a weekend for recipes

And we certainly cooked for a President.

Last weekend, my Southern grandparents came to visit as they do once a year. Their soft accents and loud laughs are always highly anticipated in my house, and I'm bouncing all day that Friday for 4:00 to roll around. This weekend wasn't any different.

Even though we had tremendous fun, we also enjoyed each other through cooking. And now I shall share that enjoyment to you! Aren't you lucky? Go on. Feel special. Because you are.

On the agenda for the Summer Girl Cooking Class of February 22, 2012:

Buttermilk Biscuits (there is no written recipe for this, and it's a family tradition, so feel extra-special.)

Sweet Potato Pancakes (absolutely amazing.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with chocolate in every bite -- aforementioned)

Are you ready to bake like a champ? Good. Let's get crackin'.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients: 

2 cups Self-Rising Flour

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup Crisco


makes about 15 biscuits.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Measure the flour into a mixing bowl.

3. Cut the Crisco up into the flour, and when the chunks become too small, crumble them up into the flour with your hands until they almost look like the flour.

4. Make a well in the Crisco-flour mixture.

5. Pour the buttermilk into the well.

6. With a fork, mix the buttermilk into the Crisco-flour mixture until just mixed. 
7. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and flatten until it is about a fingernail-length thick.
8. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter, or alternatively use a jelly jar to create round biscuits. Hint: With the extra dough that didn't make it into the biscuits, don't make re-flatten to make more: take them as scraps.
9. Place newly cut biscuits and scraps onto a buttered/sprayed cookie pan, but do not leave any space in between them -- go ahead and nestle them together.
10. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Make sure to check.

***


Sweet Potato Pancakes
(adapted from Well, Shut my Mouth!, the Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook).

Ingredients:

Dry:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Wet:

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 lemon extract

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes

makes about 10 pancakes.

Directions:

1. Mix together all dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

3. Add wet mixture to dry mixture; do not overmix!

4. Pour a pancake-sized amount of batter onto a lightly greased hot griddle. Continue until all batter is used.

Honey Butter:

This is optional, but it's extremely tasty. Use a stick or two of softened butter and mix in 2-3 tablespoons of honey. Spread overtop of warm pancakes and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from Milk and Cookies, the Milk & Cookies Bakery cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (oatmeal)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chunks

2 cups (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate curls/shavings

makes about 3 dozen

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Pour the oats into a food processor (fitted with metal blade) and process until finely ground.

3. Add oats to a mixture of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Beat butter in an electric mixer until light and creamy.

5. Add both sugars to the butter while mixer is on. 

6. Add eggs to the butter-sugar mix in the electric mixer, one at a time. Beat well.

7. Add vanilla to the butter-sugar-eggs. 

8. With motor still running, gradually add the flour mixture.

9. Stir in the chocolate chunks and curls with a wooden spoon -- not the mixer. Make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

10. Grease a cookie sheet and place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on it. Gently flatten the balls until they are disks.

11. Bake for about 15 minutes / until edges are light brown. Let cool and enjoy!

Yay! You survived. I'm very sorry about the lateness of the post -- this was coming for about five days, but I couldn't find the time to sit down and do it all. I'll get better when spring starts, I promise.


I hope you try at least one recipe -- they're all fabulous, and you're definitely not wasting your time. Go on, your stomach is beckoning! :)


emma