Blog - biscuits and such
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Buttermilk Biscuits

Last weekend we had a baby shower here in Wilmington celebrating the forthcoming baby Rosemond-Hoerr. I have to say, it was pretty kick ass. It was a co-ed shower at our favorite local home-brew shop/brewery, and it was just the sweetest afternoon where everyone hung out and drank beers (not me, clearly), and played ring toss and corn hole, and caught up, and celebrated, and ate biscuits, and took silly photos in the photo booth. It doesn’t get better than that!

 

biscuits 5

 

After a lot of me pushily offering to help in any way possible (I’m really bad at not helping) the hosts graciously agreed to let me make biscuits for a biscuit bar, and it was fantastic. We had buttermilk biscuits (gluten free and traditional), ham, a cheese spread, mustard, lemon curd, jams and jellies, honey- all the fixins. I’m not usually one to pat myself on the back, but damn. Those biscuits hit the spot.

 

 

The past six months have been really surprising in so many ways, but every moment of this journey I have been overwhelmed by how much this baby is loved. I mean, I know Dan and I are out of our minds excited to meet this kid, but it brings me to tears how much joy there is in our community of friends and family about this baby. We are incredibly lucky.

 

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An extra special thanks is owed to my friends Megan, Liz, and Lauren for orchestrating this whole spectacular day. When I count my blessings these three are high on the list, and not just for throwing a killer shower. All three of them were incredible support during the long road leading up to this pregnancy, and all three of them have endured more text messages about my pregnancy symptoms than anyone should have to read. They are really good eggs, those three.

 

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Buttermilk Biscuits

biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 stick butter

1 cup buttermilk

 

to make the biscuits: 

 

Heat oven to 425F. Mix together dry ingredients. Cube butter and work in with your hands, breaking the butter up into small pieces and mixing in with the dry ingredients, until the texture resembles cornmeal. Stir in the buttermilk. Transfer to a floured surface and press into a rectangle. Fold on itself and pat into a rectangle. Repeat three or four times, finishing with a large rectangle of dough that is 1″ thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut into rounds and place on a lined baking sheet. Brush the top of each biscuit with melted butter and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

 

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Angel Food Cake with Berries & Honey

To be totally honest, this cake was a comedy of errors. If it hadn’t been for a pure and intense craving for angel food cake, I would have thrown the towel in half way through baking it. Everything was going smoothly as I added the flour to the egg whites, but when I poured the batter into the baking dish I noticed all the flour was clumped at the bottom. So I pulled it out and remixed it, and then put it back into the baking dish.

 

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Fifteen minutes after I put the cake in the oven I smelled burning, so I checked and realized that I had grossly underestimated the necessary pan size for the amount of batter I had, so it was bubbling up and overflowing a bit, dripping onto the bottom of the oven. There wasn’t really much I could do, so I let the cake finish baking and after it was out of the oven I began the dirty work of scraping the cake out of the pan. I think because I’d taken the batter out to finish mixing and put it back it stuck to the pan something awful, and then the edges sealed when it bubbled up and over. It was kind of a mess, but frankly I ate what I pulled off of the cake as I was working it out of the pan, so at least it was delicious work.

 

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I know that the general theme in the past few posts has been “me coping with having celiacs” but that’s pretty much where I am right now, so I hope you don’t mind coming along for the ride. It’s actually been a bit of a blessing in this pregnancy, because I haven’t been able to just fold and give in to all the cravings (like spicy chicken sandwiches and all the donuts), I’ve had to come up with homemade alternatives that I can have. So when I saw angel food cakes in the bakery and realized I needed to have one as soon as possible (and the craving stayed for a week), I made it happen. And it was fantastic.

 

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Angel food cake has long been one of my favorite desserts, practically perfect for Spring. And I know it’s not quite Spring, but the grocery had local winter berries and it’s going to be almost 90 degrees this week in Wilmington, so forgive me for indulging a little early. Traditional angel food cake is light, airy, and spongey. With gluten free flour, this was no different. It was absolutely perfect, and completely hit the spot.

 

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Angel Food Cake with Berries & Honey

 

cake:

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cups super fine sugar

11 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

 

mixed berries & honey:

pint of strawberries

pint of blueberries

1/4 cup honey

 

whipped cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Preheat your oven to 350F. Sift together flour, salt, and half of the sugar. Set aside.

In the mixer (or in a large bowl) combine egg white and cream of tartar. Beat for a minute on slow, until frothy. Add in the vanilla and beat for 5 minutes or until the egg whites are whipped and stiff. Add in the remaining sugar, a little at a time.

Turn off your mixer and, using a rubber spatula to fold, add the dry ingredients a little at a time. Mix well and make sure you get all the flour mix well incorporated! Transfer into an ungreased 10″ angel food cake/tube pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Invert onto a rack and allow to cool fully, about two hours, before removing the pan.

While your pan is cooling, chop your strawberries and mix with blueberries and honey. Set aside to allow the juices to blend. Whip together cream, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until stiff and chill.

Serve cake sliced with berries and whipped cream. And enjoy!

 

Make this Gluten Free

 

This recipe was really easy to adapt! Just:

 

  • Substitute 1 cup cake flour for 1 cup gf blend (I used King Arthur)
  • Add 1/4 cup of cornstarch to the dry ingredients
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Loaded Cheese Fries

One of the things I didn’t realize before I started researching Celiacs disease was the laundry list of foods that would be off limits for me outside of my own kitchen. Gluten hides in a lot of things so many sauces, marinades, and even non-glutenous fried foods are off the table. Essentially, I’ve been craving fries since September.

 

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Thankfully I have a deep fryer and a lot of college basketball to watch (go heels!). So I took it upon myself to make up a batch of loaded cheese fries- double fried potatoes, cheese sauce, bacon, green onions, and cilantro. It was everything I’d been missing all these months, with the added benefit of being able to eat a whole mess of fries straight from the fryer.

 

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Loaded Cheese Fries

 

fries

 

6 yukon gold potatoes

oil for frying

salt

 

cheese sauce (adapted from serious eats)

 

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 tbsp corn starch

12 oz evaporated milk

1 tbsp hot sauce

 

1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

1/2 cup chopped green onions

 

for the fries:

 

Slice your fries, skin on, into 3″x 1/4″ slices. Soak in cold water, and then squeeze into a towel to ring out.

Heat your oil to 375F. Fry for 4 minutes, and then dump onto towels or brown paper bags (you may need to do this in batches). Allow to dry for a few minutes and then fry again, for 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from fryer and transfer to a new sheet of brown paper or a rack.

While your fries are frying, Toss your cheese and cornstarch together. Over medium heat combine cheese and 1 cup of evaporated milk. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce combines and the cheese melts. Add hot sauce and, if desired, a little more milk to thin it out to the consistency you’d like.

Transfer your fries to a serving plate and top with cheese sauce, bacon, cilantro, and green onions. Serve hot and enjoy!

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