around 1/8 inch / 3 mm pieces). Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk into the well. Stir with a fork until milk is just incorporated and dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board or other flat work surface and knead for approximately 30 seconds, or until the dough just comes together, taking care not to overwork it. Pat into a rectangle about 7 inches long, 4 1/2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick, then cut into 6 pieces (3x2). Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and brush the top of each piece with melted butter. Bake for 11-15 minutes or until golden brown. If there's any melted butter left over, brush the baked biscuits with it after removing them from the oven. Serve warm with gravy.

Prepare gravy: Heat a skillet or deep frying pan on the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add sausage to the pan and fry until well browned. Remove browned meat from pan into a medium bowl, keeping the drippings in the pan, and set aside. Return pan to the heat and add butter or oil. When the butter is melted, sprinkle in the flour with a wooden spoon. Stir to combine, being sure to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until mixture bubbles and has turned light brown. Whisk or stir in milk a little at a time, making sure mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until mixture boils and thickens slightly. If it gets too thick, stir in more milk, a little at a time, to thin it to the desired consistency. Stir in salt and pepper, then add cooked sausage back in, stirring gently to combine. Serve hot over biscuits.

Spiced Poached Plums

 

Pumpkin spice who? It's all about spiced plums for me this fall.

I was looking for a quick way to use up some prune plums to clean out the refrigerator, and while this recipe calls for the more readily available red or black plums, it looked like it would work with smaller fruit so I gave it a try. Despite the fact that the recipe calls them "stewed" you don't really have to cook them long at all, maybe 10 minutes at most (even less for prune plums since they are smaller) because you want them to stay mostly whole rather than turn into a mush. It's warm and comforting like applesauce but much easier because you don't have to peel or chop the fruit.

I ate them with sweetened whipped cream with just a bit of almond extract mixed in since almond and stone fruit tend to pair nicely. I also ate them with plain Greek yogurt for breakfast. Both were lovely. I loved their delicious sweet-tart flavor and definitely want to make this again as we head into fall and the temperatures start to dip.

Notes:

• I love these with a minimum of sugar, lemon, and cinnamon so as to let the fruit's flavor shine. The levels in the recipe were quite good but next time I may try just a tiny bit less sugar and lemon than it calls for. Edit: a tiny bit less sugar is fine but I'd definitely stick to the amount in the recipe for the best flavor.
• Because it's such a simple recipe, fresh squeezed lemon juice really elevates this. Definitely go to the trouble of getting a fresh lemon.
• If you don't have a cinnamon stick, about 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon should be enough. You don't want to put in too much because its flavor gets slightly stronger as it stands.

UPDATE 10/8/19: About a week ago I had something like this served in a glass at a hotel in Germany with freshly whipped cream and raspberry sauce on top. I am not entirely sure what the plums were flavored with, but it was SO GOOD. My guess is nutmeg, and I plan to put nutmeg in my next batch to see if it comes anywhere close to the German plum dessert I had.

UPDATE 10/15/19:  Since coming home from Europe I have made two more batches of this (hi yes I am obsessed) with President plums, which look like prune plums but are bigger (still smaller than the standard black and red plums in US grocery stores though) because it seems prune plum season is done here. I tried them both halved and in quarters and found the quarters easier to eat, though for really small ones halves are fine. The President plums tasted good but I think the prune plums tasted better. I tried one batch with just nutmeg and while it tasted fine and I do like the combination of plums and nutmeg, I decided I greatly prefer it with at least some cinnamon. I wonder if the dessert I had in Germany might have contained a different type of cinnamon than I usually use. Maybe I'll try cardamom next? Or just leave well enough alone since I'd need to taste the German dessert again to know for sure what I was missing.

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RECIPE: Stewed Plums

Honey-Lavender Scones

I was inspired to make these by a gathering I recently went to for my alternative fashion club. It was a small afternoon tea at a pink Victorian house, and the host had made scones with honey and lavender. I inadvertently bought some of the ingredients several days later and then when I went looking for recipes I realized I had everything I needed to make them. I settled on this one from Better Homes and Gardens, mainly because it was the only one I saw with reviews, and the ones that are not on their site are the same recipe anyway.

Notes:

• These are less sweet than many American style scones (there are only 2 tablespoons of honey in the entire batch) but this is OK because they are meant to be eaten with sweetened whipped cream and/or clotted cream and/or jam. Lemon curd is also really tasty on these.
• The dough was still quite sticky even after stirring everything together and kneading. I used a buttered knife to cut them, and a metal spatula to scrape them off the kneading surface and transfer them to a cookie sheet and this worked well.
• Despite having an entire tablespoon of dried lavender in them, the lavender flavor and scent is pretty subtle. If you like lavender a lot you could probably add more.
• My scones ended up measuring about 3x2 inches after baking.
• I froze some of these after baking them to eat later, and I thought the lavender flavor tasted stronger after freezing, which was interesting.

Verdict: Pretty good but could be improved a little. I want to make them slightly sweeter to match the ones I had, maybe with one more tablespoon of honey or sugar or if I had coarse sugar I would have sprinkled it on top of them after brushing with the extra cream (I believe the ones at the afternoon tea had crunchy sugar on top that had melted a bit). I would love to try these again with some tweaks.

RECIPE: Lavender-Honey Scones