Biscuits Two Ways

My husband rates restaurants on ice quality....I rate restaurants on bread quality.  Don't tell, but I have been known to drive through KFC just to order a biscuit and a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. Shhhhh...... 

Growing up, my mom often made her Grandmother Spencer's Cloud Biscuits.  I remember always having them alongside beef stew. But my favorite was when she would make them into Cinnamon Biscuits; which are like cinnamon rolls but made with a biscuit dough instead of yeast dough. They aren't as neat and tidy as a traditional cinnamon roll, but they are tender and deliciously comforting.  

As much as I love Cloud Biscuits, today I want to share a different biscuit recipe that is kind of a semi-homemade biscuit. It is especially great for Cinnamon Biscuits because the dough is just a bit sturdier than a traditional biscuit dough and easier to handle.  I found this recipe on allrecipes and haven't changed a thing! 

FYI - I made one full recipe and used half for regular biscuits and half for Cinnamon Biscuits {hence the title of this post}. This recipe is great for beginners and is REALLY yummy!  It takes almost a whole box of Bisquick, a package of yeast (I use jar yeast), some sugar and some Crisco. 

First, I stirred those yummies all together, minus the warm water.

Then I cut in the shortening....if you've never done it before this just means you cut the shortening up into little pieces that are almost blended in to the dry ingredients.  If you don't have a pastry cutter like this, just use a fork.  When making biscuits you don't want to use a mixer because it will over-mix the dough and make tough biscuits - which might as well be a curse word.  Can you hear it?

 

After cutting in the shortening, your mixture will look like this. Notice it's not smooth, just lumpy and begging for some kind of liquid. It's coming, don't worry. 

Because of my great fear of tough biscuits, I barely mix in the warm water (just hot water out of the tap) and pour the whole glob out on the counter where I pat it into an adorable little 1 inch deep rectangle to cut into biscuits.  This dough is not very sticky, so I didn’t add any flour.  If you are using a different recipe, you will want to pat or roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface so that it won’t stick.

 

I grew up using a jelly jar to cut biscuits – they are smaller than usual, but a perfect little biscuit size.  Happiness.

Put these little beauties on a cookie sheet, I ended up rearranging mine so they touched on the sides.  Brush the tops with some melted butter [optional, but a great idea] and bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Now for the Cinnamon Biscuits:
I do use a rolling pin for these.  I want my dough to be as close to a rectangle shape as possible and somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick; depending on how sturdy my dough is.  Once I get it all rolled out I spread 1/2 stick of softened butter all over it.  Then I sprinkle it with white sugar, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon. [I'm not sure how much, but if you pressed me I would say 1/4 - 1/3 cup of each sugar and about a Tablespoon of cinnamon; but don't press]. I sprinkle sugar until there are no wettish spots of butter, don't be skimpy with the cinnamon.  You could do all sorts of things here - chocolate chips, nuts, cocoa powder.....but nothing compares to cinnamon.

Now you start rolling.  The trick here is to keep the roll tight, but not tear your dough or press all the good stuff out. Let me just say I have had disastrous Cinnamon Biscuit experiences where the biscuits are ugly and all the filling squishes out. I just get it all in the pan and scrape the fallen filling on top - it always works out in the end.  This step is what makes cinnamon biscuits difficult. If your dough is really sticky use the flat part of a knife or spatula dipped in flour to loosen up the dough from the counter as you are rolling it up.

Do your best to seal it up at the edge.

And cut it into pieces a little bit over 1 inch wide.  I love that little tool behind the cinnamon log.  I use it to cut cinnamon biscuits and rolls and to loosen dough up from the counter - it's good for lots of other things too.

Gently place the Cinnamon Biscuits in a pie plate that has been sprayed with Pam, you will have to reshape them a bit.  I let these sit covered in the frigde overnight, then sit out the next morning so they weren't fridge cold.  

Then baked them at 375 for 18 minutes and topped them with vanilla icing.

Feather Light Biscuits

from Allrecipes

• 6 cups Bisquick
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/3 cup Crisco
• 1 cup warm water (120 to 130 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 
  
• In a large bowl, combine the baking mix, sugar and yeast. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough warm water to make a soft and slightly sticky dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough to 3/4 inch thickness; cut with a  biscuit cutter or jelly glass. Place on baking sheets. Brush tops with melted 
• butter and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

• 
  

• For Cinnamon Biscuits, make dough as directed. Divide into two sections.  Roll 1/2 of the dough into a rectangle 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.  Spread with 1/2 stick softened butter or margarine.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon evenly over the top.  Roll into a log and cut into 8-10 pieces.  Lay rolls in a deep dish pie pan and bake for 15-18 minutes at 375 degrees.  Repeat for the other half of dough.

Weakness

But he said to me, 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses….”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

Weakness.  This is not how I wanted to start a blog post on running.  I kept hoping for some great momentous victory to launch a great inspirational post.  In the last couple of frustrating months I’ve learned that what God is teaching me through running is about weakness.  Truly. Stinks.

I wanted to open a blog post on running with a verse like Psalm 18:29, “With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”  Maybe something about strength, giant-slaying, victory.  I woulda totally given all the credit to God and secretly hoped I could look amazing too.

But no, this is the lesson for me. Maybe you need to go on this trip too.

“But he replied, "My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." 
So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am. Yes, I am glad to be weak or insulted or mistreated or to have troubles and sufferings, if it is for Christ. 
Because when I am weak, I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 CEV

Here's my boasting about running:

• I am not fast.
• I am not strong.
• I am not beautiful.
• I am not improving.

I started running (sorta) last August.  My husband is a runner and has been for about five years.  When people would ask me if I was a runner I used to answer them with this doozy, “The only way you will ever see me running is if I am being chased….by someone….with a knife.”  But then he decided to run his first marathon at Disneyworld.  And by the way, they have a family 5K a couple of days before the marathon…..you wanna?  So, attempting to be supportive, I committed along with our older two kids.  To train we would do my husband’s version of Couch25K around the mile loop in our neighborhood.  As we walk/ran I could not imagine ever, not ever, ever making it 3 miles. But, I began to run by myself a couple of times a week.  I mapped out a 2 mile course in my neighborhood and didn’t tell anyone I was doing it because I didn’t think I could. I really was curious about running, it has made such a huge impact in my husband's life especially and I wanted to give it a try.....really I wanted to conquer it easily.

I began to run my loop a couple of times a week….and I struggled.

It took me a couple of months to get to 2 miles….and I struggled.

I ran the 5K distance once a couple of weeks before our trip....and I struggled.

I came back after watching my husband and friends conquer a marathon all ready to become a real runner. I set myself a training schedule....and I struggled.

For some of you reading this, you are flipping into rescue mode right about now either because you love running or you love me. Don't do it!  I'm writing this because of what I learn here in this bit of discouragement. There are a lot of things I love about running [and I'll blog about those sometime...maybe], but honestly it makes me feel weak. Weak like nothing else has in a long time. I've been really bugged by this and have spent the last months fighting it and trying to fix it. Once when I was complaining about running and comparing myself to some other faster and stronger girls; my husband said, “Well, honey those girls are a lot younger than you and were athletes in high school….”  It really wasn’t his fault, he was trying to be encouraging and I totally forced him into that corner. That's how hard I was working in "fix-it" mode.

Then in my Bible Study along comes a week about thorns and weakness and other things I hate. I realized that for me, running isn’t about becoming strong.  For me, running is about shedding my pride and the comparison game and smiling at my weakness.  I PROMISE, this is not something you will ever read in a running magazine [seriously I just snorted imagining that headline]. God might teach this to you in a different way, but it's time to park here.  To feel weak means I am dependent and needy.  I don’t have to be afraid of that, I just need to aim it in the right direction. If I believe what the Bible teaches, then I must believe that when I take my weakness to a loving Creator He transforms it into strength.  Every time I run, EVERY TIME, there are moments when I feel only weak. [I even wrote about that here.] And that’s OK because He is only strong, He teaches me and encourages me and strengthens me EVERY TIME! And the thing is, I have given my life to tell the truth about His. Weakness (Running, for me) helps me do that.

This is a screenshot from my phone - important because it's my longest run ever.

To this day, I have never run much farther than 3 miles (Oh, how it pains me to admit).  I run 1 ½ - 2 miles three times a week. I don’t run fast or pretty, but I do run consistently.

By the way, I did find this verse from the Hall of Faith Folks in Hebrews 11:34 which describes many men and women of faith …  “whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle…”  


I still hope to have a "Psalm 18:29" running post in my future; but for now my greatest hope is that my lessons about strength and weakness and running are all preparing me for real life battles. Maybe they've encouraged you to take a new look at weakness in your own life.  Because on the other side is always strength.

My kids and I after the Disney 5K

There is nothing like a race, I am looking forward to doing this again!
We were waving up toward the stands after we finished.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I set out to make one of our family favorites last week.  As I sat my baby girl on the counter to bake with me (something all my kids have done over the years) and her feet stretched all the way down past the knobs on the bottom cabinets, I shook my head.  My big kids still sit on the kitchen counter, but it's usually to eat the goodies from the kitchen not make them.  It made me smiley sad.....you know the feeling?  That sentimental momma pride that hits on occasion reminding you to make the most of these days.

Anyway........!

These muffins are super easy and my kids' favorite thing I bake (second only to Chocolate Chip Cookies).  If you want to eat them for breakfast call them muffins. If you want to eat them for dessert call them cupcakes. They really are delicious.  I found these years ago when I was first discovering the internet.  I still remember cringing when the computer would make dial up noises during baby naptime. In those days I used to love to scour a website that had copycat recipes of famous restaurant dishes.  These muffins came from there.  But I can't remember now what they are supposed to be a copy of!?

If you follow any of the food posts on my blog, you have seen that I have a huge attachment to pudding mixes. See here and here.  So, you shouldn't be surprised that this recipe has a box of pudding mix.  But the real secrets to this muffin are these little jewels.

Almond extract, FROZEN mini chocolate chips, and a perfectly sized muffin scoop.  The almond extract is not recognizable, but makes these amazing and less cake-mixey.  I keep mini chocolate chips permanently in the freezer just for this recipe.  Baked from frozen, they stay in tact so that you have little bitty nuggets of melted chocolate all through these muffins. I love my Pampered Chef scoops and have blogged about them before.  This is the biggest one and it is THE Muffin Master.  The end.

Easy instructions; dump everything except the chocolate chips in a mixing bowl and mix it up.....then mix in the frozen chocolate chips.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, no need to spray them.  Fill each of them with one scoop of batter.  This leaves the perfect amount of batter in the bowl for licking. Bake for 25 minutes, mine take 23. They should barely bounce back when you touch them.  Be careful not to overbake them, a rookie mistake. That was fun, when do I ever get to say "Rookie Mistake?"

For this batch (my second last week) I used a Duncan Hines mix, but usually I choose the Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Jell-O Chocolate Fudge pudding mix.  When I use that combination the muffins are prettier....I thought these were a bit flat looking compared to how they usually come out. Maybe they are camera shy. It could also be that "we" dropped an entire egg on the counter as "we" were cracking it and scooped it all into the batter while mom was taking pictures,  so"we" might've missed some.  I know Rookie Mistake.

But again, these days are short.....
I'll take a flat muffin and keep my little helper. And her chocolate covered freckles.

Chocolate–Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 package chocolate fudge cake mix

1 small box instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

3/4  cup water

4 eggs

½ cup oil

1 cup mini chocolate chips, frozen

½ tsp. Almond extract

Mix cake mix, pudding, water, eggs, oil, and almond extract until smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Fill 18 greased and paper lined muffin cups, bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.