BEST Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

So if you have ever come over to our house for a meal or just to hang out-chances are I have made you Buttermilk Biscuits. I absolutely love to make them. My stepson, Calvin will knock down small children to get them. (Not Lily, but he did push the neighbor boy out of the way to get at the last biscuits! lol)

Over the last year I have been tweaking my recipe and techniques. I'm kind of shocked I have never blogged about these before. Here is the recipe I use and all my tweaks to make the most BEST Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits. Your family will want them over and over!!

I got the original recipe from my Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking Cook book.

Buy it Here-Amazon.com

This little book has some of my very favorite recipes that I use over and over again.
Here is the link to the recipe- Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work
    surface
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) very cold unsalted
    butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Line a baking sheet with a Parchment paper. (This is my tweak-it gives the biscuits a "crispier" bottom which is my favorite part!)

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Cut in 6 tablespoons of COLD unsalted butter. 

This can be done by hand, with a food processor or with a Pastry Cutter like I use.

Keep cutting until the butter is down to small little pieces. (Don't overwork as you want the butter to not melt completely or be cut down to nothing. The chunks of cold butter is what makes the bisuits!!)

Next, mix in a cup of Buttermilk. I usually end up using a cup and 1/8th. (Enough to wet all the dough but not to be soupy.)  Pour out dough on a floured surface. I use a Silpat mat as it's the easiest to clean when done.  Add some flour on top and on the rolling pin. Keep all surfaces well floured as it's rather sticky.
Roll out the dough a bit.

HERE is the magical tip!  If you use nothing else- DO this!! I saw this on an episode of Diners Drive Ins and Dives.  FOLD over the dough and roll again. I end up folding over the dough 3 to 4 times. Don't roll it out too thin. Just fold and roll, fold and roll. THIS IS WHAT CREATES THE FLAKY LAYERS!!  I never knew this! 

Cut out biscuits. I keep my cuts about 1 1/2" to 2" thick. Place on parchment paper on the cookie sheet and brush with Buttermilk.

Bake for 18 minutes.  (You may have to gauge your oven's best timing-for mine I know to bake them for exactly 18 minutes.)

Serve with some softened butter and Apple Butter! (Or your favorite jelly)

Make some extras and save them for dinner. 

These are delicious with a little mustard, a slice of turkey and cheese. Or save them for breakfast and top with a fried egg and a slice of bacon. You cannot go wrong!!  I have even made Honey butter by putting 2 tablespoons of butter, honey and sugar in a Ziploc bag and mixing. Then, cut off a corner and use like a piping bag! (or you can pipe it out into a small sauce cup) 

I'm telling you these are BRILLIANT and if you have ever been to my house and had some-come again! We are rocking the Buttermilk Biscuits!!! 

Soft Pretzels

Living in the Midwest-we experienced some pretty nasty cold weather and frigid temperatures this winter. One on particularly cold morning, my neice and I decided to make soft pretzels. What could be cozier than the flaky, warmth of a nice soft pretzel?

So we got out my favorite baking cookbook "Kids Baking" by William-Sonoma. The instructions are easy to follow and in the end you and your kids feel like a Rock Star!

This is my niece, Alex helping my daughter Lily roll out pretzel dough. The recipe calls for several steps. First you make the dough, and then you knead for 10 minutes. (The first time we did this we did the kneading by hand. That's a looooonnnnnggggg 10 minutes! The second time we used this recipe i got smarter and used my mixer and the bread making hook) After the bread is kneaded and sits for a while, THEN you get to do the fun part of rolling out the pretzels and twisting their happy little middles.

After you twisted all your pretzels, then you have to boil them in water for 30 seconds each side. This gives it the chewiness. (or maybe the brown outer crust? I'm just making a guess here....) Finally you can bake your doughy friends. Don't be surprised if your family is lined up anxiously awaiting their arrival to the cooling rack!

Here's the recipe:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pretzels.html