On food processors
Whew. It's been a while!
I've got a little backlog of projects to talk about, so I'll start with my most recent life-altering realization: food processors are amazing.
I know most of you have probably already heard that you can use a food processor instead of a pastry cutter or (gasp) your fingers to cut butter/shortening into flour. I've even had a food processor for a while, but I hadn't tried that trick before last week.
There are a few things I consistently ruin, namely, frosting, pie crust and biscuits. I just have trouble with them. That's okay with me.
Last week I finally got Danny to consent to having vegetable soup for dinner, and I decided
I'd sweeten the deal with some biscuits. So, I lugged out the food processor (it is sort of heavy) and threw in all the ingredients (pretty much.) With just the press of a button, I had the most amazing, smooth, supple dough I'd ever had the joy to touch. It was seriously a holy experience. The biscuits were flaky, crumbly, tender, mmmmmmmmm.
Since then, I've made shortbread cookie dough, pie dough, shortcakes, and another batch of biscuits. It's amazing! Here's the recipe I made tonight, based on the Fannie Farmer buttermilk biscuit recipe. (It calls for soy buttermilk, which is another invaluable secret I've learned recently.)
Whole Wheat & Cornmeal Biscuits with Garlic & Gruyère
2 cups flour (the whole wheat & cornmeal thing is a result of me being almost out of flour-- I used a Frankenstein mixture of red wheat, white wheat and cornmeal)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced garlic or garlic powder
1/2 c Gruyère, shredded
1 c cheddar, shredded
2/3 c soy buttermilk (pour ~2 tsp mild vinegar-- I used rice vinegar-- into the measuring cup and fill to 2/3 c. Mix well and let it sit for a minute or two)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place dry ingredients and butter in the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles bread crumbs and is generally homogeneous. Dump in the Gruyère and about 1/4 of the cheddar and pulse again to mix. Slowly pour in the buttermilk while running-- the dough should clump into a fairly cohesive ball.
Extricate the dough from the food processor and knead about 4 times, folding it over on itself, on a floured surface (or on wax paper, if you've run out of flour!) Press the dough into a disk about 1" thick. Cut out biscuits with a round cookie cutter or glass and place them on a cookie sheet so that they almost touch (about 1/4" apart.) Brush the tops with water or soymilk and place a mound of cheddar on top of each. Press down to cover. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until the edges are just browned. You don't even have to wash a bowl afterward!
Yes, they're pumpkins. Happy Halloween!
I've got a little backlog of projects to talk about, so I'll start with my most recent life-altering realization: food processors are amazing.
I know most of you have probably already heard that you can use a food processor instead of a pastry cutter or (gasp) your fingers to cut butter/shortening into flour. I've even had a food processor for a while, but I hadn't tried that trick before last week.
There are a few things I consistently ruin, namely, frosting, pie crust and biscuits. I just have trouble with them. That's okay with me.
Last week I finally got Danny to consent to having vegetable soup for dinner, and I decided
I'd sweeten the deal with some biscuits. So, I lugged out the food processor (it is sort of heavy) and threw in all the ingredients (pretty much.) With just the press of a button, I had the most amazing, smooth, supple dough I'd ever had the joy to touch. It was seriously a holy experience. The biscuits were flaky, crumbly, tender, mmmmmmmmm.
Since then, I've made shortbread cookie dough, pie dough, shortcakes, and another batch of biscuits. It's amazing! Here's the recipe I made tonight, based on the Fannie Farmer buttermilk biscuit recipe. (It calls for soy buttermilk, which is another invaluable secret I've learned recently.)
Whole Wheat & Cornmeal Biscuits with Garlic & Gruyère
2 cups flour (the whole wheat & cornmeal thing is a result of me being almost out of flour-- I used a Frankenstein mixture of red wheat, white wheat and cornmeal)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced garlic or garlic powder
1/2 c Gruyère, shredded
1 c cheddar, shredded
2/3 c soy buttermilk (pour ~2 tsp mild vinegar-- I used rice vinegar-- into the measuring cup and fill to 2/3 c. Mix well and let it sit for a minute or two)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place dry ingredients and butter in the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles bread crumbs and is generally homogeneous. Dump in the Gruyère and about 1/4 of the cheddar and pulse again to mix. Slowly pour in the buttermilk while running-- the dough should clump into a fairly cohesive ball.
Extricate the dough from the food processor and knead about 4 times, folding it over on itself, on a floured surface (or on wax paper, if you've run out of flour!) Press the dough into a disk about 1" thick. Cut out biscuits with a round cookie cutter or glass and place them on a cookie sheet so that they almost touch (about 1/4" apart.) Brush the tops with water or soymilk and place a mound of cheddar on top of each. Press down to cover. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until the edges are just browned. You don't even have to wash a bowl afterward!
Yes, they're pumpkins. Happy Halloween!
posted by Annie at 7:38 PM
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