Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Making Biscuits

I love breakfast foods.  In fact, it is one of my favorite things to have for supper!  However, I have yet to find a plain biscuit recipe that is great.  For some reason, the frozen Pillsbury biscuits are the best I've found.  Even homemade ones aren't that great.  That tend to be heavy and flat.  Plus, they use so much butter, making them not really the best choice for you health-wise.

However, I found this recipe from Cooking Light and it pleased me!  No, it's not as fluffy or buttery as those lovely frozen biscuits.  But it is lighter than the typical southern biscuit.  Mine came out a bit flatter than those in the CL picture but I think I probably rolled them flatter as well. 

So, if you get a hankering for biscuits but that heavy southern biscuit doesn't cut it and you want to keep it light, try this recipe!  (There are also some variations at the bottom of the main recipe for pumpkin biscuits and parmesan biscuits)
 
Buttermilk Biscuits 
9  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
2 1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
1/2  teaspoon  salt
5  tablespoons  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4  cup  fat-free buttermilk
3  tablespoons  honey

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Chill 10 minutes.
3. Combine buttermilk and honey, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times. Roll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds (as if folding a piece of paper to fit into an envelope). Re-roll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds; gently roll or pat to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with a 1 3/4-inch biscuit cutter to form 14 dough rounds. Place dough rounds, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool 2 minutes on wire racks. Serve warm.

(Calories:121 (31% from fat) Fat:4.2g Protein:2.4g Carbohydrate:18.4g Fiber:0.5g Cholesterol: 11mg

Spiced Pumpkin Biscuits: Add 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice to flour mixture. Decrease buttermilk to 1/3 cup; add 3/4 cup canned pumpkin to buttermilk mixture. Bake at 400° for 14 minutes. Yield: 14 servings (serving size: 1 biscuit).


Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits: Add 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to flour mixture. Decrease butter to 1/4 cup. Add 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese to buttermilk mixture. Bake at 400° for 13 minutes. Yield: 14 servings (serving size: 1 biscuit).

Nutritional Information

4 comments:

That's Ron said...

yummo!

Lisa said...

Ok..I'll kill two entries with one stone. The biscotti directly below me..I cannot stop peekint at it. I haven't made biscotti in gaes, and yours makes me want to dive back in. I love mixing nuts, chocolate and dried fruits in one biscotti.

Now, these biscuits look divine, and the fact that they're lighter than most biscuit recipes is definitely tempting health and thigh wise. I'm still stuck on CI's Mile High biscuits. One of the best ever - but loaded with butter!

Hope all is well with you and yours, Doc!! :)

Abby said...

I agree; biscuits are HARD to make. Grandmothers always make the best ones, but I think that's because they've had a lifetime to perfect their technique!

Nice to know they can be made a bit more healthfully, too.

The JR said...

I never learned to make biscuits so when Pillsbury came out with those I gave up on trying!