A new favorite

For the past few months, I've really enjoyed food blogs. I love looking at all of the beautiful pictures, the process and the stories that people tell as they go through the recipes. The one thing that always impresses me is the time that folks put into it. If I am cooking, I can't stop, clean my hands off and be coordinated enough to take pictures at each milestone in the process. I just like getting in, cooking and getting something on the stove or in the oven. Other times, I have Emily as my little sous chef, and while I would love to document the process of us cooking together, I don't for the same reasons mentioned above plus the fact that I'm hyper-focused on making sure she doesn't fall off of the grey chair she uses to help.

So back to blogs. I've tried a few of the ideas that have caught my eye. Recently, I've tried these lovely little biscuits:



I've made them twice so far. Both times I used a buttermilk substitute (milk + vinegar). The first time I used a cup of milk instead of the 3/4 cup. The second time I used the 3/4 cup. I think I preferred these little treats with the full cup of milk. Additionally, I didn't (and still don't because I can't find it) use cake flour. I used bread. If I ever happen to find the magical elf that sells cake flour I'll definitely check it out with this recipe, but even with the substitution these were light, tender biscuits, best eaten right out of the oven.

I'd like to play around with these in making them a sandwich. I think an egg or a mini omelet could be really good in these. I also think they'll make a good brunch biscuit. This is definitely a recipe that I'll keep around.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cake flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons salted butter, very cold even frozen works
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup cheddar cheese
½ cup ham

Preheat the oven to 450° F. In a medium-sized bowl, measure out the flours, baking soda, and salt. Stir well and set aside.

Using the largest hole on a box cheese grater, grate the cold butter onto a plate or cutting board. After grating, place the plate or cutting board with the butter into the freezer while you complete the next step. (Hint: freezing the butter for 10 minutes before this step makes it much easier)

Dice the ham and cheese into very small cubes, about 1/4" in size. Add the ham and cheese to the flour mixture and toss to coat and evenly distribute the diced bits.

Remove the butter from the freezer and stir into the flour mixture, taking care to evenly distribute so as not to have any overly large clumps stuck together. Stir in the buttermilk until the mixture comes together and is moist.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until you can form a rough ball. Flatten the dough into a circle about ½" in thickness (you don't need a rolling pin). Using a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass (about 3" in diameter for the listed baking time) turned upside down, cut as many rounds as you can. Using the dough scraps, form another circle of the same thickness. Repeat cutting until you have used all the dough.

Place the biscuits on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake at 450° F for 10-12 minutes. The biscuit tops should be lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Thanks to Craftzine for posting this. You can see the original post and all of the lovely photos here.