Drop Biscuits and Gravy

 Happy New Year!

     So, so much to tell!  For starters, I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in December.  Yaaaay!  Finally!  After eight years of working and going to school on and off, I am finally finished.  Don't ask me what I'm doing after this because I haven't got the slightest clue.  For now, I am helping my husband run our small business and from there we shall see.  In the meantime, I will be cooking.  A lot.  My grandmother recently gave me three boxes of cookbooks and magazines that I need to plow through, so there will be lots of experimentation and (hopefully) documentation.  

My graduation/Christmas gift, a shiny new Nikon D3200, is going to help me show you the results.  Woo!  I also got a nifty fifty lens to boot!  Needless to say I am delighted to be snapping some photos once again, although a little reluctant to retire my ten-year-old Canon.  You'll have to forgive the color/focus on my photos until I get used to the switch...

So here is my first recipe of 2013, baked on the last day of 2012.  If you're going to end a year, do it right!  I made these with almond milk and they were slightly sweet, which was very tasty when paired with some maple glazed ham and a fried egg, or smothered in gravy.  Mmm, gravy.

While I fully endorse making biscuits with almond milk, I do not recommend using it to make your gravy.  I was feeling both too lazy to go to the store and just advantageous enough to give it a whirl, and the result was less than extraordinary.  So make the effort that I did not and use milk if you're going to make gravy.  I have posted both the biscuit recipe and the gravy recipe I used after the jump.

The nicest thing about making drop biscuits is that you simply drop them in sticky goo mounds onto the greased cookie sheet.  No need for rolling pins or biscuit cutters.  Just scoop, drop, bake.  Oh, and these make excellent New Years Day (or any day) hangover helpers.

Drop Biscuits and Gravy

Printable version

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 14th ed.

Makes: 12 Biscuits     Takes:  15 mins. prep, 10 mins. bake

You Need:

• 3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 Tbsp sugar (remove if using sweetened almond milk)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 C butter or 1/2 C butter and 1/4 C shortening
• 1 1/4 C milk or almond milk

1.  Preheat oven to 450 F.  Add flour to a large bowl, then sift baking powder and cream of tartar into bowl.  Add sugar and salt and whisk to combine.  Cut the butter into tablespoon or smaller chunks and cut into the flour mixture with pastry blender until it has coarse crumbs.  If you don't have a pastry blender, use two knives facing each other, cutting the butter up in the flour (here's an enthusiastic lady that has a 30-second demo video of how to do this: http://youtu.be/vfMq-uVm5vc).  Make a well in the flour mix and pour in the milk.  Stir JUST until the mix is moistened.  Do not over-mix or your biscuits will be rubbery and yuck.

making a well and pouring milk

2.  Use a large spoon to scoop out heaping mounds of dough, then drop onto a greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.  I used a small spatula to help get all of the dough.  Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden.  Serve warm.

Basic Creamy Gravy

Makes: about 1 3/4 cups     Takes:  10 mins

You Need:

• 3 Tbsp fat drippings (I used bacon fat, but if you're adding breakfast sausage cook that first then use the rendered fat)
• 1 3/4 C milk, divided
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

1.  Put fat into a medium skillet.  In a screwtop jar, combine 3/4 cup milk with flour, salt and pepper.  Shake until combined and add to skillet.  Stir in the remaining 1 cup of milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.  When thickened and bubbly, cook for one additional minute then remove from heat.