Baking Powder Biscuits

This is another recipe from my mom. She's a great cook :) These are a great addition to any dinner and the best part is they come together really quickly. They also are perfect for biscuits and gravy! Yum!

A favorite family story with these biscuits.... Once my mom started working at the school in Park Valley, my dad started helping out with breakfast. One morning he was making these and accidentally used baking SODA instead of POWDER! Yuck!! They were absolutely disgusting and none of us will ever forget that morning!

Something that I like to do on Sunday morning is mix the dry ingredients and cut the fat in. Then once we get home from church I just quickly add the milk and bake. Speedy!

Baking Powder Biscuits
Source: Janet Rose

2 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c shortening or butter (make sure it's cold!)
1 c milk

Preheat oven to 425.

Using a pastry blender, cut in butter or shortening until pea sized chunks remain. (Either type of fat works. My mom always uses shortening. I like butter a little better. It makes them taste like the canned biscuits you buy in the refridgerater section.)

Make a well in the middle and pour in milk. With wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold milk in until combined -- but don't overmix! (Sometimes the dough will take a little more milk. You don't want any huge streaks of dry flour left.)

Spray baking sheet and drop dough into 12-14 biscuits. (You can also roll dough onto counter and cut into uniform biscuits with cookie cutters.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve with butter, honey, jam, etc... or with sausage gravy for breakfast!
We have also experimented with adding shredded cheese and various herbs to the dough - makes it into something like Red Lobster's cheesy biscuits. A fun variation!

Roll-Up Pancakes

My absolute FAVORITE recipe as a child! Actually, this is the first recipe I had memorized! Flint also loves these, but calls them crepes (like the rest of the world). My opinion... It's my family's recipe and I'm doing the work - so they are roll-up pancakes ;) Awhile ago, Flint found a cast-iron crepe pan in the garage (random, I know!). It was a little rusted, but with some salt and elbow-grease, we got it looking like new! This pan works perfectly! I always used to ruin the first pancake, but not with my new cast-iron pan!

Roll-Up Pancakes
Source: Janet Rose (my mom)

4 eggs
1 t salt
1 c flour
1 c milk

Beat eggs well. Add salt and flour and mix well. Add milk and mix until clumps are gone. Heat pan over medium heat ---- don't get impatient! Allowing the pan to get hot before starting is very important! Grease with cooking spray. Pour ~1/3 c batter onto pan, lift pan and turn in circular motion until batter is thin and coats the pan. Allow to cook a couple minutes per side. Remove from pan and place in warm oven while cooking other roll-up pancakes. Pan should be re-greased after every other roll-up pancake to prevent sticking.

Serve warm with butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup, jam, fresh fruit, cool whip, etc... The possibilities and combinations are endless! Healthy? Maybe not. Quick? Maybe not. Delicious? Absolutely! I don't make these often enough - they are typically a "special occasion" breakfast.

To eat these, I "roll them up" with my fillings inside - however, Flint folds them into fourths and puts his "fillings" on top! Funny!

Did you happen to notice how convenient the ingredients are for half-ing, or three-fourths-ing, etc....? As a child, I was obsessed with this!