Biscuits are rarely dessert. WHY? They’re too delicious not to be dessert, amirite? Of course I am.

I decided to take these unjust matters into my own hands and make biscuits more like chocolate cake, but still biscuits. Do you see what I’m doing here?

When I set out on this journey, I figured I’d just make chocolate biscuits, smother them with butter, say it’s breakfast/dessert and call it a day. But then I peeped in the fridge and spotted some near-dying strawberries and whipped cream that was flirting with its expiration date, sooo…it became quite clear that I just needed to make a chocolate rendition of Southern strawberry shortcake.

This is typical of how kitchen awesomeness happens for me: a mishmash of refrigerator stragglers just trying to find a place in this world.

These biscuits are loaded with chocolate. First, there's Dutch cocoa powder mixed with all of the other dry ingredients. After it's mixed up, it looks a lot like Ovaltine.

Shout-out to Ovaltine for being a staple in my childhood!

Do kids still drink Ovaltine? I hope so.

P.S. Do you guys drink milk as an adult? I always think it's super weird when I see grown-ups drinking milk. I dunno--it might be just me, but I haven't had a full glass of milk in probably a decade.

Back to business.

Next, you’ll melt some chocolate and when it’s cool, you’ll mix it in the blender with the buttermilk and egg. It’ll look exactly like Ovaltine milk.

Don’t drink it–it’s deceiving. Buttermilk with raw egg. Not adorable.

(OMG – Why are we using a blender?! Something else to clean up! Yes, I know, I’m sorry. But it won’t blend properly by just mixing. The buttermilk will just have small clumps of chocolate throughout. Not what we’re going through.)

The dry and wet are all mixed up. And then the biscuits take a trip to the oven for about 15 minutes, give or take.

These biscuits are slightly flakey, very moist with a cake-like interior. A cross between a biscuit and a piece of chocolate cake. I’m mad at exactly none of this.

Whip up some whipped cream, slice some strawberries, macerate the heck out of them, and serve. It’s totally dessert time, yo!

Chocolate Buttermilk Biscuits

Print this recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 ounces unsalted butter, cold
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup buttermilk, plus 3 tablespoons, cold and shaken
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a box grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture. Transfer the bowl to the freezer for 10 minutes. When it’s done chilling, break up the butter with your hands until it resembles small peas in the flour mixture.

3. In a blender, add the melted chocolate, buttermilk and egg. Pulse until thoroughly combined, and mixture resembles chocolate milk.

4. Add the buttermilk mixture, all at once, to the flour mixture. Mix until barely combined, lightly kneading the dough in the bowl. Dough will be sticky–that’s okay. Sprinkle your kitchen counter with flour and dump the dough onto it. Knead a few times to bring it all together (4 to 5 times). Press or gently roll the dough into a 1-inch thickness. Cut out the biscuits using a biscuit cutter (I used a 4-inch cutter and got 6 biscuits). If you use a 3-inch cutter, you’ll end up with 8.) Recombine the scraps and get two more biscuits. Transfer them to a lined baking sheet.

5. If you think you’ve been moving a little slow (like I was because I was..ahem..taking pictures), stick them in the freezer for 2-3 minutes. This will get the bits of butter nice and cold again. After the biscuits are cold, brush the tops of with egg wash and bake in oven or 15-17 minutes, or until tall and slightly golden brown on top. Serve biscuits warm with macerated* strawberries and whipped cream.

*Tip: To mascerate strawberries, slice up desired amount and transfer to a small bowl. Add a tablespoon of white granulated sugar (per every 5-6 medium-sized strawberries you use), a teaspoon of lemon juice and let the mixture stand for 10-15 minutes.

Yields 6 (4-inch) biscuits

What’s up flakiness? What’s up nuttiness? What’s up brown buttery craziness? Welcome to my world!

…And just like that I’m in the mood for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I found out that brown butter has the ability to give me the second turkey wind I needed; I’m officially ready to show T-Day who’s bawwwwss.

Menu talk. Let’s dig in. This year, in order to keep things interesting, I’m not really making anything I’ve made before. Scary. Stressful. NAH! I say fuuuuun!

For an appetizer, I’m making Kelsey’s Leek, Pear and Chantrelle Toasts. They’re BEAU-TI-FUL.

Stuffing. It’s important. I’m making Jessica’s Double Bread Stuffing with Brown Butter, Bacon and Sage…and putting them into muffin form. I’m not over the stuffing muffin thing. And I’m definitely not over brown butter, obviously.

Cranberry Sauce. The canned stuff?! I just can’t. I loooved it as a kid, but if you have REAL cranberry sauce, you’ll be changed forever. And honestly, it is the easiest thing to make ever. Teri and Jenny’s Cinnamon and Star Anise Infused Cranberry Sauce? Yes. Just yes.

Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey. Intense brining situation. A little food science. The man’s a genius. I’ve wanted to try this recipe for years. YEARS. It’s finally happening in a few days.

Okay. I lied. I’m making my favorite side dish of all-time: Cauliflower Brussels Sprout Gratin (hold the brussels sprouts because my mom hates them). I can make this dish without looking at the recipe. It’ll be the one super easy, no-fuss, sans stress dish I’m making. Worry free cheesy side dish? Necessary.

Ree’s Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes. I made them for myself when I got my wisdom teeth taken out. It was a sad sight. My face was puffy. I couldn’t speak. I wanted my mama. Instead (as I was all drugged up and feeling fantastic), I barely was able to make these–they were delicious (from what I can remember). Time for them to reappear!

For our bread situation, I was going to make these top knots I posted a few weeks ago. I was set on this idea. But as I was looking at my menu of ambitious, never made before dishes, I decided to whip up these biscuits as a test run…

I treat biscuits like I treat pie crust.

I stick the flour, cut up butter, egg and buttermilk in the freezer for 2-3 minutes so everything gets super cold.

I work quickly. And then right before I bake them up, I stick ‘em back in the freezer to get them cold again.

Brown butter in biscuits. Let’s talk about it. You have to brown this butter. And thennnn, you have to let it cool down or it’ll melt all the coldness you’ve worked for. It’s an important step, I think.

These biscuits have some good height, they have layers (!!), flakiness and so much butter taste–it’s major. The nutty, brown-butterness is not abundant. It’s kind of subtle. It’s definitely there but it’s not crazy.

Make them. Hope you have some leftover so the next morning you can reheat them, fry an egg, bake some bacon and watch some football…or whatever.

Brown Butter Buttermilk Biscuits

Print this recipe!

1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, divided (or 6 ounces–2 ounces to be melted; 4 ounces should be cold)
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup buttermilk, cold and shaken
1 large egg, cold

For Egg Wash:
1 large egg, beaten with a tablespoon of milk or water

1. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. In a small saucepan, melt 1/2 stick of butter (2 ounces) over medium low heat. Once the butter starts to foam up, stir continuously until the butter turns a golden brown hue and little brown specks start to appear. Remove from heat and let brown butter cool to room temperature.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Working quickly, add the cubed butter (4 ounces) and break it up with your hands until all of the butter is broken into bits and resembles small peas.

4. In a measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Add the brown butter to the buttermilk mixture and whisk once more.

5. Add the buttermilk/brown butter mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Mix until barely combined. Lightly dust your kitchen counter with flour and dump the dough onto it. If it’s a bit shaggy, that’s okay. Knead a few times to bring it all together (4 to 5 times). Press or gently roll the dough into a 1-inch thickness. Cut out the biscuits using a 2-inch biscuit butter. You should get about 7 biscuits. You can recombine the scraps and get two more biscuits. Transfer them to a lined baking sheet.

6. If you think you’ve been moving a little slow (like I was because I was..ahem..taking pictures), stick them in the freezer for 2-3 minutes. This will get the bits of butter nice and cold again. After the biscuits are cold, brush the tops of with egg wash and bake in oven or 15-20 minutes, or until tall and golden brown. Serve biscuits warm with something awesome like eggs and bacon OR gravy and mashed potatoes.

Yields 9 biscuits

Happy Wednesday, beautiful people!

I just got back to LA and it’s so gorgeous out. Dingy cut-off shorts and sandals are totally happening right now. And all I want to do is sit outside a coffee shop and shop for sundresses online.

But instead I’m at work, working. Boo!

At least we have biscuits!

These things are the jam. No joke.

I was searching for a buttermilk biscuit that had a little something to it. I wanted texture, I wanted light, flakiness, and I wanted flavor a.k.a butter.

If you’re looking for the same thing–this is your biscuit.

This could be our biscuit.

“Look at all that milk…that could be our milk…”

Name at that movie!!!

If you can then I love you.

Back to biscuits!

There’s whole wheat flour and all-purpose. I wanted to ensure the utmost flakiness so I used whole wheat pastry flour. If this is annoying and you only have normal ol’ whole wheat flour on hand, then just use that. No biggie.

You know all those crazy chefs on Top Chef that bake sans recipes or references? Yeah, that’s crazy. But this recipe is something that is totally memorize friendly. All measurements are pretty much one-to-one. Kind of genius.

If we found ourselves on Top Chef, at least we’d have biscuits, right?!

Double bonus: it took about 10 minutes to whip up. One bowl, dry ingredients in, add the butter, add the buttermilk, BOOM! Roll out the dough and cut. Super simple. I love butter.

And then I got crazy and decided to put a scoop of strawberry ice cream inside and a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Very, very good idea.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

Yields 8-10 biscuits

Recipe tweaked from Danny Broome

Print this recipe!

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1 cup buttermilk, cold

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk to dry ingredients, stirring (with a wooden spoon or your hands) until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 to 5 times and shape into a ball. Roll or pat dough out to about 1-inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Combine the remaining scraps of dough together, roll and cut a few more biscuits and transfer to baking sheet. Stop here. Any extra dough you have discard, as they will probably yield tough biscuits.

Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Hi!

What are you doing right this very second? I bet you’re probably trying to figure out how you’re gonna get all cute for the party you’re excited about AND bake people cookies, quickbreads and crackers.

 

Well I thought about this very predicament and have a solution. Yep, I’m full of solutions.

 

I have homemade chocolate chip pancake mix!

Step away from the oven and dig into your pantry. Because giving away breakfast in a jar is about 5 minutes away.

 

Just get a mason jar. I’m guessing you probably have one lying around. This one is a 4 cup mason jar.

Mason jars are like Chanel purses–they just don’t go out of style.

They’ll always be cute. I’m convinced.

Look! You probably have ALL this stuff in your pantry.

Flour. Baking powder. Baking soda. Sugar. Salt. Chocolate Chips.

Oh yeah! I added one thing. Dried buttermilk powder. I picked it up at the local Whole Foods.

It’s actually a nifty thing to have on hand when stuck in a bind with no buttermilk in the fridge.

Basically it means you could have buttermilk pancakes at 2 am. Dangerous. Delicious.

Then just mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Grab a piece of a paper and write the instructions on the back.

Add the dry ingredients to the mason jar and place the chocolate chips on top.

And umm…that’s it. Cute present is officially taken care of.

Relax. Curl your hair.  Look up youtube videos on how to create a smokey eye. You have time to get pretty!

See! Solutions. I got ‘em.

xo,

Adrianna

Homemade Chocolate Chip Mix

Yields 12-14 pancakes

Print this recipe! (If you wanna call it a recipe.)

2 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder

2 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda

3/4  teaspoon of salt

2 1/4 teaspoons of sugar

4 1/4 tablespoons of dried buttermilk powder

3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Add all of the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Then add to mason jar or other container you choose. Carefully add chocolate chips, trying to not get them all dusted with flour.

Tie a cute ribbon, write the directions on the back (or on a tag) and it’s ready to go!

Note: If you have friends who have trouble boiling water, I’d write a bit more extensive instructions. For instance, maybe say: Then melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a non-stick pan (or griddle) over medium heat. Then with a 1/4 cup measure, add to a skillet and cook until little craters begin to form. Flip and let cook for a 30 seconds and then remove.

Oh by the way, one morning when your friends are super sleepy and lazy, they’ll dump the mix into a bowl and add the water and beaten egg and end up with these fluffy, chocolate chip pancakes….

Biscuits rule, period.  Sadly, I didn’t always know this. Yeah, it’s true.  Even though I was born in the South and was raised by parents who spent most of their youth in the South, biscuits weren’t part of my childhood. This is mainly due to the fact that my mother was not much of a baker and, in general, my parents are not huge fans of Southern food.  In fact, my first real introduction to biscuits was a random trip to Kentucky Fried Chicken—and from then on, I was hooked.  Yes, I’ll proudly say that KFC has some pretty glorious biscuits. Everyday after tennis practice, on my way home, I’d go through the drive-thru and order two biscuits with honey and butter.  It was heaven in a to-go bag.

These biscuits are also heaven, even though they’re nothing like KFC’s biscuits. I’ll even go so far to say that these are better–much better.  Don’t believe me? Well, here are a few reasons why my biscuits stomp the KFC competition.

#1 All of the ingredients in my biscuits are pronounceable.

#2 These biscuits aren’t meal-specific.  You can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even for a random snack, if you like.  They’re like um…a unisex shirt, or a shirt that’s ‘size fits all.’  I love when stuff is like that.

#3 They have cheese in them.  The end.

Verdict: I win!

Buttermilk Cheddar Jalapeño Biscuits

Recipe adapted by Barefoot Contessa

Print this recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken

1 cold extra-large egg

1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar

1 jalapeño, deseeded with membrane removed, chopped

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk

Maldon sea salt, optional

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.

Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. In a small bowl, mix the Cheddar with small handful of flour and, with the mixer still on low, add the cheese to the dough. Mix only until roughly combined.

Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly about 6 times. Roll the dough out to a rectangle 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with the egg wash, sprinkle with salt, if using, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.

For the past few weeks, everything I’ve made has been “fall” food.  First there was this, and then these…and then this.  I’m guessing that autumn feels pretty appreciated by me…or totally exploited.  Either way, I’m not done with fall.  I have more up my sleeve. So fall, forgive me, because I’m going to use you as long as I can. Everyone, please meet my new food crush: Sweet Potato Scones.

Don’t scones make you feel classy?! I’ve always associated them with High Tea…and wearing fancy white gloves, and maybe, even being snooty enough to point my pinky straight in the air as I sip tea.  I know, I know, I think this might just be my Jane Austen obsession coming into play, but whatever.

I think it’s this very association that makes everyone  so intimidated by scones, that they’d rather opt for half-stale ones at the chain coffee shop (I’m not naming names but you know who I’m talking about) than make them.  But seriously, I have a secret: These were super simple.  So no reason to fret.

Sure, these might look like normal looking scones; the typical square shape, thickness and the light golden brown color might lead you to believe they’re just a standard scone you might find anywhere.  But what you might not see, at first glance, are the specs of orange…do you see them? Do you?  Well if you don’t, then just have faith that they’re there, because it’s those specs that make these scones magical.  They have every taste of fall that you’d ever want:  a hint of nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon and the flavor of comfort that you’ll only find in a sweet potato.

The trick with scones is that the butter must be cold and stay chilled until they reach the oven. It’s the chilled butter that makes them puff up and look so cute, this means that you must work quickly.  There, that wasn’t so bad, right?  Again, the trick to cute little scones: cold butter.  If you master that down, you’re set.  So go get your fancy white gloves on and lets eat some freakin’ scones.

Sweet Potato Scones

Recipe by Rebecca Rather in the book The Pastry Queen Christmas

Print this recipe!

3 orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (about 3/4lb.)
4 cups of all-purpose flour
½ cup of sugar
1 ½ tablespoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized slices
½ cup of heavy whipping cream
½ cup of buttermilk

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.  Lightly grease a baking sheet. Prick the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork and bake them on a prepared baking sheet until tendered for 30-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let them cool to touch, about 10 minutes.  Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh and place in a medium mixing bowl, and lightly mash with a fork.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate until cool, at least 20 minutes. (Warm potatoes will melt the cold butter, keeping the scones from attaining their optimum lightness and tenderness.)

Increase the oven temperature to 425F.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Use your hands or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture until the dough is crumbly and contains lumps the size of small peas. Add the cooled sweet potatoes and 1/4 cup of the cream and lightly stir into the flour mixture.  Add the remaining 1/4 cup of cream and the buttermilk and stir until just mixed. Do not overwork the dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Lightly coat your hands with flour and form the dough into a 3/4 inch-thick rectangle.  Cut the dough into 6 squares (I cut a lot more). Bake on an un-greased baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, until the scones are a light golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack for cooling.

My love for biscuits started as a young lad.  My mother was adamant that every night–no matter what was going on–we sat, as a family, and had dinner.  Since it was the way things were, I usually looked forward to it, unless of course, I was watching something awesome on television like…My So-Called Life or Roswell, in which case I would grumble at the sound of my mother calling me in to the kitchen.  She didn’t really trust my brother and I to do too much; the only tasks she asked of us were to set the table, make a salad, which till this day I still hate, and/or make biscuits.

Now you’re thinking to yourself, Homemade biscuits? Kids?! Oh no, we were totally content with the Pillsbury pre-made biscuits that came in the canned roll…you know, the kind where you peel the paper back and crack open the cylinder by slamming it on the side of the counter, then you’d peel the biscuits apart and stick ‘em in the oven for 10 minutes.  Those were the kinds of biscuits we were into. Homemade biscuits didn’t exist.  My parents were too busy shuffling my brother and I to and from various practices, schools, club meetings and so on. But that was then. 

Now, they would scoff at such a thing; you see my parents begin their day by baking french bread at the break of dawn.  Yes, fresh french bread–it’s no joke.

A few weeks ago, I was over Caroline’s house and brought over some buttermilk I had in my fridge (I figured we could do something cool with it).  I was thumbing through one of her ten thousand cookbooks and came across a classic recipe for biscuits and remembered my fondness for them.  I had never actually made real, homemade, classic buttermilk biscuits.  And to my surprise, they were easy breezy.  You can actually make these, flash freeze the dough and bake ‘em up whenever you want fresh, warm biscuits for dinner.  It’s basically the homemade version to the Pillsbury ones I ate as a kid–just as easy, sans preservatives.  

Classic Buttermilk Biscuits

Recipe from Better Homes & Garden Cookbook

Print this recipe!

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup butter, diced and chilled
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to 450F. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar. Working quickly, throw butter into flour mix and work it in with your hands until little balls form.

Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture and add butter milk all at once. With a large spoon stir mixture quickly, just until it’s blended and begins to mass and form a sticky dough.  (If dough appears super dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons additional buttermilk.)

Immediately turn dough onto a generously floured surface.  Using floured hands, knead briskly 8 to 10 times until cohesive ball of dough forms. Gently flatten dough with hands to even thickness. Using a floured rolling pin, lightly roll dough to a 3/4-inch thickness.

Note: I’m pathetic and totally botched the measuring process.  I measured wrong and they came out a bit thin.  Make sure to grab a ruler and measure them out to 3/4 of an inch.  You want ‘em pretty and tall.

You can use a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter.  I just used a pint glass from The Onion. Whatever works for you.  Cut the biscuits out and arrange on heavy baking sheet.  Try to get as many as you can out of the first roll.  Gather the excess dough and roll out again and cut more biscuits.  I’d discard the excess dough after the second roll out because they’ll turn out tough and chewy.

Place on upper third of oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes until crusty and golden brown.  Remove and enjoy with your favorite jam.