Cornmeal Drop Biscuits…Being Martha

May 19, 2023 By Leave a Comment

Once you have your ingredients ready to go for the biscuits, I would start the chili first as the biscuits are really easy to make and don’t take much time.  This is my chili from scratch; a really simple recipe.  If there is interest, I can post the recipe.

Combine the dry ingredients first….cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, etc.  Then, cut in the butter with a pastry cutter.  If you don’t have one, you can use two knives or this alternate method here.  The one key to cutting butter into dry ingredients is that the butter is chilled.  The buter does not need to be fully blended.  Small pea size chunks of butter are okay.  They make the biscuits even better once cooked.

Add in the milk to the dry ingredients and butter.  Mix until just combined.  It will be chunky because of the butter…that is OKAY!

Use two spoons to drop 1/3 cup size biscuits onto a cookie sheet.  This takes a little bit of coordination and the dough is a little sticky.  Take your time and be patient with yourself.

The biscuits dropped onto the cookie sheets look like they will fall apart.  Resist the urge to make them perfect little balls.  They will ruin the consistency of the biscuits once they good and will not allow the butter chunks to melt throughout.

Do not overcook…pull them out when you see a tinge of golden brown start to show up around the base.  The one thing that I would have done differently was to place parchment paper or a baking liner on the baking sheet.  it would have made it easier to pull the biscuits off with out scraping off the good crunchy bottom.  Here they are all done and ready to eat.

This is such a quick and easy recipe.  I think it would be really good as a topping to a baked chili dish even.  Maybe place your chili in an 8×8 glass dish, top with this cornmeal biscuit dough and cook for 20 minutes….it would be so good!!!

I would rate this an EASY recipe great for the beginner baker or even kids.

I would rate the taste a 9 out of 10.

The one thing I liked about this recipe is that the biscuits were not really dry like other cornmeal breads or muffins.  Instead, they were very moist and had a great taste.

Happy Baking!

Filed Under: baking, create, fall, martha stewart Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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Shortbread Fingers … Being Martha

May 14, 2023 By 2 Comments

In case you don’t know, I have challenged myself to bake everything in the Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.  You can read more about it here or on the menu above by clicking “Being Martha”.  Last night, I decided to try the Shortbread Fingers recipe that is on page 123 of the book. You can find the recipe online here.  They are so easy to make with very few ingredients and so simple to make.

You start by mixing the dry ingredients together which include flour, salt and confectioners sugar (or powdered).  The online recipe class for either confectioner’s sugar or granulated sugar.  I prefer the confectioner’s because of the texture that it gives the cookie.  Plus, you put a ton of granulated sugar on top of the cookie.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients

Add the dry ingredients to the already soft and fluffy room temperature butter that has been beat for about 4 minutes.  Room temperature ingredients make a difference; pay attention to recipes when they ask for this.

Adding Dry Ingredients to Butter

Once the batter is mixed together (don’t over mix) and the consistency of soft cookie dough, it is ready to spread into the pan.  The pan should be a 12×8 pan and the layer of dough will be rather thin.  Use an offset spatula for best results.

Spreading Batter in Pan

Then, you pop the dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.  Once it comes out, make some holes in the dough with a fork and pop it in a preheated oven of 325 degrees.

Poking Holes...

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown.  Pull from oven and immediately sprinkler the granulated sugar on top and cut into your desired pieces.  It is important to cut the pieces while it is still hot.  After that, let the cookies cool completely in the pan.  I choose a wire rack to speed up the process.

Right Out of Oven

 Here’s what they look like once they are all cool and you start removing them…nice looking, huh?

Cooled...

 

Arranged on a Plate

These are all ready to eat.  They look lovely on a plate arranged.  I might even cut them into smaller pieces next time or you may even be able to cut them in shapes with cookie cutters right out of the oven.  That would be fun.  They are a rick cookie so the pieces don’t have to be so big.  These would be great with a nice coffee, some fresh berries or even dipped in chocolate.

Ready for Eating

Now for the ratings:

I would rate this an EASY recipe great for the beginner baker or even kids.

I would rate the taste an 8 out of 10.

Check back in soon for new recipes and my next “Being Martha” adventure.

Have a great week.

Filed Under: baking, cookies, create, martha stewart Tagged With: , , , ,
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Simple Cinnamon Rolls

March 10, 2023 By Leave a Comment

I am usually a “grab a quick breakfast” kind of a girl.  I always have breakfast…you don’t want to be around me if I don’t have breakfast.  But, every once in a while I like to cook breakfast.  My two favorite breakfasts are belgian waffles (on the crispy side) and some good cinnamon rolls.  You can always go for the gooey Pillsbury ones right out of the package OR you can make these.  These are the simplified version of cinnamon rolls…there is no pastry dough here.  Here’s the instructions and recipe….

ROLLS

  • 2 1/2 Cups Bisquick
  • 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2/3 Cup Mill (I use skim milk)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all the above in a mixing bowl.  The dough is pretty sticky…I like to use the Silpat matts to roll out the dough.  I use about a 1/4 cup more Bisquick to keep the dough from sticking to the matt.  Turn the dough out about 10 times.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle.  The actual recipe says into a 16×9 inch rectangle.  I dont’ know about you, but things don’t ROLL OUT into a RECTANGLE.  Hello!  So, I roll it out the best I can into some sort of a rectangle shape.  Maybe there is a trick to rolling it exactly into the desired shape, but I don’t have a trick for you here!  Anyways, once it is in a sort of rectangle shape, I fold the edges up and over as seen below.  You will see why in a minute.

FILLING

  • 1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter
  • 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 1/4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
Spread the melted butter onto the RECTANGLE.  Once spread out evenly, sprinkler the cinnamon sugar mix all over until it is absorbed in the butter.  You need the little dough “dams” to keep the butter from oosing everywhere.  A little trick I learned after the 10th time of having melted butter everywhere.

Once all of the filling is spread out, roll up the dough starting with the longest side.  This is a little tricky because all the sticky goodness in the inside wants to squish out.  Stick with it and roll until it is a little log.  At this point, I pinch the edges closed and then seal the flap on the leading edge of the dough.  This is sometimes tricky as the butter makes it a bit slippery.  Do your best…no one will know if it doesn’t stick.

Once you do that, slice the log into one inch slices and place them on a cookie sheet.  I like to space my rolls apart so that they get a little crispy on the edges.  If you want your rolls more gooey, place the cinnamon rolls close together (touching each other).  Scoop any excess butter/cinnamon sugar mix up and drizzle it on top of your rolls.

Place in the oven and cook for 12 to 15 minutes until a light brown.

I like to glaze my rolls as soon as they get out of the oven so that it melts all over.  It does make a mess in the pan though.  If you want it more neat, I would wait until they cool a bit and then add the glaze.  Mix up the following ingredients for the glaze.  You will be shocked how fast that powdered sugar is absorbed…kind of magic.

GLAZE

  • 3 Tbs Unsalted Butter (melted)
  • 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Tbs Hot Water

READY TO EAT!!!

 

Wishing you a wonderful day….

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