Sunday, November 16, 2008

Baking Biscuits (again!)

Have you been to the malls yet? Good gosh, it's like Hallowe'en night arrives, but at 12:01 November first it's Christmas season! It's no wonder the mall Santas get grumpy by the time the 24th rolls around, though... I tell ya, I was sick of the carols by the time we left today. I've been called "Scroogeish" before, but in all honesty I do like Christmas - just not when it's shoved down my throat.

However, I think I'm getting ahead of myself here... Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans out there! Though I celebrated Thanksiving (twice) last month being Canadian, there's always a good reason to party: for example, I went to one heckofa wedding yesterday and had a blast!

I know these are a tad late for all the traditional turkey dinners, but there is still Christmas... and with the cranberries especially they're good for the whole winter season! I even took the opportunity to use real butter... decadence! They disappeared in about an hour when my mom took them to work even though they had no chocolate in them - so I know they're dead-on delicious.

Banana - Craisin Ginger Scones
Makes 10
1 flour
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 oz cold butter, cubed
1 large, very ripe banana
1 tbsp skim milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp dried cranberries
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet.
  2. Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks mealy.
  4. Mash the banana with milk, vanilla and sugar.
  5. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until partially combined, stir in the cranberries, then turn out onto a countertop.
  6. Knead lightly with your fingers until the dough just holds together.
  7. Pat out 3/4" thick.
  8. Cut into circles.
  9. Bake 10 minutes, cool on wire racks.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 137.5
Total Fat: 3.9 g
Cholesterol: 9.2 mg
Sodium: 26.8 mg
Total Carbs: 23.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 3.1 g

When I made these biscuits, it was really more of a use-up mixture than anything else (are we sensing a theme with my recent baking?) due to a glut of fresh parsley, a pitiful amount of Salba seeds in my pantry, and some buttermilk and cheese that were going to turn in a day or so in my fridge. Using my basic biscuit recipe as a guideline I churned out these babies, which smelled (if possible) better than Red Lobster's buns! They freeze wonderfully, which is great if (like us) there's only really one person eating them - what can I say, the housemates don't trust my cooking, I guess!

Pepper - Herb and Cheese Biscuits with Salba
Makes 20
2 cups flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp Salba seed (white chia seed)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1/2 cup finely shredded old Cheddar cheese
  1. Preheat oven to 425F.
  2. Combine flour through baking soda in a large bowl.
  3. Cut in shortening until a coarse-meal texture forms.
  4. Pour in buttermilk, parsley and cheese, and mix just until blended.
  5. Pat out on a floured board and cut into rounds.
  6. Place on ungreased sheets.
  7. Bake 12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time.
  8. Remove immediately to wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 154.6
Total Fat: 6.7 g
Cholesterol: 3.7 mg
Sodium: 38.8 mg
Total Carbs: 19.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g
Protein: 4.5 g


Bellini Valli said...

It seems to me that no carols or decorations should be up before December 1st. I know it's all about merchandising but there were decorations in some stores even before Hallowe'en. I remember my daughter playing in the window display at Banana Republic in the Oshawa mall....sandbox!!Great scones by the way!!!!!!!!!

Jo said...

Delicious! You can never have enough of cookies as they are great pick-me-up snacks.