Cheese Drop Biscuits

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cheese drop biscuitsI love biscuits.  I mean, who doesn’t, right?  Those fluffy, tender, savory quick breads are just the right start to many a morning, a perfect side for casual or formal dinners, and balance soup perfectly.  You can eat them with butter, jam, honey, sausage gravy, or just by themselves.

The problem for me is the time they take.  You mix them up, then roll them out.  You cut those circles out, making sure to not twist so they will rise as high as they can.  then you gently mix the rest back together, and do it again, making them a little less tender each time.  They are simple, yet require practice to master them and most of us have to try several times to get past ok, and up to good.  great is a ways off for the beginning biscuit maker.

What if there was a better, easier, faster, and more simple way to make great biscuits?  I am talking dump it all into a bowl, mix it, slap it onto a pan and bake it.  I am talking about wonderful flavor, that most people will snarf as many as you will let them.  I am talking about Cheese Drop Biscuits!

 

Start by making sour milk.  It’s really easy, and can directly replace buttermilk in many recipes.  For each cup you need, put one tablespoon of lemon juice into the measuring cup, then fill the rest of the way to the cup mark with milk.  Wait five minutes.  Use like buttermilk.

Having said that, you are free to use buttermilk in any recipe that asks for sour milk, and vice versa.  The main thing to keep in mind is that buttermilk may be thicker, so pancakes and biscuits may have a little more structure to them.  Both are good; see what you like best.  I tend to use a lot more sour milk in recipes than buttermilk, simply because lemon juice in the fridge will last a lot longer than buttermilk.

cheese drop biscuits

Meanwhile, stir together the dry ingredients in a bowl.

cheese drop biscuits

Add the butter, right from the fridge.  Pastry cooking almost always does better with really cold butter.  (sometimes it will specify ‘room temperature” or “melted”.  I usually suggest following a recipe the first time you make it, then adapting as you feel you should).

Chop, and blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are about the size of a pea (1/4 inch).  You can use two knives, or you can chop a little and then pinch the bits of butter into the flour.  Or you can use a pastry cutter.  They make this step really fast and easy, and anyone who bakes should have one.

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Now add the grated cheese and stir it together.  This will help it stay throughout the entire biscuits once the liquid is added.  Adding the cheese after the liquid is a battle to get it all mixed without pulverizing the cheese.  And yes, I like medium or sharp cheddar.  Oh, and the cheese amount is fairly forgiving, so if you put in too much, or sampled the cheese and have a little less, you’ll be OK.

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Now add the sour milk (or buttermilk), and stir it all together just until all the dry bits are gone and nothing is overly goopy.  Yes, goopy is a highly technical term.

cheese drop biscuits cheese drop biscuits

 

Now drop big blobs, chunks, or whatever you want to call them, onto a cookie sheet.  I suggest a non-stick cookie sheet, or put down parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, like the famous Silpat).  Try to make them about the same size.  I usually end up with 12 or 15, but 18 will also be fine.  just keep in mind that 12 will take a little longer to bake than 18.

cheese drop biscuits

Bake them at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes (again, less for 18 biscuits and more for 12 biscuits).  Check them when you think they may be done by breaking one open.  Tender and full of steam (but not dry), it is done.  If it’s sticky or gooey inside, put it back into the oven for a few more minutes.

cheese drop biscuits

 

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Cheese Drop Biscuits
Author: 
Recipe type: bread
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Fluffy, tender, simple to make, flavorful biscuits
Ingredients
  • 3½ cups all purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 5 teaspoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons butter, cold (1½ sticks)
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1½ tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
  1. Make the sour milk by putting the lemon juice into a measuring cup and filling the rest of the way to 1 /12 cups with milk. Set aside.
  2. Stir together dry ingredients.
  3. Cut into dry ingredients the cold butter, until the largest pieces are the size of a pea (1/4 inch)
  4. Stir in grated cheese.
  5. Add sour milk. Mix together just to the point that there is nothing left dry.
  6. Drop onto non-stick cookie sheet into 15 even portions.
  7. bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the insides of the biscuits are no longer gooey (moist is fine).

    Buttermilk may be substituted for the sour milk.

    recipe may easily be halved if less biscuits are required.

 

Peach Ice

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peach iceWhen I was young, my Grandparents owned a peach orchard.  That meant that when summer came around, we had peaches.  Good, ripe, delicious peaches.  Peaches and Cream.  Peaches over ice cream.  Even just biting into a sweet peach and having the juice drip down your chin.  It was wonderful.

The season each year would end too quickly.  She would can a lot of peaches for the winter, and it was good to have them.  We always appreciated it.  But what made the best treat for us, even better than ice cream, candy, and cookies, was Grandma’s Peach Ice.

It’s a frozen treat, with the almost-fresh taste of the peaches, but cold, slushy, and amazing.  We always wanted it, and Grandma would horde it a little and dole out potions throughout the winter.  We always wanted more.  I find that I am doing the same thing with my kids.  They would eat an entire batch in one sitting if I let them!  But I know better now.  A little at a time, over the winter months, and they will always appreciate it.  Just like Grandma used to do.

 

This is best with good, ripe, sweet peaches.   And of course that orchard is long gone, so we find the best peaches we can.  The better the peaches taste, the better the Peach Ice will taste; but you knew that already.

peach ice

Start by making a simple syrup, by simmering the sugar and water together, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside and cool completely.  And yeah, the photo looks like a pan with water in it.  That’s what the syrup should look like when dissolved.  Really.

peach ice.

Meanwhile, you need to remove the fuzzy peel of the peaches.  It’s good on a plain peach, but not so much in the ice.  David Lebovitz suggests cutting an X on one end of each peach, then putting them in boiling water for twenty seconds.  From there, put the into ice water just enough to shock them, maybe another 20 seconds, then onto a towel to cool.  Once cool, the peel comes off very easily.  It worked quite well, and you should totally check out his site, as he has some amazing recipes, and an incredibly good ice cream book.

peach ice peach ice

(boil then shock and peel)

peach ice peach ice

Remove the pits, and add the juice of one lemon.

peach ice

peach ice

Now crush the peaches.  I like to use a potato masher, but use whatever you have.

peach ice peach ice

Mix in the simple syrup, and put it in the freezer.

peach icepeach ice

Scrape the ice every hour or so while it freezes to introduce air.  You don’t have to do this step, but it makes it a lot easier to scoop later if you do.  (and if you don’t, just let it thaw a little on the counter before you try and scoop it)

peach ice

Once it is completely frozen, scoop some into a cup or bowl and add just a little bit of one of those lemon-lime soft drinks.  I like Sprite, but 7-Up, Fanta, Sierra Mist, etc, should all work.  And you just want a very little bit, then mix it into a slush.  If it doesn’t slush, add a little more.  if you past the slush state, you can add more Peach Ice, or drink it instead of eat it.

Experience the sheer Awesomosity of Peach Ice!

peach icepeach ice

And yeah, my wife reminds me that Awesomosity is not a real word.  And again, it should be, if for nothing else than to describe Peach Ice.

 

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Peach Ice
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Best, most amazing, icy, cool, slushy peach awesomosity ever eaten!
Ingredients
  • 4 cups water
  • 1½ cup sugar

  • 1 lemon, juiced

  • 6 cups crushed fresh peaches, peel removed
Instructions
  1. boil water and sugar into a simple syrup. Set aside to cool.
  2. peel and crush peaches. Add lemon juice.
  3. stir in cooled simple syrup
  4. Put into freezer. As it freezes, occasionally scrape and mix to add air. Freeze completely.
  5. To serve: scoop, crush, etc, some into a glass and add a very small amount of Sprite to make into a slush.

 

Pulled Pork and Eggs

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pulled pork and eggsSo you got a smoker, and you made a huge portion of Pulled Pork (because it’s AWESOME!), and you have been enjoying yourself all weekend.  Monday morning rolls around and your spouse, significant other, or roommate says “you’re not going to have yet another sandwich for breakfast, are you?”

Of course you were.  Why not?  but in order to insure domestic tranquility, you somehow find yourself saying “um, no.  I am going to make an amazing breakfast that you never thought me capable of and you will love it!”  Then you have to start thinking up some kind of amazing breakfast that you were never before capable of, so she will love it.

Introducing, Pulled Pork and Eggs!  Ok, so the name needs work, but it’s drop dead simple and amazing.

 

Put a good sized chunk of the Puled Pork into a skillet, over medium heat.  Break it up and spread it around so it will all get nice and warm, making the entire kitchen smell like bacon. And yes, you may find that you also want bacon.  Try to stay on task.

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Meanwhile, crack some eggs into a bowl, cup, dish, whatever, and mix them up with some pepper. (Don’t need salt here, the seasoning on the Pulled Pork has plenty).

mixed eggsWhen the meat is heated through, pour the eggs over it, and cook them like scrambled eggs, turning occasionally.

pulled pork and eggs pulled pork and eggs

Keep turning them, and stop when they still look a little underdone, as they will coast a while after you stop the heat.

pulled pork and eggspulled pork and eggs

Serve in a tortilla with anything that would go into a breakfast burrito (cheese, peppers, salsa, etc), or by itself on a plate, or hanging over the sink directly from the pan (don’t judge me; we have all done it).