Almost Spring, and Sour Cream Biscuits

The temperature is supposed to climb above zero degrees today.  Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend, and March break has begun.  Despite the snowbanks that surround us, I can feel the promise of spring.  The days are getting longer and the sun is feeling warmer.   

I know I said there wouldn't be any more snow pictures, but looking at all that snow makes me wonder what sort of a mess we're in for when it all starts to melt.  

We celebrated a couple of birthdays this past week, and it was all about hockey.  Hockey cupcakes, a commemorative hockey jersey from the New Year's Eve NHL Winter Classic, a new hockey stick, and a trip to Detroit for a Red Wings game on the same night that Nicklas Lidstrom's jersey number was being retired.

And I made biscuits.  And they were the best biscuits.  We've been having a lot of pasta, soups & stews, and there's nothing better than warm, fresh rolls on the side.  The problem is rolls take time.  Kneading time, rising time, more kneading, more rising... not an option when you walk in the door at 5pm and hope to have dinner on the table by 6pm.  

Biscuits are a quick and easy alternative.  I've tried a few different recipes... some were good, some were horrible.  I've tried buttermilk, yogurt, and butter.  They've come out puffy, flat, salty, tasteless, hard, soft, dry, and crumbly.  Now that I've had consistently good results by combining and tweaking a few different recipes, I can honestly say these are the best biscuits I've ever made.

It's all about sour cream.  Full fat sour cream.  Honestly, those low fat dairy products sort of scare me.  The ingredient list is four times longer than the list on a container of regular sour cream.  Seriously, what on earth do they add in order to make up for the bit of fat they're removing?  Besides, our brains need fat... I read it somewhere.   

So if you're looking for a good biscuit recipe, try this one.  It's easy, it uses real ingredients, and the result is soft, flaky deliciousness.

Sour Cream Biscuits

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  

Add the sour cream and butter.  Stir until it just holds together.  

Roll dough out on a floured surface, about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick.  Use a round cutter and press straight down to cut out biscuits.  If you twist the cutter you won't get those nice looking layers on the side of the biscuit.

Bake until they are golden brown, about 12 - 15 minutes.

Notes:

These are best freshly baked and still warm from the oven.  If you want to make them ahead of time, freeze the unbaked biscuits and then bake them straight from the freezer, adding a few minutes cooking time.

Don't over overwork the dough, it should be just combined and still lumpy before you roll it out.  Overworking the dough will result in tough biscuits.

When measuring the flour, don't just scoop and dump.  This compacts the flour in the measuring cup, resulting in too much flour and hard, dry biscuits.  Instead, fluff the flour with a scoop and add it to the measuring cup scoop by scoop.  Read how to properly measure out a cup of flour here:  King Arthur Flour.

I've gone easy on the salt.  If you prefer a saltier biscuit you could use up to a teaspoon.  Alternately, if you prefer a sweeter biscuit, the sugar can be increased up to one tablespoon.

 Thank you for featuring me!

Tweet

Autumn, Crusty Bread and a Wicked Spinach Dip

We're still crushing on fall despite the fading autumn colours.  There are less fiery reds & golds brightening the landscape as the leaves fall from the trees and reveal shades of brown.  Combined with grey windy skies, it's beginning to feel decidedly more wintry and a lot less like the end of summer.  The warm & sunny fall weather of the past few weeks is giving way to cold & rainy days that are getting shorter as the nights grow longer.  The furnace has been turned on and the fireplace saw some action this weekend.

Hubby made some amazing pulled-pork in the crock pot on Sunday and as we were piling it onto fresh crusty rolls we were reminded of the spinach dip I often make and how amazing it is with fresh bread.  This is a dip I've made for years that everyone loves and asks for again and again.... even after filling up on pulled-pork sandwiches.

Knorr® Spinach Dip

Adapted from Knorr's Classic Spinach Dip Recipe

 1 package (10 oz / 300g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

        1 container (16 oz / 500ml) sour cream

        1 cup Hellmann's® mayonnaise

        1 package Knorr® vegetable soup mix

        1 can (5 oz / 140g) water chestnuts, drained and chopped

        ¼ cup finely diced red onion

A few things about how I prepare this:

Squeeze as much water as you can out of the thawed spinach.  I usually put it in a fine mesh strainer when it’s thawed and push it into the mesh to force out as much liquid as possible.  I do not cook the spinach.  Please make sure you use chopped spinach.  Frozen whole spinach will not work... trust me.

I use sour cream, but plain Greek yogurt can be substituted.  I have not tried this.  Someone might notice and I’d have a spinach dip mutiny on my hands.  My family really loves this stuff and it has to be just the way I’ve ALWAYS made it.

Mayonnaise.  Only MAYONNAISE.  Not Miracle Whip.  Miracle Whip is salad dressing.  It is NOT mayonnaise.  They cannot be used interchangeably.  Not ever.

Knorr brand vegetable soup mix is what works best in this.  I’ve tried other brands when the Knorr has been sold out (which happens a lot) and it just isn't the same.  This stuff is like crack and if it’s on the shelves, buy a few… one can never be too prepared for the next Knorr vegetable soup mix shortage.  I roll over the package a few times with a rolling pin before I open it to crush the soup mix into a powder… I think it helps to intensify the flavour.  I chop up the red onion and water chestnuts very fine for the same reason.  Some recipes call for green onion instead of red onion.   Again, I don’t dare mess with my version of this recipe and the red onion adds more flavour.

Once you’ve got it all mixed up well in a bowl, cover it and let it sit in the fridge for a while so the flavours can blend.  I usually give it a couple of hours and then let it sit at room temperature before serving as it tastes better when it isn’t ice cold.  If I’m worried about a nice presentation, I’ll hollow out a sourdough or pumpernickel loaf to serve it in, but usually they’re digging in as soon as the lid comes off the bowl.  I always make sure to have plenty of bread for dipping… a couple of sliced French baguettes are perfect.  Cut up veggies are yummy too!

Doubling this recipe is a very good idea… or it’ll be gone before you know it.

If you're feeling really ambitious, make a couple of baguettes from scratch.  It's easy and they're so much better than store-bought.... crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside.  I mix up this recipe in  my breadmaker and then divide it into two loaves, rise & bake.

Crusty French Bread Recipe from food.com

Thank you for featuring me!

       

Tweet