It's pretty funny, actually. Americans talk about them all the time. Like they're some kind of a staple, served with every meal. There's a country song we hear all the time, "chicken and Biscuits". I've read recipes for fruit turnovers and such that started with "mix up your Busquick". I'm generally not looking for recipes that start with "use a cake mix", "one package of ...", "mix 2 cans of this with three cans of that..." So I just skipped over them. I wasn't that interested in finding out what Bisquick was. I had never had a 'biscuit'.
Not that they haven't creeped over the border. Tim Horton's sells them. They just never looked that appetizing to me. I never tried one.
So one day, I'm searching the net for a recipe for pull apart cinnamon buns, and these biscuit recipes kept coming up in my search. A lot of them were the 'start with biscuick' type. I kept closing page after page, and getting annoyed. Until, I found this make a big batch of dough recipe, and keep it for up to 6 weeks. I can get on board with that.
So I go reload some of the cinnamon recipes, find a couple that should work. Then I'm thinking, do I really want to eat that many cinnamon buns? Even over a 6 week period? I started searching for other stuff to do with biscuit mix. Unbelievable! This stuff can be used for fruit turnovers, sloppy joes, garlic buns, pigs in a blanket, meat pies... there are tons of recipes that start with it. That's pretty cool.
I mixed up a big batch to try it out with the pull apart cinnamon buns. Something is wrong. It's just lumpy flour. You don't seriously eat that, do you? I went back to check the recipe. I must have missed something. Nope. Everything's there. And then I notice the line, "Use as you would a baking mix." Ok. How would you use a baking mix?
I search some more, find a couple of other 'mix' recipes. Oh. Add milk. That appears to be the key. It appears to work pretty well with 2.5 cups of the mix to 1 cup of milk.
Cinnamon buns were great. No pics. I've made garlic buns with it since then, too.
#2 is doing a bake sale at school today with his geography class, to help pay for a trip to Science North in November. Yesterday I tried the fruit turnovers. I'm probably doing it wrong, but this stuff is fun to play with, quick and easy.
So that's me, connoisseur of foreign foods. ROTFLMAO.
If not, there's also pie...
5.5 Cups flour
1 pound of lard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 egg
Water
Cut the lard into the flour. Mix everything else in a measuring cup. Add enough water to bring it up to 1 cup. Mix with flour. Makes a couple dozen or so pie crusts, depending on how thick you roll them out.
I roll mine out on waxed paper. Pick up the paper, turn it over onto a pie shell, and peel the paper off.
I made these for the bake sale. Two more for us, and one for my parents.
Pumpkin Pie
2 Cups sugar
about 2 Tbsp molasses ( I don't measure it cause it sticks to everything)
1.5 tsp cinnamon
.5 tsp cloves
.5 tsp all spice
.5 tsp nutmeg
.5 tsp ginger
.5 tsp salt
2 eggs
1.5 Cups pumpkin puree
drizzle of milk (my pumpkin tends to be a bit runny. add more milk if you're using thick pumpkin)
Mix it all up in a bowl. Pour into unbaked pie shells. Bake @ 450°F 15 minutes. Reduce to 350°F 40 minutes.
Hopefully he makes enough money to cover the cost of the trip.
Wendy, I laughed from beginning to end of this post. I love biscuits and Bisquick!
ReplyDeleteMake a biscuit, slice it open and insert a piece of sausage, or a scrambled egg, slices of bacon, or all, oh, some cheese. Pour gravy over them. Put jelly and butter in them...the list goes on....love them all but rarely eat biscuits.
Hint on the fruit pies. We call them fried pies even if she bake them or just use a bit of some oil/grease in iron skillet.
Hint: wet the outer edge of the circle about 1/2 inch all around. Fold. Take your fingers or a fork and press the wet edges. That way, it is all sealed. Use your finger and a little bowl of water to do the wetting. Just wet once and not soppy.
In the Southern part of the US, biscuits are staples for some and actually kept people from starving in the past. I love a good biscuit. Hardee's sausage and biscuit is the best. I stay away for six months and then break down and buy a sausage biscuit.
Hot, biscuits fresh from the oven with butter and jelly...thinking about it makes me drool and want to go buy a whack can of biscuits. Yes, I can make biscuits.
In the past, men carried biscuits to the field to work, filled with ham, balogna or something and had it wrapped in a cloth. They took them to factories, too.
What do your children think of biscuits?
Okay, I had a hard time with this comment because I laughed as I was writing. This was just classic.
I love love love biscuits, and yes, as a Canadian, unless they hold together some kind of McBreakfast, they are rare. My whole family loves them so we eat them with soups and as a side dish when I dont' feel like rice or potatoes. I have perfected JP's Big Daddy Biscuits from allrecipes.com and they are so simple to make that you don't need to make ahead a 'mix' to start them off. A couple extra tablespoons of sugar turns them into shortcake for dessert!
ReplyDeleteOh, the rolled dough circles need to be almost paper thin. There looks to be too much dough. I should make you some friend pies and mail them...lol...but they would not be good. Exbf and I stopped by the farmer's market. He quickly pulled out his wallet and bought us a friend pie. He is NEVER eager to spend a dime. They sell for $1.25 or $1.50 here. What are you charging? I am sure they will be a novelty. ....still laughing at your post....
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I said it wrong. Only wet the edge of half the cirle of dough for fried pies! Then, press the dry edge onto that wet edge. That's what I get for thinking before caffeine.
ReplyDeleteLinda
PP- Glad I could entertain you, lol. Thanks for the tips. I will have to try frying them now. In bacon grease. Yum. lol.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they didn't sell at all! The kids thought they looked to weird. #2 brought them home, so more for us.
Sandra- So it's not just me under a rock? lol. I saw JP's in my search, it was one of the recipes that confirmed I was missing milk! I'll have to try it too. Thank you!
LOL...they do look weird from here. But I am sorry no one tried them. When you roll the dough VERY thin, seal them so the fruit does not show, then fry them in bacon grease but not really deep grease. If you use an iron skillet, that is best. I started laughing all over again just now at your talking about no milk.
ReplyDeleteNO, you do not need a mix to make biscuits! If you use self-rising flour, it's flour, shortening, and milk. If plain flour, use some salt and baking powder with the flour, milk, and shortening.
You don't even have to roll and cut. Just grab a hunk of dough, roll it in flour with your hands, form it a bit with you hand and put onto the sheet to bake. I really hate to make biscuits, especially rolling with a rolling pin and cutting them out.