Best Biscuits Ever

Leftover biscuit, served for breakfast with jam.

I have been attempting to make the perfect biscuit for about a year now.  And failing, miserably, every time.  I knew I just needed to find the right recipe, so I tried dozens of different ones with the same result:  hockey pucks.  I really should have known better, but i’d lost my biscuit mojo and just couldn’t get it back.  Until last week, when I finally mastered the art of biscuit-making.

I finally got around to a long neglected task:  organizing a file full of recipes clipped out of various newspapers and magazines.  In it I found a New York Times recipe for Scott Peacock’s Classic Buttermilk Biscuits.  It sounded promising- lots of butter and salt and a very different recipe than any i’d tried before.  The biscuits turned out better than I could have imagined, tall and puffy and ready to be split.  I was worried about the 500 degree baking temperature, but maybe that was the magic missing link to perfection.  That, or the fact that you mix your own baking powder out of cream of tartar and baking soda.

This recipe also has the added bonus of being really fun (and slightly messy) to make.

Scott Peacock’s Classic Buttermilk Biscuits:

Ingredients:

Makes 12-20 biscuits, depending on the size of your biscuit cutter.  I recommend halving the recipe- these biscuits are big!

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

5 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed.

1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon kosher salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

2 cups chilled cultured buttermilk, plus more as needed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Set a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.  Sift together the cream of tartar and baking soda to make baking powder.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the butter.  Working quickly, rub it between your fingertips until half is coarsely blended and the remaining pieces are 3/4-inch thick.

Make a well in the center of the flour.  Add all the buttermilk and stir the mixture quickly, just until it has blended and a sticky dough forms.  (If the dough appears dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons buttermilk.)

Immediately turn the dough onto a generously floured surface.  Using floured hands, briskly knead about 10 times until a ball forms.  Gently flatten the dough and, using a floured rolling pin, roll to 3/4-inch thick.

Using a fork dipped in flour, pierce the dough through at 1/2-inch intervals.  Flour a 2 1/2- or 3-inch biscuit cutter.  Stamp out rounds and arrange on a heavy, parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.  Remove and brush with melted butter.  Serve hot.

Hendrix Cake

I just finished this Jimi Hendrix cake. I adapted the grapefruit cake recipe from an old school L.A. restaurant called the Brown Derby, and used Callebaut chocolate for the Jimi piece.

Press and travels

I returned from an incredible cross-country road trip last week to the news that Straight Outta Chocolate has gotten some nice press lately, notably from the LA Weekly here, and the Succeed blog here.  Thanks for all the love!

The Range Cafe in Albuquerque

In addition to visiting friends, sight-seeing and vinyl shopping, I managed to eat a few super delicious meals along the way.  In Florida, I fell in love with the Dandelion Cafe’s vegetarian chili.  They serve it in a whole wheat wrap with scallions, cheese, crumbled blue corn chips, greens and fresh tomatoes.

Henry’s Hearty Chili
by Dandelion Communitea Café
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 small red onion, chopped
1 large green or red pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 pkg. veggie burger crumbles
1 cup corn
3 tsp. hot sauce
1 packet chili seasoning
3 tsp. sea salt
2 large cans cooked kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 large cans diced tomatoes with juice

Directions:

Place the ingredients in a slow cooker in the order listed.

Cook on high until bubbling, approximately 1 1/2 hours, or on low for 3 hours.

Wish I could buy these in California.

In New Orleans, tired of fried food, I ate an excellent African meal at Bennachin. Black-eyed pea fritters, coconut rice, greens supercharged with flavor and fried plantains so good they made me miss my mama!  A must-visit if you are ever in the French Quarter.

We ate more breakfast and lunch than dinner, due to the exhaustion after long days of driving.  Highlights of the trip include the homemade veggie burger and fried pickles at Nashville’s Pied Piper and the Huevos Rancheros at Jimmy’s Egg in Oklahoma City.  Driving through the South and discovering Cajun boiled peanuts was the true culinary highlight of my trip however.  Stay tuned to see how it goes when I attempt to recreate this roadside snack without using a sawed in half beer keg…

Infinite Cake

The book and the cake

Today marks the end of Infinite Summer, the season-long, worldwide reading of David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest.  I was asked by my cohorts at Skylight Books to create some Infinite Jest related desserts, and as a result created this cake, with a chocolate cover modeled on my worn paperback copy of the book.

This is the second time i’ve done a DFW dessert, the first being the signing Skylight hosted with the author way back when the book first came out in paperback.  I made oatmeal cookies that Wallace loved, and i’ve made them again for this evening.  In a fit of baking, I also created chocolate glazed cupcakes with Jest-related symbology:

Infinite Cupcakes

This was a different kind of chocolate project than I usually do, and as my boyfriend noted, maybe “the least rockin’ cake i’ve ever seen”.  However, being a total book nerd, and having at one point contemplated making a chocolate Richard Brautigan, I think Infinite Jest makes a pretty rockin’ cake.

Pie in a Cup

Orange custard plus apples plus pie crust equals yum!

I turned a badly made pie crust into a delicious, custard pie-filled ramekin of goodness.  Yesterday, I tried a new pie crust recipe, but should have stuck to my tried and true favorite from “The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book”.  I expected this new crust recipe to turn out wonderfully, but instead I ended up with a half-burnt, half-baked travesty.  Had time permitted, I would have started over.  However, I had to hurry to prepare for a birthday party so I whipped out a set of ramekins and pressed small circles of half-baked dough into the bottom of each cup.  I then filled them with a doubled version of the planned recipe, an apple/orange custard from “Rustic Fruit Desserts” and baked them in a water bath.  What could have been a disaster turned into the hit of the party- Pie in a Cup!  Now i’m dreaming of more and more pie+ramekin possibilities.

Tomato, Basil and Sweet Corn Risotto

Crisp corn plus chewy risotto makes a delicious pairing

It’s the tail end of summer and i’m not ready for fall.  I want a few more sunset barbeques and lots of garden tomatoes.   This risotto came about with a grocery store deal on 5 ears of sweet white corn and a taste for some stick-to-my-ribs comfort food.   I love making risotto, and have never understood why people think it’s a difficult dish to perfect. Hopefully I can demystify risotto a little bit because it’s really quite easy!  This recipe can be adapted to accommodate endless combinations of vegetables and herbs. My latest favorites have been butternut squash with sage, and carrot, lemon and dill. Vegan risottos are easy to do by omitting/replacing the cheese and butter from this recipe. Lately i’ve been thinking about making a vegan snap pea risotto thickened with coconut milk… but I digress…

Ingredients:

Feeds 6-8

Half a stick of butter, divided

4 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 leeks, white parts only, sliced 1/4″ thick

4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

5 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

5 ears of white corn

3 cups Arborio rice

1/4 cup dry white wine

64 oz. vegetable broth

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 small bunch basil leaves, chopped

Directions:

Place the vegetable broth in a pan on low heat while you prepare the onion/leek mixture.

Melt half of the butter and all of the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot.  Saute the leek and onion over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes.  Add garlic and saute 1 min.  Add tomatoes and cover, stirring occasionally for  8-10 min. While the tomatoes are cooking, cut the corn from cobs with a sharp knife and set aside.

When the tomatoes have gotten juicy and fallen apart, add the rice.

Turn the heat down to low and add the white wine.  Cook, stirring, until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Start adding about a cupful of vegetable broth at a time to the rice mixture and stirring until the liquid has disappeared.  Continue slowly cooking, adding and stirring until all the broth is gone and the rice has plumped up and softened.  This process takes about 30 minutes.  Some people prefer their rice more al dente or the dish more soupy, so when the risotto is almost to your liking, stir in the corn, basil, parmesan, and the rest of the butter.  Serve with red wine, a green salad and a good crusty bread.

Walking in chocolate

One of my favorite things about using chocolate as an art form is its impermanence. That’s why I was so taken with the high heel that chocolatier Pierre Marcolini sculpted for the French magazine Stiletto. Luckily I have a pair of my granny’s Charles Jourdan heels that look almost identical, but without the squishy chocolate between the toes!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

The secret to any zucchini or carrot-based dessert or bread is simple:  add double the amount of veggie the recipe calls for.  This has never failed me and always results in an uber-moist, melt in your mouth texture.

I found this recipe in the September issue of Gourmet magazine and, after adapting it to suit my tastes, i’ve made these cupcakes twice (and it’s not even September yet).  A great way to turn zucchini haters into zucchini lovers, these cupcakes can be adjusted in many ways.  Amp up the cocoa powder and remove the chocolate chips to make super dark, fudgy cakes, remove the chocolate completely for straight-up zucchini cupcakes, or turn them vegan by using egg substitute and vegan chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

Makes 12 cupcakes.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil or Crisco

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 to 2 cups zucchini ( 1 if you want to follow the recipe exactly, 2 if you want to do it my way ), grated.

6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips ( I usually add the whole bag…)

Muffin/cupcake pan(s) with 12 (1/2-cup) cups with paper liners.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat together sugar, oil (or Crisco), egg and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Mix in flour mixture until just incorporated.  Using a large spoon, stir in zucchini, then chocolate chips.

Divide evenly between lined muffin cups.  I fill my cups almost to the top because these cupcakes don’t rise much.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until tops spring back when lightly pressed.  Cool and enjoy!

Note:  I usually double the recipe and I recommend you do to, as these cupcakes seem to disappear in seconds.

Soon come

After a necessary hiatus, I will be back in full force shortly.  Until then, I leave you with a page from one of my favorite old cookbooks… She Cooks to Conquer

Bullock’s Popovers

Popovers straight outta the oven

Growing up, I used to spend summers and winters in the Bay Area, at my Granny’s rambling house in the El Cerrito hills.  I’ve heard that when my Granddad was alive, the kitchen, with its huge range and two ovens, was alive with cooking.  Unfortunately, when Granny lost Granddad, she also lost her love of food.  However, according to my mother, there was one family member who maintained a sense of love and fun in the kitchen:  Aunt Polly.  My mom’s main culinary mentor, because “she made all the things my parents never would.  Baked Alaska, gazpacho, plum pudding and tall, eggy, air-filled popovers.  She also made the best birthday cakes, like a fresh strawberry shortcake big enough to feed 14 people.”  My mom also told me that Aunt Polly “was a happy cook.  My mother was a good cook, but she wasn’t ever happy cooking.  It makes a big difference, duty versus enjoyment.”  Having spent most of my time cooking for pleasure, I second that.

In Aunt Polly’s honor, let me share this recipe for Bullock’s Popovers, made famous at the now defunct Bullock’s Wilshire department store.  These popovers taste great with a simple soup and green salad, or with a big Saturday morning breakfast:

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 cups milk

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp. salt

6 tbsp butter, at room temperature

Equipment: 8 ramekins or large muffin tins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk or an electric mixer.  Beat in milk until well blended.

In a small bowl, sift flour and salt.  Work butter into flour mixture with whisk or mixer.

Gradually add flour mixture to eggs and milk and blend well.

Fill 8 buttered ramekins 3/4 full.  Place on baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes (for a more eggy interior) and 1 hour (for a more crispy, dry popover).