Time to Make the Biscuits. And Scones. Mmmmmm!

I love to bake. LOVE IT. I remember when it started. I decided to make Baklava from scratch for Christmas one year. You know, the traditional, Italian Baklava ;)  Kidding. I was looking to make something to bring to my in-laws for dessert that wasn't already taken. There are many impressive bakers in the family and I knew this wasn't already an offering. 

Well, it was so easy and it was SO impressive to my family in-law! I realized that baking was going to be my thing. Now I do it as often as I can! 

One thing I love to make is biscuits. Just seven ingredients, a little time and viola! Layers of flaky loveliness. Then I discovered making scones was just as easy and that was my new favorite, but then we came upon a dilemma.

The males in the house love biscuits, while the ladies like the scones best. What to do? One sunday morning I looked at my favorite biscuit recipe and realized it was pretty similar to my favorite scone recipe, so I decided to make a batch of biscuits and divide the dough and make half biscuits & half scones! This is now what we do and I am lucky enough that Little Miss O likes to get in on the action and help!

So the recipe:

Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoom sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces (OR for a Dairy free alternative, substitute same amount of Earth Balance dairy free margarine sticks)
1 3/4 cups buttermilk (dairy free alternative- use 1 3/4 cups plain almond milk or milk substitute of your choice with 1 tablespoon applecider vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes or a little longer to curdle)
A few tablespoons of melted butter or butter substitute to brush on top of biscuits prior to baking 
For scone option - a scone filling- we like dried apricots and sage

Equipment:
Pastry blender
Pastry brush
baking sheets/trays
rubber spatula
2 - 3" biscuit cutter

Preheat over to 375 degrees. 

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper trimmed to fit.

Add all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add butter and use a pastry blender to cut the butter in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  

Then pour in buttermilk and use rubber spatula to fold it in. Dough will be slightly sticky.

Flour a board liberally and get your hands floured up or they will stick! (we keep a measuring cup full of flour next to the board)

Take about half the dough onto the board and press out gently. DO NOT overwork the dough. You want nice, fluffy biscuits! Make dough about 1" thick and use a biscuit cutter (2" to 3" in diameter- use what you have on hand!) to cut out biscuits. We usually make 15 biscuits. The rest we use for scones.

To make the rest into scones, take half of the remaining dough and press it out into a rectangle. sprinkle a little bit of sugar 1/2 teaspoon or so in the middle of the rectangle. Cover the sugar with your scone filling- we LOVE to use dried apricot and sage, both cut into pieces. You can get very creative and use what you like! 

Roll the bottom up to cover the filling then roll the rest of the way. Cut the log you made into pieces-maybe 3/4" or so thick. When you are placing them on the tray, make sure they are wrapped well so they don't come apart when baking. I like to make sure the bottom of the scone is dough (not filling- the filling will burn) so I pinch the bottom to ensure no filling is showing through. 

Brush the tops of the biscuits and scones with a tiny bit of butter or butter substitute before baking with the pastry brush (you can always brush with buttermilk if you prefer) Sometimes, we add a tiny sprinkle of sugar on top of the scones. mmm. 

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating halfway in between so they bake evenly.

As with all baking check when you get close. All ovens cook differently. No one wants to eat a burnt scone!

Little Miss O using the biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits for the boys.

Make sure to flour up those hands!!

Only a few more biscuits to cut out and it's on to the scones : )

JUST FOUND THESE PICS from another day of scone making. Yes, little ones can bake! Look at her go. 

Wait until you taste these out fresh out of the oven. OUTRAGEOUS!

We make these all the time for functions, brunches and snow days. They are super simple, impressive, delicious and INEXPENSIVE to make! Using top quality ingredients, for less than  $4, we have over 2 1/2 dozen biscuits and scones! Price that out at a bakery!

What your favorite scone fillings??

Leave me a comment and let me know  Would love to experiment with other flavors!

Bake on!

Banana Bread

Happy Wednesday!

My kids got on their bus and now I am cleaning up the kitchen. I spy some bananas getting their brown on. There is no way anyone is my house will be eating them once they get more than a few freckles, so I know what time it is. 

I wonder, do my children purposefully leave them to brown knowing it will bring on a baking session? I would not put it past them, smart little kiddos that they are. But I digress...

I bake banana bread often. It is an quick recipe, utilizing basic ingredients that are always in the house and one loaf will mean a week of lunchbox treats and happy children. 

I have been asked for the recipe many times and have been delinquent in getting it to all the people that have asked. So, here you are friends:

Banana Bread

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. 

Grease up your loaf pan (I use Pam baking spray, but you can use whichever you like. )

Dry Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup of All Purpose Flour - to make this healthier, I now use 1 cup of all purpose flour & 2/3 cup of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour- no one can tell the difference!

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

Wet Ingredients

3 medium very ripe (read BROWN) bananas

2/3 cup sugar (I cut back on this a little bit. Of course, if your bananas aren't ripe enough, use the full amount or a little more)

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of good vanilla extract

Whisk all dry together. In another bowl mix all wet ingredients together. Then add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just blended. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes. This truly depends on the heat of your oven. My oven makes these in 40 minutes. A friend of mine who makes this often as well, her  oven takes closer to 45-50. So set the timer for 40 minutes, test and see where you are.

Now, once you've made this, you can get a little fancy. I sometimes sprinkle in some mini dark chocolate chips (don't use full size, they get too gooey and fall to the bottom since they are so heavy) 

Helpful tip- If you toss the chocolate chips in a tiny bit of flour before you fold them in at the end, they won't sink to the bottom!

You can swirl in a bit of peanut butter. Today, I mixed in a little raspberry and strawberry compote I made for a fruity version. Yummy!

There's the timer! Gotta go check the banana bread. Don't worry, I'll eat a piece for you ; ) 

Bake on!