Biscuits for Baking Dummies

 Tonight I made biscuits. They smelled good. They were beautiful. They tasted good. It was a first for me. Baking is not my strong suit, and I've ruined biscuits so badly that neither the dog nor the chickens would eat them. If you know any chickens you know that they must have been terrible. 
 My dear friend Mary is a baker and she finally made me realize that biscuits aren't bread (which I can bake if needs be) and the dough needs to be handled more gently. Tonight's advice was, "Just don't overmix, you can do it!!!" 
 So I looked up a recipe on the Betty Crocker website and got started. It was a really simple recipe and I made a few small changes. If I can make these anyone can. 




Tomato Basil Biscuits
   
  2 cups self rising flour
  1 stick butter
  3/4 cup milk
  1 tablespoon tomato powder (dried cherry tomatoes processed into powder)
  1 teaspoon dried basil


Preheat oven to 450. Put flour in a large bowl, cut in butter (I used 2 butter knives and then my fingers) until crumbly, add dried basil and tomato powder, and then stir in milk. Stir just until it sticks together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Then put it on a lightly floured surface, dust with flour and kneed 5 times. Roll out to 1/2 an inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter and place with sides touching on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 


Here is what came out of the oven. I served these with a pea and lentil soup with ham, my dried tomatoes and my dried herbs. The only thing I will do differently in the future is to make a bigger batch. Everyone had seconds and wanted thirds.

Have a good night everyone, Blessed Be...

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