I made these biscuits this morning for Biscuits and Gravy.
Baking Soda Biscuits
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
Directions
1.In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg with milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2.Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead 20 times. Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Alterations:
I used 1/4 C. cold butter because I don't care much for shortening flavor and 1/4 C. beans. I cut the butter into the dry mixture just like they suggested for the shortening, but I added the beans to the wet mixture. It was a little wet to cut out, so I used my biggest cookie scoop and scooped it out onto the pan. Don't mix too much or they get tough. I just mixed until it was all incorporated together.
I just bought a dry package of gravy mix. (McCormick Sausage Gravy, I think.) It was a quick breakfast. They kids ate the biscuits plain. The gravy was a bit peppery for them. :)
The other recipe that I made last night that I will definitely make again:
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
1.In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Alterations:
Instead of all flour, I used 1 C. white flour, 1/2 C. Wheat flour, and 1/4 cup blenderized rolled oats.
Instead of oil I used beans.
Instead of yogurt (because I didn't have any) I used reduced fat sour cream.
Then, just to add some extra good for you-ness, I added a Cup of frozen spinach. At one time it was fresh, but I always buy too big of a bag so I end up putting most of it in small ziplocs and sticking it in the freezer. Then I can pull it out and put it in stuff later. It has a really mild taste so you can add it to stuff without altering the flavor. Just the color. :) I added it to the sour cream and tried to puree it, but it was not quite liquidy enough to really get it finely pureed. So next time I will add all the wet ingredients into the blender and see if that purees it better.
This was a complete experiment but turned out WAY better than expected. Want proof? Charlie ate two and asked for more, but I wanted him to eat some dinner. Those who know Charlie, know he is the pickiest eater alive. He ate them even though I didn't puree the spinach enough so it had little pieces of green all through it. My plan was,if the kids noticed, to tell them it was some sort of magic superhero ingredient. Luckily I didn't have to stoop to trickery. :)
I was thinking, that if Charlie did notice the green or if you have kids that have an aversion to green things, you could probably add a few Tbsp. of Cocoa to hide the green. Then, you can tell your kids that they are chocolate muffins.
Other things I have added beans to: homemade pizza crust (I did half beans, half oil). I would love to know what you have tried them in.
