Author: Sadie

Buttermilk Biscuits

Sadie1 Comment

I don’t know about you, but one of my best inspirations for trying a recipe, is having leftover ingredients to use up.  The other day my fridge seemed to have half a quart of buttermilk and my pantry had some left over cake flour, both from my buttermilk cupcake adventure.  I was in need of a bread option for a dinner and the stars aligned when I found a biscuit recipe to used both the cake flour and buttermilk.

It turned out to be from Guy Fieri at The Food Network.  I thought it was interesting considering I looked at several biscuit recipe options from several sources, a Guy is not the chef I think of when I think of buttermilk biscuits.  Preconceptions aside, I liked the recipe, and above all it reminded me that my life in the kitchen would be much easier if I had a food processor (not that I have anywhere to put it in my tiny kitchen).  That being said, this recipe is best done with a food processor, but you can get away without it.  I did.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Yields 9, from Guy Fieri

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, plus 1 Tbs for brushing
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 cups AP flour, plus more for work surface
  • 1 Tbs baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 Tbs shortening cold
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 500.
  2. If you’re using a food processor add both types of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the machine and buzz for a few seconds to mix.  If you aren’t using a food processor, just combine the dry ingredients.
  3. Add in cold butter and shortening and pulse a few times so the mixture is like small pebbles.  Add buttermilk and pulse a couple more times.  If you don’t have a food processor, try using a pastry cutter to help cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a flour surface, knead once or twice (do not over work) and form into a thick disk to cut with a knife or cookie cutters.
  5. Turn the oven down to 450 when you put the biscuits in the oven.  Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Bakin’ With Bacon

Sadie2 Comments

This fall in business school I’m working on a marketing project all about bacon.  This is admittedly not my wheel house because I don’t actually eat bacon, but it has proven to be a great experience.  And yes, I realize I am a weirdo for not eating bacon.

Once we were given the assignment, we were strongly encouraged to test the product ourselves to get better insight into the consumer.  Initially I was not too enthusiastic about the idea, but then I realized I could parle this suggestion into a reason to attempt a baking project with bacon.

For my first try at baking with bacon I decided to stay relatively conservative.  I picked a few different recipes and flavor ideas to settle on a buttermilk cupcake with maple frosting and bacon garnish.  Initially I was going to go in the direction of a spice or pumpkin cupcake, but since the bacon is rich and fatty and maple frosting is pretty sweet, I thought the buttermilk cake would be a nice light compliment to the other components.  Plus I figure it’s a play on breakfast in a cupcake: buttermilk like pancakes, maple like syrup, and bacon like bacon.

These were definitely a crowd pleaser and I even doctored them up to play on the whole pig theme.

Buttermilk Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Bacon Garnish

Yields 36 cupcakes from Martha, frosting from somewhere I forget

Cake Ingredients

  • 3 cups cake flour, (not self-rising)
  • 1 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup plus 2 Tbs (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temp
  • 2 cups buttermilk, room temp
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients

  • 350g unsalted butter room temp
  • 500g powdered sugar
  • 5 Tbs Maple Syrup
  • 2 Tbs Vanilla
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 lb bacon for garnish

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Place bacon on cooling rack, then place cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  
  3. Sprinkle brown sugar on the bacon and bake for 25 minutes.
  4. Once baked, transfer bacon to a layer of paper towels or paper bags to allow the grease to drain.  Once cool, chop the bacon for garnish later.
  5. Turn oven down to 350.
  6. Combine cake flour, AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.
  7. Cream butter.  Add sugar, beat until fluffy.  Add whole eggs one at a time, then yolks one at a time along with vanilla.
  8. Alternate adding parts of the dry mixture with the buttermilk.  Once everything is in the same bowl make sure to scrape the sides and try not to over mix the batter.
  9. Pour batter three quarters of the way full in prepared muffin tin.  Bake 20 minutes until tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before frosting (or else the frosting will just melt).
  10. For the frosting cream the butter with the sugar and add in the syrup, vanilla, and ground ginger.  Beat until light and fluffy.
  11. Frost the cupcake in desired fashion and sprinkle with bacon pieces for garnish.

    I turned the cupcakes upside down and added some food coloring to the frosting to make the cupcakes look like pig snouts to go with the theme!

New Toy Alert!

Sadie1 Comment

I’ve officially signed up to run a half marathon in November in Richmond so I’ve been getting a little more serious about running lately.  I chose a half marathon because I wanted a significant challenge, but I didn’t want to limit myself to running for months. A typical half marathon training plan incorporates a significant amount of cross training, which is perfect for me.  Plus I don’t think I really have the time to commit to the three and four hour runs that happen towards the end of a marathon training plan.

Since I’m being a little more methodical about my running lately I decided it was time to  get a Garmin to help track my runs.  

I saw a post on Skinny Runner, a really hilarious running blog, about a new lesser priced Garmin that was recently released.  I figured it was the perfect option for me because a. Garmins can be pretty expensive and I don’t need that many bells and whistles, and b. it’s pink.

Now that I have it, I can go running outside and track my pace, distance, time, and calories.  It’s awesome!  I used to just guess how far I ran based on the time it took.  Plus I think it makes me run faster.  I know I usually run slower outside than on the treadmill but now that I know my pace outside, it motivates me to go faster.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to run and wants to track their progress.  Not only does it eliminate the guessing game, but it makes me excited to get a new PR in my training runs!