Buttermilk Biscuits & Apple Delight

Well, several of you have asked for some recipes from me, so I'm finally sitting down to write a few more out for you. Oh...and by the way....for those of you who email me....I love the emails...really I do...but did you know you can leave a comment on the blog? and then if you did that, see, more people would be brave like you and leave a comment and then before long we'd have a whole conversation going. Wouldn't that be nice? Okay, gentle nudge over. :)

Buttermilk Biscuits

3 c. unbleached all purpose flour

3 t. aluminum free baking powder

1 1/2 t. salt

4 T. cold butter (please be nice to yourself and use organic)

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put flour, powder, and salt into a large bowl and whisk them together. (sifting is good too, but I don't have time for that usually) Cut cold butter into the flour until its smaller than pea sized. Pour in cold buttermilk and stir only until a floury, pudgey sort of dough is formed. Do not overmix. Dump out onto a floured surface and gently press flat with floured hands. The dough should be about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your biscuit, until golden brown. This recipe makes about 14 large biscuits.

Some hints to make your biscuits light and fluffy. . .

*always use cold butter

*do not put the biscuits in until the oven is preheated

*do not overmix

*use a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter...some people say you can use a glass, but if the edge is not sharp enough then it seals the edges of the dough when you are cutting it and that interferes with the rise

And about the flour....

Yes, I do use white flour for these. I only make them once in awhile, because of that. I have tried recipes for whole wheat biscuits so that I could use my freshly ground flour, but they just aren't as good. I have read of this online sourdough class that I am interested in taking. I bet you could make awesome whole wheat biscuits if you used sourdough!

Now, once you know how to make biscuits then you can make some Apple Delight!

To make Apple Delight....

Mix up a batch of buttermilk biscuits, but cut them smaller (from recipe above)

Peel, core and slice 4-5 apples (or pears! Pear delight is super too!)

Melt one stick of butter and then use a tiny amount of it to grease a 9x9 pan. Put a layer of peeled apples on bottom of pan. Sprinkle them with a small amount of brown sugar (or sucanat) and cinnamon. Then put a layer of biscuits, drizzle them with half the melted butter. Sprinkle with another bit of sugar and cinnamon. Place another layer of apples. Then another layer of biscuits. The other half of the butter. Then a wee bit more of sugar and cinnamon. You can put another layer of apples and nuts...or not.

Then bake at 425 for about 25-30 minutes...until the biscuits are cooked and it is all nice and brown and gooey. Carefully dump the pan onto a large tray. And voila! Apple Delight.

Yes, you can use honey or maple syrup instead of the sugar...just mix it in with the melted butter. And I know I didn't put a measurement for the sugar, but I really used only a little bit....like 1/3 of a cup for the whole thing. It was still sweet and delicious. So good in fact that I made it twice in the same week. Well, we do have a lot of apples to use just now.....