A bit of flour

Well, I tried my hand at Martha’s buttermilk biscuits. Alas, I did not get the results I was after. But I think I might know why.

First, I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand. Actually, I never have any buttermilk on hand. (No, not never really, but hardly ever.)

Now for most people this little discrepancy would mean no biscuits today. But that’s where I stand out from the crowd. ‘No buttermilk’ doesn’t mean we can’t have buttermilk biscuits. No, it just means we can’t have traditional buttermilk biscuits.

Instead we’ll be having them made with milk and lemon juice. Its much better like this and way cool. And to make it even cooler, I says to myself, I says “Lets not measure the lemon juice before we add it to the milk. We’ll eyeball it.” Sweet.

Second, it might have had something to do with the fact that I decided to cut it in half, but forgot to cut the amount of ‘buttermilk’ in half. Argh.

It was like a bad movie. I just kept adding more and more and more liquid. Eventually I stopped but I think I had like a tablespoon left, so it was kind of like — Argh.

Then, I decided to rescue the soupy biscuit batter by adding more flour. Then I rolled them out and cut them out and baked them for a while and cooled them for a while.

Finally I tried one. I didn’t want to, but I felt obliged. I’ll spare you the details and just reiterate that I did not get the results I was after.

I’ll try again another time. I might even make them the traditional way.

Posted on November 6th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

We have some absolutely bookmarkable posts this week.

By the time you finish reading them, you’ll have:

• 6 new delicious recipes to add to your collection,
• 6 new cool crafts to try out,
• some useful facts on how to make your money work for you and
• the particulars on a plethora of food blogs

I know you’re as excited as I am, so lets get started.

• Mama Bear shares My Mom’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake posted at I’ve Got A Little Space To Fill. It sounds so good; it looks even better. Be sure to check it out.

• HowToMe posts about How To Bake a Treat – Mom’s Savory Banana Cake over at HowToMe. Its a recipe which has been handed down from generation to generation, you know it must be good.

• vh presents Cheap Eats: Albondigas soup posted at Funny about Money. What an excellent idea for a chilly autumn night!

• Mary talks about Food Gifts over at SimplyForties. A couple of great gift ideas and a neat tip on being prepared to give when the opportunity presents itself.

• Annette presents Sun-Dried Tomato Bites posted at Craft Stew. An elegant dip tweaked to perfection.

• Stephanie shares her Cider Chicken recipe posted at Stop the Ride!. Its tried and true.

• Joanne posts about Supplies For Homemade Gift Baskets over at Homemade Gift Basket Ideas. Outstanding tips on where to get what you need. Very helpful.

• ChristineMM presents A Hat for a Friend (or I May Keep It If She Remains Too Busy To Connect With Me!) posted at ChristineMM’s Creative Pursuits. Ever wonder how to make a hat that’s warm enough to be worn while skiing and stylish enough to be paired with a dress coat? ChristineMM tells you how.

• Alex offers Printable Christmas Cards over at Home Life Weekly. Many different designs to choose from, plus a great tip on what kind of paper to use and why.

• Lisa presents first-anniversary posted at la femme papier. Such a wonderfully darling solution for what to give on a very special day.  

• Cindy explains how to make a recycled-net-market-bag over at My recycled bags. What a splendid idea. It looks fantastic!

• Stephanie shows a way to Make a Simple Fleece Scarf in Minutes! over at Make It From Scratch. A truly thoughtful gift in four easy steps.

• MBB presents How To Create A CD Ladder posted at Money Blue Book Finance Blog. You work hard for your money, now its time for your money to work hard for you. This excellent post shows you how to get started.

• Kelly shares the Top 100 Blogs for Foodies over at Culinary School Guide. Its a terrific resource. This is one post you won’t want to miss.

Wow that was fun!

Be sure to check out next week’s edition over at The Daily Dish.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

You’ve made this week’s carnival one of the best editions yet!

Posted on November 4th, 2008 under General. Comments: 10

Tomorrow I shall order breakfast in bed.

I shall have a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, a two egg omelet with a dash of salt and a bit of pepper, two sausage links mixed especially for me by my favorite butcher and a sticky bun made from my own little recipe.

My breakfast shall be served to me on a beautiful ‘rose petaled’ platter. I shall be given a lacey little napkin to lay in my lap and a lovely little bell to ring when I am finished.

I shall not awake until all of my breakfast needs have been met.

Posted on October 31st, 2008 under General. Comments: None

If I don’t figure out the cookie dilemma, I could send brownies during the holidays.

It would be a great alternative, if it didn’t pose a bit if a problem. And that is the fact that I don’t have a tried and true recipe for gourmet brownies. And if I plan to send any, no other type of brownie will do.

I want a very special brownie recipe. It can’t make light and fluffy brownies, those that are more like a cake. And it can’t be too dense, I don’t like fudge. No this recipe must create brownies that are silky and smooth, not too heavy not too light. Just perfect.

I do have one brownie recipe in my collection, but I don’t use it. I must say that I prefer the stuff from the store. My brownie recipe is only there as a place holder. I always planned to switch it out with a 5 star recipe, but just never got around to it. However with this new need for something to fall back on, I think its time I made finding the perfect recipe a priority.

Posted on October 30th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

I am so excited.

I’ve been granted the privilege of hosting an absolutely amazing event.

Come next Tuesday, I shall be hosting the ‘Make it from scratch’ blog carnival.

Woo hoo!

I’ve already taken a sneak peek at some of the posts that will be included in the carnival.

This is going to be so much fun.

If you’d like to join us, you have two options:

1.    You can submit your post to blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_1123.html

Or

2.    You can submit it via email to makeitfromscratch at ymail.com

If you choose the second option, make sure you include the following information:

(1-5 are required, 6 & 7 are optional.)

I am really looking forward to this.

Posted on October 29th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

As I was making a batch and freezing the other two batches of chocolate cookies, I could not help but think about Christmas time.

Like many, I love the idea of sending cookies during the holidays. I know how cool it is to receive special treats in the mail and getting that sort of thing during major holidays just has a way of making it even more special.  

I feel a lot of excitement and a bit if anxiety this year.

I’m excited because I’ll be able to send these chocolate cookies along with chocolate chip cookies. I’ll send some with chocolate morsals, some with walnuts, and some with both. 

I can give those who visit frozen ‘log shaped’ dough with a gift card that tells the baking temperature and the cooking time. I’m very excited.

But as I mentioned there is some anxiety. It stems from the fact that the cookies take two days to get where they are going. I wondered about freshness. So I wrapped the cookies in plastic and placed them in a box to see what they would be like after two days.

I was not pleased. They never live that long here, I only bake enough for one day, so I had no idea what a difference a couple of days makes. I must find a way to send them through the mail so that they reach their destination with as much freshness as possible.

I know I have options. If all else fails, I could go the ‘cookie in a jar’ route or simply ‘overnight’ the cookies.

Posted on October 28th, 2008 under General. Comments: 2

I had a wonderful weekend. But today I find I have no sweets. I must away to the kitchen to make pies and cookies and cakes and such.

Posted on October 27th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

I think its time I learned to make frosting. I need to be able to make a chocolate one for cakes and a sugar frosting for cinnamon rolls.

For the chocolate frosting, I’ll be trying the recipe that goes with Peabody’s chocolate cake. I’ll also be making a recipe from Martha Stewart’s cookbook, which has a picture on page 148 that looks amazing.

I’m excited. It’ll be so nice to be able to make my own frosting and not have to rely on store bought any more.

As for the sugar frosting, being able to make that will mean I’ll have options and I won’t be limited to a cream cheese frosting whenever I have cinnamon rolls.

I’ll start by grinding some regular sugar in my blender. Once its been powdered, I’ll add a wee bit of vanilla and a couple of dribbles of milk. 

In the past, my failures have been due to adding too much liquid. I tried to follow the recipes but I never seemed to be able to stop myself from adding more milk. It just seemed to need it.

But this time, I’ll add the teeniest tiniest bit of liquid.

Posted on October 23rd, 2008 under General. Comments: None

Have you ever been to the King Arthur Flour website?

Oh I love them. They have a great recipe collection and a message board.

However, the last time I was over there I wasn’t looking up recipes or checking out the message board. I was doing some online window shopping. And I saw all sorts of must haves. Specialty flours and measuring spoons. Baking pans and pie shields. oh man.

Another cool item is a dvd called Blitz Puff Pastry. That one I did not even try to resist. Into my shopping cart it went. And the free shipping was nice.

The funny thing is I had never even heard of blitz pastry before. I had heard of puff pastry, but not the blitz part.

When I got the dvd I watched it twice and headed off to the kitchen to make my first batch of puff pastry. It was very easy. I used it to make a few apple turnovers and a lot of twisty cinnamon sticks.

I had actually never made apple turnovers before. I figured they were just apple pies with a different shape, so I simply used the filling from an old apple pie recipe I liked.

After making and baking one, I determined that the filling did not go well with the dough. So I combed allrecipes.com for a proper apple turnover filling.

I found one, scaled down the recipe and proceeded to make and bake another turnover. It was a winner. (I love reader reviews, they save me so much time and energy, not to mention resources.) I made more filling, then added three more turnovers to the platter. After that, I switched gears, time for some twisty sticks.

They were also easy. But half way through I nixed the ‘twisty’. Too time consuming. But I did add cinnamon sugar to both sides of the dough before baking. It made such a huge difference in taste that I couldn’t afford not to do it.

Posted on October 22nd, 2008 under General. Comments: None