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Baking Biscuits--Oh, Boy!

9/21/2016

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Baking biscuits--oh, boy!
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Baking biscuits--pure joy!
What fun to see photos of our twin grandsons, Jake and Toby, baking biscuits with their dad! They used the recipe from the King Arthur website: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/baking-powder-biscuits-recipe. The result? Delicious! 

Biscuits make one think of farmhouse kitchens, enormous country breakfasts, and hot soups and stews, fare for the working man and woman* [*"and woman" added by Amy Houts]. They're unbelievably easy to make, bake in minutes and, if we slow our lives down enough to enjoy them with a leisurely breakfast, savory supper, or cup of afternoon tea, we'll be carrying on a tradition worth keeping. 
  • 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 to 4 tablespoons sugar, to taste*
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons butter or shortening
  • 1 cup milk, buttermilk, or water
  • *See "tips" below
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 425°F. 
  2. Mix together the dry ingredients. With two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips, cut or rub the butter or shortening in until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. 
  3. Add the liquid all at once, mixing quickly and gently for about 20 seconds until you have a soft dough. 
  4. To make drop biscuits: Drop the dough by the spoonful onto a lightly floured baking sheet; or for tidier shapes, fill the cups of a greased muffin tin about two-thirds full.
  5. To make cut biscuits: Pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4" thick. Fold it into thirds like a letter and roll gently with a floured rolling pin until the dough is 3/4" thick again.
  6. Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter for traditional round biscuits. Or, to avoid leftover dough scraps, cut the dough into squares or diamonds with a bench knife or bowl scraper. 
  7. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes, until they're lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm.
Tips from our bakers
  • Substitute 1 cup King Arthur Premium Whole Wheat Flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose, if you wish; or use our pastry flour, unbleached or whole wheat, ideal for biscuits. Biscuits made with pastry flour won't rise quite as high, but they'll be melt-in-your-mouth tender. Experiment with combinations of our pastry and all-purpose flours to work out your favorite combination of "tender and tall." 
  • Use more or less sugar, depending on taste; obviously, sweeter biscuits are more suitable for desserts, while those with less sugar lend themselves to additions like chives and cheese. Also, for richer biscuits, use the greater amount of butter or shortening; for plainer, lower-fat biscuits, use the lesser amount.
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What a treat!
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Time to eat!
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The Healthy Banana Cake Challenge

9/6/2016

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To be honest, at first I didn't think this cake was very good. Key phrase: "AT FIRST." Mixing together white and whole wheat flour made the crumb a bit spongey. Devoid of oil or any type of fat (applesauce is substituted) the cake was not tender. Relatively low in sugar, this cake didn't taste especially sweet. However, turn those factors around and they become advantages. Wasn't my 2016 New Year's resolution to add more more whole grain to my diet? After the first bite, I got used to the lower amount of sugar. An article published in Time magazine called, "How to Get Rid of Your Sweet Tooth," by Alice Park suggests that taste for sugar changes when you eat less of it. See: http://time.com/4168424/train-yourself-to-want-low-sugar-foods/ I didn't think it would happen so fast. My expectation of a sweet cake lowered immediately. The bananas and cinnamon added a more subtle, natural sweetness. No fat? Better for my health. After all, the recipe was printed in a cookbook I had written for children, Cooking Around the Country with Kids: USA Regional Recipes and Fun Activities. But it had been years since I tested the recipes for that book, and I had forgotten how this particular cake tasted. Granted, I improved the looks and taste a little so that it was more appealing by warming my piece in the toaster and sprinkling it with powdered sugar. That did the trick. It satisfied my sweet tooth. Served with hot black coffee increased the contrast between sweet and bitter. I wouldn't make this banana cake for a special occasion, but it's great for morning coffee or an after-school snack. I challenge you to try desserts that a little less sweet. See it you can change your sugar craving. Besides this cake recipe, I highly recommend Lee Jackson's Healthy to the Core: All Natural Low Sugar/No Sugar Apple Recipes for Kids. http://imagesunlimitedpublishing.com

​Banana Cake
 
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour              
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x9-inch square pan.
 
Children can help measure and mix flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add banana, applesauce, egg, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
 
Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or spread with a butter cream frosting. Cut into squares.
 
Makes 9 servings
 


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