CLASSIC BISCUITS

OK I've made a lot of biscuits in my lifetime, but these really were THEE best I've ever made! And you can't go wrong baking on or in a Pampered Chef stone! Baking stones make any bread item bake up to perfection! And these biscuits didn't disappoint. Be sure to liberally brush the tops of these babies with butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Then watch in sheer delight as the melted butter slides down off the top, over the sides and onto the piping hot stone and FRIES the bottom of the biscuit to give it a crispy edge! Mmm! Makes me want to run into the kitchen right now and whip up a batch of fresh biscuits for absolutely no reason at all, other than to slather them with butter and homemade strawberry freezer jam! OK AND to eat them! :-)

CLASSIC BISCUITS

If you want your biscuits to turn out light and feathery, then handle the dough as little as possible. You're sure to get a nice flaky biscuit if you do it that way.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 stick cold butter, diced into cubes
• 2⁄3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450°F. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With a pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the milk and blend w/ spoon just until all the liquid has been absorbed. With lightly floured hands, work the dough briefly until it barely holds together in a flaky ball. 

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll or pat the dough out into a round about 1⁄2 inch thick. With a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible. Gather up the scraps, reroll and cut out more rounds. Do not reroll the dough more than once or you will end up with tough biscuits.

Transfer the biscuits to the baking stone and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately with real butter and homemade jam. Or top them with piping hot gravy! ENJOY! 

BISCUITS W/ BACON GRAVY

"First, you make a roux..."
There's nothing quite so simple as breakfast for dinner! It's what most harried moms turn to when the dreaded question gets asked, "What's for dinner mom?" and they have no clue!
I believe the test of a seasoned cook is whether she can make good gravy or not! LOL I suppose I'm teasing a bit, as there are a lot of good cooks out there who just cannot make good gravy. It really isn't as daunting as it seems though. As long as you can master making the roux without burning it. This has never been a problem for me, as the perfect color for a finished roux is the color of peanut butter - my all time favorite breakfast treat! I've looked at that color every morning of the world for nearly 53 years! It's emblazoned in my brain! If you are prone to dumping your "instant gravy" out of a jar or out of a bag and mixing it w/ water.... do yourself and your family a favor and learn to make homemade gravy! It will be the star of the show!
Most of you are probably more familiar with sausage gravy than bacon gravy. I have never been a huge fan of sausage or sausage gravy. I grew up eating my mother's bacon gravy and it was the BEST!

BACON GRAVY

1 lb of good bacon - cut into bite size pieces (I use my kitchen scissors for this)
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
2 - 3 cups of milk (depending on how thick or thin you like your gravy)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

In large skillet or dutch oven, over med-high heat, fry cut up bacon until golden brown and lightly crisp. Remove pan from burner and with slotted spoon, removed bacon bits from the fat in the skillet. Leave bacon grease in skilllet. If it is very greasy bacon, you may want to pour a little bit of it off into a bowl. To the bacon fat in the skillet, add 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Stir constantly with wooden spoon or whisk until flour is cooked through and begins to turn a medium golden brown (the color of peanut butter). Don't let your roux burn! Quickly add milk and whisk to prevent any lumps forming. Add in bacon bits. Let simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping or sticking.  Taste test to add more salt and/or pepper. I season mine pretty heavily. Serve over warm biscuits w/ a side of tender, scrambled eggs! ENJOY!

Here are a couple of good recipes for buttermilk biscuits or Classic biscuits.