TWD : Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

D loved these, and I ain’t arguing with him about it. Y’all, these are so tasty it ain’t even right! They were simple and friendly, the dough was so nice to work with and they were done before you could clean up after them. A few things I changed, walnuts instead of pecans and low fat buttermilk instead of whole milk. Wanna try these with whole wheat flour!

Now y’all, cutting in butter ain’t never been one of my favourite things to do. That’s why when I heard about this technique, I was really happy to try it! It’s worked out good, and this recipe was no exception. Using a cheese grater, very cold butter can be grated into your flour mixture instead of cutting your butter. Toss it with a fork a little, and you’re good to go! It’s a lot quicker, and you don’t have to worry about warming the butter up as you cut and rub it. Y’all won’t be disappointed with this trick. Y’all can tell I didn’t have a biscuit cutter, a star cookie cutter made these really cute!

A little apple butter is the perfect accompaniment to these tender guys. A cheerful fried egg and a biscuit was a great breakfast, and one that D says is a keeper. He’s the one who vetoes or approves the food around here. He’s a really good one to feed, he ain’t picky and he’s always encouraging me to try new things. Don’t ya love him (and these biscuits)?

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
 (Makes about 12 biscuits)

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bow. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between– and that’s just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading– 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even– a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits ca be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting– just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

The Tartlet’s Favourite Fish

There are a million ways to cook a good fish, and I’m not one to turn my nose up at most of them. Anything that lives in the oceans, rivers, and lakes is on my menu. This way of making fish is the one I always use whenever I need to know I won’t be disappointed. It’s got a perfect crunchy fried fish texture, without being unhealthy. The flavour is totally up to you, there are a few ways I make it that I like but it’s very versatile in what spices you use. The whole thing takes about fifteen minutes from raw to on the plate, you can’t ask for anything easier or faster. Grab your favourite fillets of fish (Tilapia is my favourite), any firm, white fish is fine. Flounder is what I’m using here. In one bowl combine three eggs, and an equal amount of the mustard you have around. It should form a gravy like texture when you mix them together.

                                                          

Add a good amount of spices, this has a mixture of dill, garlic, and jalapeno (no heat in it), and I added paprika. Isn’t it pretty? In another bowl, mix a lot of instant potato flakes (2 cups sounds right) with more of the spices you used in the egg mixture.

         

 A little olive oil in the pan is all you need. Make sure the bottom of the pan is covered by the oil, then cook the fish on each side at a medium heat for about seven minutes. How long you cook them depends on how thick they are, the fish should be opaque and flake easily with a fork. They should be a nice golden brown, without getting very dark.

The salad was very simple. Romaine lettuce, garbanzo beans, green onions, and strawberries, with a Paula Deen Vidalia Onion salad dressing. Very tasty!

Rambling About Eggs

The poor laptop I was using before has officially quit working, so I’m now back and forth between two different machines. A desktop for daytime use, and an older laptop when I’m typing away snuggled under the blankie. The only problem with the laptop is that being older, it’s not very pleased with my photo program so the post about my favourite fish dinner will have to be tomorrow. Instead. eggs are what I want to talk about. If you’ve ever seen those big cans of powdered eggs, you may not have been overly thrilled with the idea. They look like cheese powder, and smell less than pleasant if you’re dumb enough to stick your nose in the can (I’m that dumb). Here in Florida, living on the coast tends to inspire one to be hurricane prepared and sure or not I felt motivated to get a can. They’re truly beautiful. The company is called Honeyville, and these eggs are the best! One tablespoon of egg powder to two tablespoons of water, and you’ve made your egg all wet again. They’re all real eggs, and I’ve never been so pleased! They blend so smoothly, batters whip up like a dream and sauces work better than ever. They’re safe so nibbling at batter is perfectly fine (not that the danger ever stopped me), and with the big can that stays fresh for a year I never have to worry about running out! Planning on ordering some whole grains from the same company, they do a lot of high quality baking products for very affordable prices. Give them a try!