Breads · Garden

Delicata Squash and Sage Biscuits

This recipe has been in my ‘must try’ stack for two years. Finally, I had the delicata squash and the motivation to make them and I was not disappointed. Oh my gosh, they are so flaky and delicious. My garden sage was plentiful, so it was the perfect time. Wouldn’t these be wonderful for the Thanksgiving table?

Delicata Squash and Sage Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 medium-small delicata squash (½ cup squash purée)
  • 2 cups unbleached white flour
  • 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • 2 Tbsp. cane sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
  • 1 small bunch of fresh sage (1 ½ tsp. chopped and 10 whole leaves for garnish)
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • For the egg wash:
    • 1 small egg
    • 1 Tbsp. milk
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Slice the delicata squash in half, lengthwise. Remove all the seeds and stringy pulp around the seeds. Place the squash halves cut-side facing down on a baking sheet. Roast in a 400F oven for about 30 minutes or until a knife pierces the flesh like soft butter. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit. Scoop out the roasted flesh and discard the skins. Mash by hand with a potato masher, or if you wish, purée with a hand blender until smooth. Measure out 1/2 cup of squash purée. Chill the purée in the fridge.
  2. 2In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Using a box grater, grate the cold butter into the flour mixture. Place this mixture in the freezer while you prepare the wet ingredients (about 5 to 10 minutes).
  3. 3In another bowl, mix the chilled cream, squash purée, and finely chopped sage. Whisk together until smooth. In another smaller bowl, make the egg wash by beating the egg and 1 Tbsp. of milk together.
  4. 4Remove the dry ingredients from the freezer. With a pastry cutter or your hands, make sure the grated butter is fully incorporated into the flour (it should look like bread crumbs). Gently add the squash and cream mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring just until the dough starts to come together. Using your hands, lightly knead the dough in the bowl, until uniform, but avoiding overhandling it.
  5. 5Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and either roll or simply press the dough out to 3/4 inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2 inch round or square cookie cutter, cut out the biscuits. Brush the tops with egg wash and gently press a whole sage leaf on top of each biscuit. Place on a lightly buttered baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 400F oven, until golden on top. Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack and serve warm.

Recipe from PBS Food Recipes

Breads

Cranberry Brie Sheet Pan Biscuits

Marrying two of my favorite fall flavors, Brie and Cranberry, into a biscuit was too good to skip. The fresh herbs and the drizzle of honey makes these savory biscuits a must for a special fall meal or Thanksgiving dinner. They are especially good warm from the oven. Even my grandsons liked them…but who doesn’t love a biscuit with honey!

Cranberry Brie Sheetpan Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:
  • Nonstick cooking spray, for the pan
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (see Cook’s Note)
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
  • 2 1/2 sticks (20 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus
  • more for serving
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing
  • 8 ounces Brie, cut into small pieces
  • 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped chives
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • 1/4 cup honey
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray an 18-by-13-inch half sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and 2 teaspoons of the salt in a large bowl. Rub 4 tablespoons of the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until completely absorbed. Work the remaining 16 tablespoons butter into the flour mixture until pea-sized bits of butter remain. Use a fork to stir in the buttermilk until the mixture comes together into a shaggy dough. (Don’t overmix the dough.)
  3. Add the Brie, parsley, cranberries, chives and thyme to the bowl and gently mix with lightly floured hands, folding the dough over itself (this is where the flaky layers will form) until the ingredients are just combined.
  4. Turn the dough out onto the prepared sheet pan and use lightly floured hands to evenly distribute the dough into the prepared pan. Using a paring knife, gently score 24 squares on top of the dough, making sure the knife does not cut through to the bottom of the biscuit. (If baking the biscuits the following day, cover gently with plastic wrap at this point and refrigerate up to 24 hours.)
  5. Brush the top of the dough with more buttermilk. Bake until the biscuit top is lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then use a paring knife to follow the score marks to cut through the biscuits.
  6. Meanwhile, mix the honey with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Drizzle the honey over the warm biscuits. Serve the biscuits warm or at room temperature with more butter, if desired.

Recipe from Food Network

Breakfast · Family · Family Favorites

Biscuits and Gravy…Tradition!

Biscuits and gravy were introduced to me when I moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1975 and they’ve been a favorite breakfast in our house since.  My husband, Karl, made biscuits and gravy, with scrambled eggs, and sausage almost every weekend while the girls were young.

Biscuits were made from scratch, Bisquick mix, or even refrigerated buttermilk biscuits.  The gravy, however, was always made from scratch and the flour browned to just the right shade of perfection before adding the milk and watching the bubbly goodness thicken to our perfect gravy thickness. A cast iron skillet was always the cooking vessel of choice.

Daughter, Megan, stayed with me for a few days while her hardwood floors were being refinished and she wanted to make biscuits and gravy.  We tried a new drop biscuit recipe that we liked but she made the gravy the old fashioned way.

I love a little sweet with my savory so for my breakfast dessert, one biscuit with honey.  MMMM…

What a wonderful walk down memory lane and the chance to revisit family tradition.

DADDY’S DELICIOUS BAKING POWDER DROP BISCUITS

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

  • Preheat oven to 425º.
  • Combine all dry ingredients.
  • Blend in the warm butter.
  • Slowly add the milk to the mixture until the dough holds together.
  • Use two spoons to drop evenly sized biscuits on ungreased baking sheet.
  • Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned.

http://www.food.com/recipe/daddys-delicious-baking-powder-drop-biscuits

OLD FASHIONED SAUSAGE GRAVY

1 lb. bulk breakfast sausage
1/3 cup flour
3-4 cups milk
salt  and pepper to taste

  • Prepare biscuits and keep warm.
  • Cook sausage patties in a large skillet, preferably cast iron. Set cooked sausage patties aside and keep warm.
  • Add flour to sausage drippings and let brown (watch carefully or it will burn). Once flour is brown, add milk, salt and pepper and let gravy bubble until it thickens.  This may take about 10 minutes.  If the gravy becomes too thick, add milk to gain desired thickness.
  • Optional:  Add some crumbled cooked sausage into gravy.
  • Serve hot with biscuits, sausage patties and eggs of your choice.