Alton Brown's Biscuits

I have tried lots biscuit recipes with lots of failures. This is my favorite at the moment. The original recipe is here. The best, though is the kneading tip from his show that's not on his recipe. You always hear "don't over mix the dough!" but I never really knew how much was too much. I often didn't mix mine enough so they turned out crumbly. His suggestion helped out. It has amazing texture and my only minor complaint is that it has a very slight baking powder taste. They're still the best yet though.

Alton Brown's Southern Biscuits: makes about 12
2 C. flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp shortening
1 C. chilled buttermilk (or 1 C regular milk mixed with 2 tsp. white vinegar works fine too)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450*
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add butter and shortening and cut in with knives, forks, or a pastry cutter. You can use your fingers too if you want.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk.
4. Stir the wet and dry ingredients until they just come together. It will be sticky.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10 times by folding it on itself. (His tip from the show.)
6. Press into a 1 in. thick round and cut out with a 2 in. cup or cutter. (just reform the scraps and cut until you've used everything)
7. Place biscuits on a sheet so they just touch and cook at 450* for 15-20 min. or the tops are lightly golden brown. (I've had best results with the air cushioned pans used for cookies.)

My mom's peanut butter granola

This was my favorite granola growing up, but I still need to make it as an adult. I got my mom's recipe awhile back, so I'm posting it now for myself and siblings.

Peanut butter granola: makes 14 (1/2 C.) servings
4 Tbsp oil
2/3 C. peanut butter
1 C. brown sugar
5 C. old fashioned oats
1 C. raisens

Stir oil into peanut butter. Stir in brown sugar. Add oats and stir until coated. Bake at 300* for 15 min. stirring occasionally. Add raisins when cool.

This is not a crunchy or low fat granola. It is very delicious though.

Puffy Oven Pancakes

A.k.a Hootinanny, German Pancakes, Dutch baby

This was a favorite growing up and I still love them. It's a tradition (since college) to make them for one of the mornings of LDS general conference in both April and October. We generally cut the 9X13 pan into 4ths for adults, but kids won't need a piece that big.

Puffy Oven Pancakes:
6 eggs
1 C. flour
1 C. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cube butter cut into pieces

1. Put the butter in a 9X13 (I use glass) pan and put into a cold oven. Let the pan heat up as the oven is preheating to 400*. Make sure the butter doesn't burn, but it is imperative that the pan is hot when you put the batter in.
2. Mix the eggs, flour, milk and salt together.
3. Pour the batter into the hot pan and cook for about 18-20 min. It will be big and puffy right out of the oven but will deflate as it cools off. Eat with syrup, jam, fruit, applesauce, powdered sugar, or any other favorite topping.

Basic Granola

I got this here but modified it..

Basic Granola (about 5-6 cups)
3 C. oats
1/2 C. chopped nuts (I use a mix of pecans and almonds)
1/2 C. coconut
1/2 C. wheat germ or oat bran or flax seed
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. dried fruit like raisins or craisins
pinch of kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 325* and line a heavy cookie sheet. I use my silpat.
2. I mix the sugar, oil, honey and vanilla together in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients (minus the dried fruit). Spread it evenly on the cooking sheet.
3. Bake at 325* for 12 min. Stir and bake for 12 min. more. It won't be crunchy straight out of the oven. It has to sit and cool to get crunchy! Don't over bake it or it will burn.
4. Add dried fruit and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Buttermilk Pancakes

I don't know where I got this recipe. I've had it for years and love it, so sorry I can't give them proper kudos.

Buttermilk Pancakes
3 C flour
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
3 C FRESH buttermilk (not powdered)
½ C milk
3 eggs
1/3 C butter, melted

Combine all dry & wet separately. Mix wet into dry. Don't over mix. After all the dry is incorporated and looks like lumpy mashed potatoes, stop there and cook up on a griddle.

Vanilla syrup and Pumpkin Waffles

I haven't made the waffles yet this year (I'm holding out for fresh pumpkin), but I thought I'd put it up here because it goes so nicely with the syrup recipe I'm posting. This is heaven. I've heard the syrup is a Magleby's copy cat, but I've never eaten there so I can't tell you. I can tell you it is thick, rich, and oh so goooood.

Devilishly delicious vanilla syrup
Ingredients:
1/2 C. butter (not margarine! The margarine separates and makes it funky...)
1/2 C. buttermilk
1 C. sugar
1 tsp karo syrup
----------
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil.
2. Stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

BEWARE! When you add the soda and vanilla it bubbles us quite a bit. DO NOT MAKE THIS IN A SMALL PAN!!!






Pumpkin Waffles--serves 5 hungry adults
In a large bowl combine:
2 C. flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt

In a separate bowl combine:
4 beaten egg yolks (save the whites for later!!)
1 1/2 C. milk
1 C. pumpkin
3/4 C. melted butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Directions:
1. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture with an electric mixer.
2. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they form peaks.
3. Fold egg whites into batter with a spatula or large spoon.
4. Pour into waffle iron according to your manufacturer's instructions.

Bran Muffins: Give bran a chance!

I've been meaning to post this forever, but I've been going through a non-blog phase for some reason.

I try and make Matt some sort of muffin for breakfast about once a week. His favorite happen to be Bran muffins. Yes, you heard me right. Bran. I have had some bad bran muffins in my life, I won't lie. Dry, tasteless, crumbly...you get the point. (Heck, the recipe on the back of my oat bran box is one of those! It calls for all bran and no flour, and it tells you to bake it at 425 for 15-20 min!! WAY too long and too hot! The bottoms of the muffins burned, and the muffins were not that good.)

Well, I've tried a few recipes in the past couple of months, and this is one of my favorites. I like it because it's quite versatile and you can change them up a bit so you don't get too bored. For ideas of how to change it up, look to the asterisks. These were moist and delicious.

(Better than) Classic Bran Muffins--adapted from Classic Bran Muffins
Makes 12 good sized muffins
1 1/2 cups bran (oat, wheat, whatever)
1 cup buttermilk*
1/3 cup canola or EVOO**
2 large eggs***
2/3 cup brown sugar or molasses (or a combo of both)****
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour***** (I like King Arthur brand; it seems smoother and less gritty to me)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I use Kosher)
Optional: 1/2 cup mix-ins such as raisins, craisins, walnuts, blueberries (fresh or frozen), dried cherries, etc. (you can also do cinnamon for a change in flavor, but I don't recommend a 1/2 cup!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups.
2. In a bowl or large measuring cup, mix together bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil, egg, sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and incorporate well (though try to not over mix). Fold in the mix-ins if you are including any.
4. Bake in muffin tins for 14-20 min. (really depends on your oven and elevation and stuff, so check at 14 min. by toothpick test.) 14 min. is perfect in my oven.
   

* you can substitute 1 cup regular milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
** OR applesauce OR banana mash OR pureed pumpkin OR a combination of the above (I'd keep in at least a Tbsp of oil because it helps lengthen the shelf life.) I used about 1/2 EVOO and 1/2 applesauce. I've actually used a mixture of oil and sweet potato puree successfully as well.
*** I did 1/3 cup of each. I like this amount. Matt thinks it could use a little more molasses.
**** Can use all purpose flour, oat flour, etc. or a combo of them all.