Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits, #6 = Romeo & Juliet

Due to the fact that I've been super out of touch, and out of cooking practice if I'm being quite honest, I'm posting this recipe which I actually baked back at the beginning of December.  Better late than never, no?  Yes.  I took these biscuits to dinner with some family/friends and they were a BIG, BIG hit.  Dick loved them, I loved them, our cousins/friends loved them, and they went surprisingly well with the delicious ribs that cousin John slaved over for dinner.  They are nice and sweet...just like Romeo.  Again with the bad transition, I know.  But I'm kinda flying by the seat of my briches here, so you'll just have to deal.

Enjoy this one, food lovers - its quick, easy, and might darn tasty!

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

5 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 peices

1/2 cold sour cream

1/4 c. cold milk

1/3 c. finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Directions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheet w/ silicone paper.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl.  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 cut & rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.  You'll have pea-size pieces and smaller.

3. 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 another 2-3 times to incorporate them.

4. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough.  Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high.  Don't worry if the dough isn't completely even.

5. Use a 2-inch 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 this first round.  By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet.  Gather together the scraps, working 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 can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months.  Bake w/out defrosting - just add a couple ore minutes to the oven time.

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

#6: Romeo & Juliet

Clearly this is the longest clip ever, but it's my favorite part of the movie!  I was in the 6th grade when I first saw this movie, and totally swooning over Leo - after falling in love and crying my eyes out (7 times!) in Titanic ha!  Anyway, I still think this is one of the sweetest scenes ever.  The whole movie isn't the greatest, but this love story is probably the most famous love story in the world, so it makes my countdown this year.  Because of cutie-patutie DiCaprio, the honorable mention for tonight is Titanic.  Loved it then.  Love it still.  I'll never let go.

TWD's Sweet Cream Biscuits = Dick's FINAL Breakfast

I don't know what you'll be doing this Friday at 8 o'clock in the morning, but I'll be watching Dick GRADUATE!!! That's right folks, he'll be coming to the end of the long road that has been his Bachelor's degree. I don't think its any mistake that it's a B.S....just teasing, sweetie! I couldn't be more thrilled - because we'll finally get to see each other and hang out again! Imagine that. Anyway, you know what graduation means (or the close of any college semester, for that matter)...finals!!! DUN DUN DUN He's been studying non-stop in preparation for these dang tests, so I thought I'd make him a nice big breakfast of champions for his first day of exams. Plus, it's time again for my Tuesdays With Dorie Baking club so I kinda had to. The planets aligned for me.

These biscuits were phenomenal! In fact, Dick requested that I make them for his whole fam-damily that will be here to give him his props this weekend. Now, that's a good sign. They are light and flaky and sweet and perfect. For the whole recipe visit Melissa at Love at First Bite.

I don't remember where I learned this trick, but it sure throws my clean-up nightmares right out the window! Roll out your dough between two sheets of parchment paper (dusted w/ flour, of course) and you can forget about scraping dough off of your workspace, or even needing to wash your rolling pin. Excellent.

I followed Dorie's advice and froze the biscuits the night before so that we could eat them right out of the oven in the morning. I wrapped half of them and left them in the freezer so we now have another scrumptious breakfast to look forward to. Please ignore the frozen pizza (I'm mortified!), they're Dick's fave fast-eat, and so far I haven't been able to think of anything to help him shake the addiction! Any suggestions?

One with honey. One with cherry preserves. One patiently waiting to be gobbled by an academic-crazed husband.

I'm THANKFUL for Sweet Potato Biscuits!!!

I was just thinking about how I'd only ever eaten sweet potatoes/yams one way my whole life until this year, and that way was always in the form of candied yams on Thanksgiving. My aunt makes awesome candied yams with these cinnamon apples every year, and they are always a big hit. But I have to be honest, my favorite part of that dish has always been the apples, so I'd always just scoop some off the top and leave the yams for everyone else to enjoy. I've only been married 3 years, but in that amount of time, Dick has transformed me into a much more daring eater and cook! Seriously. I will now cook with and eat any color of bell pepper, I'm getting braver when it comes to tomatoes (baby steps, sweetie), and I'm making foods with sweet potatoes and actually eating them! And this one is awesome, so I wanted to share it with all of my favorite peeps just in time for all of our Thanksgiving feasts. If you're looking for something new to spice up your usual dinner, this one would be an awesome tradition to start! Hope you like it. And Happy Thanksgiving, for heaven's sake!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

2 c. all purpose flour (I used half whole wheat flour)

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

pinch of ground cinnamon or freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

2 Tbsp. packed light brown sugar

3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

2 15-ounce cans sweet potatoes in light syrup, drained & mashed

Directions

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt & spice together in a bowl. add brown sugar & stir; make sure there are no lumps. drip in the butter, and, using your fingers, toss to coat it w/ flour. quickly cut rub the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is pebbly.

Add sweet potatoes to the bowl, grab a fork, and toss & turn until you've got a nice soft dough. with your hands, gently knead 3-4 times, just enough to bring everything together.

Lightly dust a work surface w/ flour, and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly w/ flour & pat the dough out w/ your hands until it is about 1/2 inch high.

Use a 2- to 2 1/4-inch biscuit cutter to cut as many biscuits as you can. Transfer biscuits to a greased baking sheet & cook in a 425 degree oven for 14-18 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden brown. Cool them on a rack about 10 minutes before serving.

Coming up:

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Minestrone Soup & Speedy Wheat Biscuits

I don't know if I've ever talked about my job on this blog, but after some of the recipes on here you'll probably never believe it when I tell you what I do...I'm a Wellness Specialist for an Independent Wellness Company that does Employee Wellness Programs for various businesses and corporations. I absolutely love it!!! But I also absolutely love to eat, and I sometimes feel a little bit like a hypocrite when I eat/cook junk food. Don't worry though, that doesn't bother me enough to stop. Anyway, a little while ago at work I was asked to do a Lunch & Learn with one of my coworkers about healthy cooking substitutions. We talked a lot about all of that wonderful stuff, and then we made some healthy recipes (or should I say, healthier than most) for them to sample. This delicious minestrone soup, these fabulous biscuits, and a breakfast cookie I've made before all made it on to the menu. They were all a big hit, too! Can I just say thank heavens for the Food Network?! It is always there when I need them, via TV, internet, or magazine (yes I just subscribed, and am loving it!). So yeah, I hope you enjoy these healthier recipes just as much as our audience did!

Minestrone Soup

From Robin Miller of the Food Network

Ingredients

3 c. low sodium chicken broth

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes (I used Italian style)

1 can white beans (Great Northern), drained and rinsed

2 carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 c. onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

2 c. fresh spinach, chopped

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried sage

2 bay leaves

2 c. cooked ditalini pasta

Directions

In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, & 1/2 tsp salt & pepper. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours, or HIGH 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before soup is done, add pasta, zucchini, & spinach. Cover & cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves & season to taste.

Wheat Biscuits

From the Food Network

Ingredients

1 c. wheat flour

1 c. white flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1 cup buttermilk, cold

Directions

Whisk dry ingredients. Cut in butter until resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk, stirring until moistened. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface & knead lightly 4-5 times. Pat dough out to 1 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter (I used a small cup) & place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees 12-14 minutes.