Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits

There's something rewarding about making anything with your own two hands from scratch. Whether it be curtains that you sewed yourself or a patio deck you built yourself, working hard for something makes you appreciate it that much more, like these biscuits. Sure, they leave your sink filled with dirty dishes (especially if you don't have a stand mixer like me) and your shirt (or apron, if you're smarter than me) covered with flour but when you take a bite into something tangy and cheesy, crunchy and flaky yet moist, its pretty amazing to consider it all started out with simple ingredients from your fridge and pantry. So when you're craving biscuits in the morning, or anytime for that matter, put down the bisquick and consider this recipe.

Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
from Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics
Makes 8 biscuits
note: There are so many kinds of Cheddar. I like very sharp aged white Cheddar from Vermont or - if you can get it - any farmhouse Cheddar imported from Neal's Yard Dairy in London.
I sprinkle the tops with Maldon flaked sea salt before baking.

• All purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
• 1 cold extra large egg
• 1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar (see note)
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place 2 cups flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.

Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small class measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. In a small bowl, mix the Cheddar with a small handful of flour and, with the mixer still on low, add the cheese to the dough. Mix only until roughly combined.

Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly about six times. Roll the dough out to a rectangle 5x10 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with the egg wash, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Has anyone else noticed it is extremely awkward to pack bakeware like half sheet pans and springform pans and rolling pins? They don't really fit well in any boxes and seem like they're going to move around on you.

Oh, wait? Why am I packing up my bakeware? I thought you might ask. I'm moving! Again. Tomorrow. I should actually probably be packing instead of blogging right now but I wanted you to know what happened to me if I dropped off that face of the earth. Right now I live in a townhouse with my boyfriend and three two roommates. But tomorrow I'll be relocating to the neighboring town to a very cute one bedroom apartment with my boyfriend. The location is so much better and there will be no such thing as roommates putting in the dishwasher my one nice Wusthof knife! I'll have my very own kitchen (swoon!) and maybe I'll have a nice set up for food photography. I'm very excited.

I'm considering taking some inspiration from one of my favorite home decor blogs, Making it Lovely, and documenting the move-in, before & after, home decor process on Handle the Heat. Buuut, I'm so broke that I don't know if it would be anything worth documenting. Opinions?

Before I go off to microwave a veggie burger (the only thing I have that doesn't require pots/pans/cutting boards/plates/knives), let me tell you about this pumpkin cheesecake. Its good. Very good. The perfect update for pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, good. Leave it to Paula Deen to produce a very delicious and indulgent pie recipe. I promised my dad that I would save him some of the cheesecake but within 3 days, every last crumb was gone. It smells like Fall while its baking in the oven and tastes creamy, smooth, and rich with just enough pumpkin-ness. I planned on doing a waterbath while baking this but realized I didn't have a pan tall enough and wide enough to even do a water bath with. Boo. The top did crack, so I'd recommend doing a water bath and increasing the baking time to approximately 90 minutes. That is, if you're so lucky to have a big enough water bath pan ;)

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Pecan Tassies

Puppies. Babies. Cupcakes. It seems to be a reoccurring pattern that when things are miniaturized, they become adorable. Recently I got hooked onto the HBO show True Blood (if you haven't seen it, go watch it. now!) and there is a scene where one of the main characters eats an entire homemade pecan pie. Needless to say that after watching that scene I was craving something with pecans, brown sugar, and a crust. Luckily, my boyfriend recently bought me Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cupcakes cookbooks (sweet, i know) so I had a nice variety of pecan recipes to try.

When I saw the recipe for Pecan Tassies I had to try them because they're just so cute. Bite size pecan pies (that rhymes too!). Martha never fails me. These tassies required a lot of prep work but were easy to make and had just the right amounts of smooth brown sugar filling and crunchy pecans. There's something about the combination of not only smooth and crunchy, but brown sugar and nuts. Bite sized perfection.

Pecan Tassies
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen
From Martha Stewart's Cookies

For the dough:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (4 ounces)
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Make dough: process pecans in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1/2 cup). Put mascarpone and butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour, ground pecans, and salt; mix just until dough comes together. Alternatively, stir together ingredients with a wooden spoon in a large bowl.

2. Roll dough into sixteen 1-inch balls; press into bottoms and up sides of cups of mini-muffin tins.

3. Make filling: Whisk the egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt in a bowl. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons filling into each muffin cup.

4. Bake until crust begins to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely in tins on wire rack. Unmold. Tassies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Another muffin post? Another Ellie Krieger post? I promise I'll get out of this habit of redundancy, I do have some posts coming up that feature different recipes, and some exciting news! This post is a day late, sorry Craving Ellie in My Belly members. I was unusually busy yesterday and didn't have time to post. However, I was super excited when I saw this recipe, chosen by Oddball Oven Mitt, was up for the week of Halloween.

Time for another Ellie Krieger recipe analysis. This muffin recipe has somewhat of a large list of ingredients that might be hard to find for some people. I noticed a few Craving Ellie members and some people who reviewed the recipe on FoodNetwork.com made some ingredient swaps. Applesauce or yogurt for the canola oil, maple syrup for the molasses (I think I might try that if I ever make this recipe again), doubling the spices, adding chocolate chips (might try that too), or adding pecans or walnuts. I made the recipe as written except for the pumpkin seeds, I couldn't find any at the 2 of my local grocery stores I tried (weird, right?).

My verdict on the muffins? They were good, but not amazing. They were more 'spicy' than sweet, which makes them nice for breakfast or a snack. I used a generous hand when measuring the spices since some reviewers complained that the muffins were too bland and would double the spices next time. I definitely think I missed out on a necessary texture component by excluding the pumpkin seeds, these muffins needed a little crunch. They were very moist in texture though, which is hard to achieve when making a healthy recipe so props to Ellie. If I make them again I would swap the molasses for maple syrup and perhaps make a pecan-brown sugar topping and bake them in muffin liners so they look cuter (yes, cuteness should be a factor!).

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  
• 3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.