Biscuits

Anyone still have a Christmas tree displayed in their house on January 15th?  No shame in that - right? 

​We're traditionalist when it comes to Christmas trees.  We like to go to the Christmas tree farm and cut one down or choose it from the stock of already cut trees.  We bring our fresh tree home, place it in the stand and water it faithfully for the first week.  After the first week, all bets are off.  As Christmas gets closer and life gets busier, the likelihood of us remembering to check the water in the tree stand gets slimmer and slimmer.  This year was no different.  By the time we got around to taking the tree down this year, it was so dry that even the slightest breeze could have stripped it of all its needles.  

We hauled our tree off to the local hardware store for recycling but I just heard about a brewery in The Netherlands that is turning old Christmas trees into beer!  BEER!  For those of you who live close to Lowlanders Beer, you need to check out this brewery to find out how founder Frederik Kampman is turning these old Christmas trees into a winter IPA.  You can check out all of the details on their website. You have to admit - this is a pretty cool idea.  I feel like I need to travel to this brewery just to check it out - and I don't drink beer! 

Turning old things into new things is a concept that seems to be catching on all over this country as well.  Which explains the fascination of the popularity right now of tv shows featuring old house being restored.  The same concept applies to recipes.  I have seen a recent influx of recipes that feature old recipes that have been redone in new and creative ways.  It's always good to look at something that I've been doing the same way for years and years in a new way.  

Biscuits are the perfect example of an old recipe that recently got an overhaul compliments of  Cook's Illustrated.  Warming the cream and melting the butter is a different approach to biscuits than the way that I have traditionally made them.  I was anxious to try this brand new technique.  

Biscuits
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  

Microwave cream until warm but not hot.  

Stir cream into flour until soft. 

Spray 1/3 measuring cup with cooking spray.  Scoop batter and drop 2" apart onto silpat lined baking sheets. 

Bake 10-12 minutes at 450.  

Brush hot biscuits with butter and serve. 

I made a huge mistake when I made this recipe --- I only made half a batch!!!   What was I thinking?  Seriously.  A half batch made exactly 5 1/2 perfect biscuits and that was the perfect amount to accompany our chicken noodle casserole lunch.  The problem was that there weren't any leftover biscuits for chicken biscuit sandwiches or biscuits and gravy or other biscuit delicacies.  Next time - double batch.  

​Ciao!

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