Baking Powder Biscuits

AC declared these the best biscuits I ever made. I blame the cream, it seems like even adding just a little bit of cream goes a long way to making biscuits tender even for beginners.

Also, I know most people make round biscuits, but then you have to re-roll the dough which toughens it so why!? I have heard you get a little more rise out of round biscuits, but honestly I would rather have less messing about and more tenderness than another half centimeter of height.

So here they are, I have subbed in various amounts of whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour and have liked every version. If you don't have cream on hand you can just use milk (with a slight decrease in richness and tenderness) though you want to have a smaller final volume of liquid because milk is more liquidy than cream. When you are making these if you find that you are getting pockets of dry mix that resisting mixing in you can just sprinkle a little milk or cream on the dry patch to incorporate it. That is better than overmixing.

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp butter (salted)
3/4 cup whole milk (scant)
1/4 cup cream

Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Quickly work butter into dry mix by first slicing it thinly then rubbing it in between your fingers.

Stir in milk and cream with a fork until just barely mixed in. The dough should be very soft and sticky. Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and press flat, to about 1/2 inch with your fingers, fold in half and press flat again, shaping until you get a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick.

Optional: brush the top of the dough with either cream or melted butter

Using a dough blade or large knife cut into rectangles, I usually get about 6 biscuits because I like to make them big enough to perch an egg on.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 for 12 - 14 min until just starting to brown nicely on top.

Earl Grey Shortbread

I was lucky enough to hang out with three wonderful mothers on mother's day, one of which was my own. My own Mom introduced to me the joy that is a nice sweet milky cup of earl grey tea, and has always been a shortbread fan. So these cookies seemed like a natural fit to bake up and bring for the mothers in my life.

I would say they are on the sweet, slightly crispy end of the shortbread spectrum rather than the ethereal butter and fairy dust type of shortbread. The earl grey taste came through nicely but didn't overpower the butter and vanilla, that to me should be the star of the show.

It is my strong belief that if you have any interest in occasionally splurging on fancy butter shortbread is the place to do it. I found some fancy shmancy European style grass fed stuff that I though worked great here (I mean who is more deserving of fancy butter than your Mom?). But really so long as your butter is decent quality and fresh these cookies will taste fantastic.

Earl Grey Shortbread

AKA Mother's Day Shortbread

Adapted from Ina Garten

3 sticks butter, room temp 

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2 tsp earl grey tea, loose leaf or high quality bagged, ground to a powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

-Beat butter and sugar, salt and tea together until well mixed and somewhat fluffy looking, mix in vanilla.
-Sift in flour and mix until just incorporated making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
-Dump dough onto plastic wrap and press into a 1/2 inch disk, wrap up and chill for at least 30 min.
-Remove from fridge, peel off one side of the plastic and sprinkle with about a teaspoon of sugar, replace plastic, flip over and repeat on the other side.
-Roll slightly thinner then cut as you see fit
-Place on an ungreased light colored cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart (I did  not listen to this and my cookies became cookie) and bake for 20 to 25 min until just starting to brown on the edges.
-Cool to room temperature before removing from the cookie sheet or they will crumble

Not Posting for Dumb Reasons plus COOKIES!

So, I haven't been posting for all sorts of lame reasons. One of which is that I NEVER remember to take pictures of anything. Just tonight I made fancy looking beautiful desserts for my wonderful mother's birthday. I made two different versions, and they looked like they could be served at a restaurant! Alas, not a single picture was taken.

This can not be allowed to go on. It should also not be a reason not to share tasty recipes with you. You basically being Min since really, who else would read this when we post like once every other month.

Anyhow, on to the good part of this post. COOKIES! (this was my big brother's response to these cookies)

I created these for my big brother who is trying to avoid flour and dairy because they make him feel kinda nasty. However I feel that the vast majority of gluten free recipes are pathetic excuses for cookies that really people only eat because they don't remember what real cookies taste like. This is a travesty because there are plenty of delicious things that just happen to not NEED wheat flour or butter. Like these peanut butter cookies, I mean really imagine what happened if you take peanut butter cookies and take out the flour...your cookies get amazing and taste twice as much like peanut butter!

So, I looked for a cookie that would be great all on its own. I was thinking something with oat flour, since it is crazy easy to make and is tasty. I also wanted it to be chocolate since I was intending the cookies for a dessert featuring strawberries. I could not find the recipe I wanted so I found something close and tweaked it. This sometimes goes horribly awry, but this time I think it went just right.

And just because this is a lot of text with no cookie pictures, this is how my dog looks at me when I bake without sharing with him:

I have a couple things to say first though. These cookies are not perfect, they are a little dry and I think might benefit from some under-baking. Also to be honest they are almost a little...plain. However, since I was basically looking for a base for strawberry shortcake those attributes made them perfect. A little dry means they can drink up sweet strawberry goodness. A little plain means they can just sit there and be chocolate instead of fighting the strawberries for flavor dominance.

Also, while I noted before that these may be a bit plain, it just occurs to me they would probably be fantastic with coffee. I may have to make these again tomorrow.

And now, I will stop blathering and give you the recipe (note the suggestions at the end)

Chocolate Oat Shortbread
AKA Ian's Cookies
(just happen to be dairy and gluten free)
Adapted from With Style & Grace

1 cup rolled oats (grind to a flour in coffee grinder/blender)

1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup coconut oil, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup white rice flour (I made this in my coffee grinder & sieved it)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


Directions

Combine and sift oat flour, rice flour, cocoa, sea salt, and cinnamon. In general I avoid sifting anything because I hate doing it. Oat flour needs it though, that stuff clumps like crazy.

Cream the oil and sugar together. Add vanilla extract and egg, mix again till fluffy. Carefully add in the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Dump dough onto plastic wrap and press to about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or more.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove dough from fridge and sprinkle plenty of sugar into both sides, pressing it onto the top. Roll just enough to even out the thickness then cut into squares. Place on baking sheet, 2-inches apart and bake until barely set, about 14-16 minutes. Lift parchment paper onto cooling rack and leave cookies for at least a couple minutes.

Note:

So this time I sifted the cocoa in with the dry ingredients but I usually prefer the cocoa creamed in with the oil and sugar and I think that would be a better tactic to take here. I feel like the flavor endS up more chocolatey that way. This may be a figment of my imagination.

Final note, the fancy looking desert was these cookies (or sugar cookies since my Mom loves those) with sliced sugar strawberries piled on them, with whipped cream piled on that with a broken cookie sticking out the top like they do in restaurants and chocolate sauce drizzled all over. The chocolate sauce was super easy, dark chocolate chips melted with a tablespoon or two of coconut oil. Yum. I made them because my mother is a fantastic lady and deserved a fancy looking dessert even if it was like an hour late.

EDIT:
I have been informed by my big brother that I am a lying liar and in fact these cookies were delicious. The following evidence was submitted.

Lemon Curd and Poppy Drizzle Cake with Marmalade

For the cake

• 1 lemon zest - grated
• 1 lemon juice
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBSP poppy-seed
• 175g butter, at room temperature
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs

For the lemon curd

• 1 large lemon, grated zest and juice only
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 25g unsalted butter

+ Marmalade (with cut bits)

For the icing

• 1 large lemon, zest only
• 100g sifted icing sugar
• 2-3 tsp lemon juice

• Pre-heat oven to 170C.
• Mix together the butter and sugar, than the egg, the lemon juice and curd and finally the rest of the cake ingredients. 
• Pour cake mix into two sandwich tins (9in) and bake for 30mins. 
• Make the curd by mixing together the lemon juice and egg in a bowl, then the sugar and zest and finally the butter in small cubes while stirring occasionally over a pan or pot of barely simmering water until thickened. 
• In another separate bowl, mix together all icing ingredients to make the icing. 
• Once the cake is baked, cool on rack.
• Once the cake is baked, smother one side with the lemon curd and the other with the Marmalade and combine the two to form a sandwich cake. 
• Top the cake with the icing and some fresh zest. 

Black Rice, Veggie and Super-Seed Mix with a side of Salmon Fillet with Garlic-Butter

* Take the Salmon Fillet out of the fridge, flavour with Garlic Butter and a tiny bit of Salt and Pepper and let it sit for an hour or so in room temperature.

Cook the Black Rice on hob: 1 Cup of Black Rice to 1 1/2 Cup of Water.

Sautee the Veggies in a separate pan with a Table Spoon of Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper:
1/2 Onion, 4 White Mushrooms - diced,
after a minute or two add in 1 Carrot (also diced), Peas, Sweetcorn and Broccoli head.

Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 265C.

Once the Black Rice is cooked, mix in the veggies and sautee everything together,
adding in the Super-Seed Mix (Lynn Seed, Golden Lynn Seed, Sunflower Seed and Pumpkin Seed) and fresh Parsley.

Cook the Salmon in the oven for just over 5 minutes.

SERVE AND EAT!!

Whoppers!?

OK, don't ask me why but I got it into my head that maybe I could make whoppers. Then, maybe I could make them with good chocolate and that might be super amazing. Keep in mind I was raised by a man that could detect the smell of whoppers the moment he walked in the room. Sniffing with his nose in the air and firmly declaring "WHOPPERS!" So I have a healthy respect for their inherent superiority in the world of candy. But if I didn't try and make something at home just because it was already delicious I....well I guess I would have a lot more time on my hands.

Regardless, after a quick internet search I found many yahoos and charlatans spouting "malted milk ball recipes" that were nothing more than balls of disgusting white chocolate (yes I am a hater) with malt powder mixed in. Criminal. Whoppers are filled with delightful airy crunchy heaven, not sugar grease. However, one brilliant person was talking about what amounts to a malt heavy meringue center dipped in chocolate. Sounds a bit more like it.

So, here is what I am going to try out, I already ordered the malt powder and eagerly await its arrival.

Warning! I have not tried these yet, this is my plan for my trial batch, I will update you as the project progresses!

First Stab
Adapted from http://creativeepicure.blogspot.com

4 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tarter
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Powder Sugar
1/2 Cup Malt Powder

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together powder sugar and malt powder, but do not worry about lumps or paltry mixing for now, these will be sifted later.

Place room temperature egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixer bowl and beat with whisk attachment on low speed. When the egg whites start to get foamy gradually increase to high speed and slowly pour in the granulated sugar. Beat until stiff glossy peaks form.

Sift the sugar/malt mix onto the egg white foam and fold in with a rubber spatula.

Using a pastry bag or plastic zip-top bag with a corner cut off, pipe dime to nickel sized dollops onto parchment lined paper leaving around 2cm between the rows for them to spread, though they shouldn't spread near as much as cookies.

If you want your end result to look remotely like whoppers smooth the tops of the meringues with a damp finger, otherwise you can leave them as they are and end up with whopper kisses.

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes then turn off oven and prop open door with a wooden spoon. Leave in the oven to cool for at least 2 hours.

After completely cool store in a air tight container until you are ready to dip them. For myself I have plans of a dark chocolate ganache, and maybe also a salted peanut butter version.


Comments:
As with any meringue type recipe, a dry day will yield much better results. On a Seattle spring day, your little crunchy centers may just be chewy no matter what you do. You can wait for a better day, or decide that hey, chewy malt balls sound pretty good too.

The recipe I found called for cocoa, not sure why so I replaced it with more malt.

It also contained something called turbidino sugar for crunchiness, which I can only assume was meant to be turbinado.  However, I feel that I am going to be fighting sweet overload anyway so I am leaving it out for now. Maybe some other crunchy ingredient will replace it later.

Also, be sure you do not get diastatic malt powder, that is an ingredient bakers use to get nice brown crusts. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is not the same thing.