Cheater Post...Biscuits and Gravy Solution

I really, really love biscuits and gravy. Like really love them. Here is the problem. For the life of me, I can't make a good biscuit. I've tried bisquick, I've tried from scratch, I've tried the refrigerated pop cans. Nothing worked and my craving for good biscuits and gravy have yet to be fulfilled. Until this last weekend when I discovered these:

I know it is totally cheating, but they are so yummy. They get so big and flaky and delicious.

Don't judge. Just go buy and try these things. Your biscuits and gravy will never be the same again!

Whole Wheat 30 Minute Cinnamon Buns

I was a little skeptical when I first found this recipe. I found it on halfbakedharvest.com. I changed a few things she did, but I think they turned out really good. Without my kitchenaide I get tired of kneading dough...I was excited this recipe required no kneading. It seriously was 30 minutes from start to finish. :)

Ingredients:

Dough:
3 cups flour (2 cups whole wheat 1 cup white)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Filling:
melted butter (you choose how much)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Cream Cheese frosting

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 F. Spring muffin tin with cooking spray. (You could probably make them on a jelly roll pan or something else, but I followed her suggestion)

To make the dough place the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in the buttermilk until a dough ball forms. Turn out onto a heavily floured surface (make sure there is plenty of flour, the dough is very wet). Roll out into a rectangle and proceed like normal cinnamon rolls. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until browned. Spread icing on top and enjoy! :)

Tortillas

I LOVE this recipe. I have tried a few different recipes for tortillas and they never turn out right. I got this recipe from a friend in Ann Arbor. They turn out perfect if you put the dough in the refrigerator for a while before cooking them. Lately I have been making a lot of dough and putting it in the fridge. Whenever we need tortillas I just use some of the dough and put the rest in back in the fridge. Here is the recipe.

Servings: 32

5 cups flour (1/2 whole wheat if you want)
1/3 cup shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups water

Combine everything except the water. Knead together with hands or beaters until well mixed. Add about 2 cups warm water until dough sticks together and will not stick to hands. Divide into egg size balls, roll out, throw to stretch. Cook in cast iron or heavy aluminum dry pan, hot and quick. Do not over cook.

For (15) tortillas use:
3 cups flour
3 Tbsp. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup water

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread

I made this recipe today and it was really good. The Germans put shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) on bread and it is delicious! I cut the sugar in half and added 1 cup wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose flour. Here is the website I took it from: http://www.girlversusdough.com/2014/09/29/pumpkin-zucchini-bread/

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread

AUTHOR: ADAPTED FROM SIX SISTERS' STUFF

PREP TIME:  10 MINS

COOK TIME:  50 MINS

TOTAL TIME:  1 HOUR

YIELDS: 2 9-BY-5-INCH LOAVES

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup rough-chopped pepitas, for topping (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-by-5-inch loaf pans (or spray with baking spray).
2. Place shredded zucchini in a colander. Cover with a layer of paper towels to absorb some of the liquid and set aside while you prepare the batter.
3. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate large bowl, whisk together sugars, pumpkin, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs until combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; stir until just combined. Add zucchini and stir until just incorporated.
5. Divide batter evenly among prepared loaf pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with pepitas, if desired. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Country Wheat Bread

There is a really yummy bakery here called Zingermans. My friend Heather and I took their Whole Grain Class. It was awesome! I left with 6 loaves of yummy bread and hopefully the skills I need to reproduce the recipes they taught us. :) I thought I would share one of the recipes here.

 Ingredients:
1 cup potatoes (boiled and mashed)
1 3/4 cup milk (whole, room temperature)
1/4 cup butter (room temp)
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. instant yeast
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Preheat the oven 375 F 20 minutes prior to baking.

Mixing the dough

1. Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender.
2. Remove potatoes from water. Mash the potatoes and let them cool.
3. Once potatoes have cooled put them in mixing bowl. Add the milk, butter, honey, instant yeast, and half the flour. Stir until the mixture looks like a batter.
4. Add the rest of the flour and salt. Stir until the mixture comes together into a dough. (the dough is pretty crumbly at this point. Don't add more liquid. They have handy little paddles for us to use while kneading. At home I use a rice paddle to gather up the loose pieces and my other hand to knead. It works pretty well.)
5. Scrape the dough from the bowl onto your work surface.
6. Knead the dough for 8 minutes, until it feels nice and strong and doesn't tear easily when pulled upon.
7. Put the dough in a spray bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
8. Ferment for 1 hour.
9. After the hour, give the dough a fold: turn the dough out of the container onto a lightly floured surface. Fold it towards you about 2/3 of the way, then away from you. Then fold it in the same manner from left to right or right to left.
10. Once folded, let the dough rest in the bowl again for 30 minutes, covered with plastic.
11. After 30 minutes, divide the dough into 2 pieces of equal size. Shape each piece into a loaf shape and place in a sprayed load pan.
12. Cover with plastic wrap and let ferment for 60-90 minutes, or until the loaves are 1 1/2 times their original size.
13. When ready, bake for 30-35 minutes, or until loaves are nicely browned. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Hamburger Buns

Our last two months here I am trying to use up all our food storage. I had to be very creative with meals. Last night I made hamburger buns from scratch. They turned out really good and they were very easy. Here is the recipe.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe

Sticky Buns

My friend Becca used to make these every conference weekend. They are super yummy and easy. I just emailed her and got the recipe so I thought I would share.

1/2 c Pecans

1/2 package COOK AND SERVE butterscotch pudding powder

18-22 frozen Rhodes Rolls

1/2 c Butter

1/2 c Brown Sugar

Spray Bundt pan with oil!!! 

Pecans on bottom

Sprinkle butterscotch on top

Put rolls on top

Mix melted butter and brown sugar to make a paste...

Drizzle that on top of all the rolls.

Spray plastic wrap with oil, and cover pan.

Leave over night to rise (8 ish hours)

350 for 20-30 min, till the tops of the rolls are golden brown.

One More—Rhubarb Bread

I took the day off, so I got some baking in. We have FIVE huge rhubarb plants growing in our back yard. I haven't ever cooked with rhubarb...pretty sure I have never even eaten it before today. But here is a bread recipe I made. I was pretty skeptical, but it turned out good...sweet and sour! Don't be scared.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rhubarb-bread-i/

If any of you run into a rhubarb recipe that looks good, send it on and I'll test it out for you. Or if you want some rhubarb to cook with, come get some!

Banana Nut Muffins

If you can't tell, I have been doing a lot of baking this winter. I have been making all sorts of bread (naan, pitas, English muffins...). I checked out a sweet cookbook from the library called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. You should all check it out. It is nice because the baking warms up our apartment. :) It got really cold here this weekend.

Anyway, I love this muffin recipe. I have been making it for a long time. Jenny and I used to make it instead of going on jogs when we lived in Provo. I thought the rest of you might want to try it too. I like to make it in my mini muffin tin and it makes a perfect snack for the kids.

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 c. whole wheat 1/2 c. white)

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup milk

5 Tbsp. melted butter (I usually use oil)

1 egg

cinnamon sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Fit 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Coat each with cooking spray.

2. Mix flour, walnuts, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in large bowl. Stir in bananas, milk, butter, and egg. Mix until just blended.

3. Fill muffin cups evenly with batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired.

4. Bake muffins for about 20-22 minutes (shorter for small muffin tin). Cool 1 minute, then remove from the muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.

Whole Wheat Bagels

I made bagels this week and they turned out really yummy. Mom wanted me to send her the recipe, but I decided to post it here for everyone. We have been making bagel sandwiches with them for lunch. It has been a nice change from PB&J. They are also really yummy with Nutella on them! :)

1 Tbsp yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 1/4- 4 1/2 cups flour (I use 2 cups wheat and the rest white flour)

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

Combine yeast with 2 cups flour. Add warm water; sugar; salt. Mix (with regular Kitchen Aide hook). Add flour to make a moderately stiff dough (use dough hook). Knead on floured board until smooth (or in Kitchen Aide). Cover. Let rest 15 min. Divide into 12 parts. Shape into smooth balls. Punch hole with finger in center of each ball. Pull gently to enlarge hole. Cover. Let rise 20 min. (I put the stove on warm and let them sit on top and it worked well). Boil 1 gallon water with 1 tsp sugar. Cook bagels 4 at a time for 7 min. (turn once). Drain on cooling rack and pat dry with paper towel. Bake on ungreased pan at 375F for 30-35 min. After 10 min. brush with 1 beaten egg white mixed with 1 Tbsp cold water. Finish baking.

Artisan Bread

This recipe is AWESOME! It is really easy. It is delicious with soups, salads, jam, and homemade apple butter.

1 1/2 T Yeast

1 T salt

3 c lukewarm water

5 1/2-6 cups flour (at least 2 C all purpose flour, the rest whole wheat)

Stir yeast, salt, and water in a large bowl. Add in flour and stir until combined. Do not knead. The dough is really wet. Cover and let rest 2-3 hours, until flattened on top.

To bake: Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 450 for 20 min. Place shallow pan on the rack below the pizza stone. Dust dough with flour and pull off a grapefruit sized chunk. Dust with more flour and shape into a loaf by stretching the top of the loaf. Score the bread with a sharp knife. Place on stone in oven, pour 1 cup hot water into the shallow pan, and bake 25-30 min., until deeply browned. Cool completely on a rack before slicing. Store leftover dough in a covered (not airtight) container in the fridge and keep up to 2 weeks. to bake refrigerated dough: let formed loaf rest 40 minutes before scoring and baking.

Makes approximately 4 loaves.

Fool Proof Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 C. Hot Water
3 C. Whole wheat flour
1/3 C. Honey
1/3 C. Oil or melted butter
1 1/2 Tbs. Black Strap Molasses
1 Tbs. Salt
Yeast mixture: 1/4 C. warm water +1 Tbs. yeast + 2 tsp. sugar
3-4 C. whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. Wheat Gluten

Make the yeast mixture and set aside. Combine the hot water and 3 C. whole wheat flour. Add the honey, oil and molasses (you can use extra honey or regular molasses if you don't have black strap). Add the salt and mix. Add the yeast mixture until well blended. Add the remaining whole wheat flour and wheat gluten, mix for 8-10 minutes adding a little extra flour as needed.
Makes 2 large loafs. Spray pans and counter top with Pam. Form loaves and cover with a damp towel. Let rise 1 hour. Bake @ 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Bread Bowls

Simple French Bread (also bread bowls)
Ingredients:	1/2 C. warm water 2 1/2 T. yeast 6 C. flour 2 C. hot water 3 T. sugar 1 T. salt
Directions:	Mix yeast and warm water. Let sit. Mix 3 cups flour and all other ingredients with electric mixer for a few minutes. Mix in remaining 3 cups flour. Knead a few times. Let rise 10 minutes. Punch down. Let rise 10 minutes. Punch down. Repeat this procedure a total of five times. Shape into two sausage shaped loaves and place on a cookie sheet. :Let rise 10 minutes. Bake at 375º for about 30 minutes. To shape bread bowls, cut dough in desired size, and roll in a bowl shape. Bake for about 20 minutes, but watch closely.

Apple Doughnuts are DIVINE!!!

Since I can't convince you guys to come visit me in Michigan this fall, I thought I would post this recipe so you guys can taste the yummy doughnuts I get at the cider mills. I haven't actually made this recipe, but I am guessing they are pretty close to the ones we get here. You guys should have an Oktoberfest Celebration and make these doughnuts!!!!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/apple-cider-spice-doughnuts/