Sweet Potato Rosemary Biscuits

 I have always liked biscuits.  But as I have become more of a homemade, from scratch, kinda girl I have come to realize that I love  biscuits.  The realization culminated recently when I had an early morning meeting at work where breakfast was served.  That evening while hashing out our respective days, it came up that I ate a biscuit at said breakfast.  My husband asked me how it was and I replied, "It was good, but so not homemade."  That was when I knew I had become a biscuit snob.

Making your own biscuits from scratch really isn't that hard.  Having a food processor doesn't hurt either.  Drop biscuits like these Sweet Potato Rosemary Biscuits are especially easy.

My husband and I recently moved, and have been blessed with great neighbors who are avid gardeners, and good sharers.  I am sure their kindergarten teachers would be proud.  Their latest garden gift was two sweet potatoes.  Two giant sweet potatoes.  Usually I just bake sweet potatoes, but these are too big to just pop in the oven.  I was contemplating what to do with these monster spuds when I came across a recipe for Rosemary Sweet Potato Biscuits.  Bingo.  So, let's put our aprons on and start baking some homemade biscuits!

 The original recipe was made with leftover roasted sweet potatoes.  Since my potatoes would have taken approximately 5 days to roast, I just diced what I needed and took the easy way out by microwaving them for a few minutes until they were soft.

 The first step is to combine the dry ingredients.  I made my biscuits with half whole wheat flour.  Shocking, I know.

Then add minced garlic and rosemary.

 Now add butter and combine until the mixture resembles a course meal.  This is where a food processor comes in handy, but if you don't have one you can use a pastry cutter or two knives.  And then ask for a food processor Christmas. 

Now move the mixture to a bowl and stir in those beautiful sweet potato chunks.

  Milk's turn to get into the action.

Mix just until moistened.  Over mixing your dough can cause it to be too tough.  Nobody wants tough biscuits.  Then I used my 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

At this point you should brush with melted butter or margarine.  I forgot.  Don't forget.  Since I forgot, I put it on when they were done baking and I sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese.

Aren't they lovely?  Here's the recipe if you want to give it a shot:

Rosemary Sweet Potato Biscuits

adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powdder

2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried rosemary

6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 cup diced sweet potatoes, cooked

1 cup buttermilk

3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  

In a food processor, mix together flours, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Add the minced garlic and rosemary.  Mix in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Move to large bowl.

Add sweet potatoes and gently stir.  Pour buttermilk over all of the ingredient and stir with a spatula until just combined.

Drop by 1/4 cup onto prepared baking sheet.  Brush biscuits with melted butter.  Bake 15-17 minutes or until tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven and serve warm.

Makeover Monday: Rhubarb Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Congratulations on making it through Monday!  For this week's Makeover Monday I made Rhubarb Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins.  I found the original recipe while browsing around on Two Peas & Their Pod's blog.  I always find good stuff there!  The title definitely grabbed my attention.  I am a fan of rhubarb and have some in my freezer.  But I usually associate this spring crop with other spring crops, such as strawberries.  I also thought is was an interesting concept to pair rhubarb, with its signature tartness, with another tart fruit like a Granny Smith apple.  I am all for tart so I had to give it a shot. 

The original recipe wasn't terribly unhealthy as far as desserts go.  And yes, muffins are a dessert in my house.  But I still felt I could improve it.  I made mine with 100% whole wheat flour, used skim milk instead of buttermilk, Splenda instead of sugar, and substituted applesauce for oil, although the original recipe did have some applesauce already. 

Even with the changes, the muffins were sweet, tart, moist, and delicious!

How many calories did I save?  1428.  I got 20 muffins.  That means these muffins had about 70 fewer calories each than the original. Now that's math I like.  Okay, I like all math.

To top it all off, these are a snap to make!  But don't worry, I will take you through it anyway:

Start by mixing the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients.

Now put it all together, and add the rhubarb and apples.

Mix the ingredients for the streusel topping.  Steal a little taste if you want.  It's good!

Pour the muffin batter in muffin tins and top with streusel. 

Then pop those little babies in the oven and patiently wait for about 20 minutes.  I know you can do it!  Here's the full recipe:

Rhubarb Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Apapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

1 chopped Granny Smith apple

2 eggs

1 cup skim milk

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup non sweetened applesauce

1/2 cup Splenda

1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

Pinch of all spice

Cinnamon Crunch Topping:

1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 Tbsp margarine

cinnamon/sugar mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray muffin tins or use paper liners.  Combine skim milk with lemon juice to make a buttermilk substitute.

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a different bowl whisk together the wet ingredients until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix slowly.  Add in the rhubarb and apple.  Mix gently. 

Make the cinnamon crunch topping: Mix all of the ingredients, except the additional cinnamon and sugar, in a small bowl. 

Divide the muffin mixture into muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Yields about 20 muffins

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

As promised, here is the recipe for the Whole Wheat Pizza Crust I used when making my Leftover Steak Pizza.  Let me say upfront that I have a perpetual fear of working with yeast.  It is one thing that I don't have much experience working with.  I am trying to change that, and this crust seemed like a good start.  And, it was easy!  The original recipe came from my Food Science class at K-State.  I did adapt it to add some whole wheat flour.  I'm just trying to help you get your fiber, and your pizza.  Just in case you are a little fearful of trying this recipe as I was, let me walk you through it:

Here are the ingredients you need.  Simple enough.

The first step is the one that is kind of the scary for me.  Dissolve some sugar in warm tap water.  The trick is to get the water the right temperature.  For that reason, I recommend using an instant read thermometer.  Get the water to a nice and warm 110-114 degrees.    Then you just sprinkle in the yeast and stir until it dissolves, about 1 minute.  Let the yeast stand in a warm spot for about 5 minutes.  You should see a thin layer of foam covering the surface.  That means it's working!

Whew.  That's done now.  So just mix all of your ingredients in a stand mixer with the flat beater, and beat for about a minute.  

Now you knead to knead the dough.  I'm sorry.  I couldn't help myself!  Put in your dough hook and let 'er go for about 5 minutes.  At this point, the dough should be soft, elastic, and should bounce back if you push on it.

Then just shape dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl.  I just sprayed mine with cooking oil.  Now you sit and wait.  Better yet, now would be a good time to take a walk! 

After about 45 minutes your little ball of joy should be twice the size is was before your walk.  Here's mine:

This is the fun part--punch the dough down!  

Then, for me anyway, is the not fun part--spreading the dough.  But I did it, and you can too!  One tip I have found helpful when rolling dough such as this is to place the dough between layers of parchment paper.  This helps reduce sticking, and keeps your rolling pin clean!  The directions for this recipe indicate making a round crust.  I made mine square.  Do whatever feels right!  You might note that mine is not pretty, but it works for piling on ingredients!

And now you have made your very own pizza crust!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

makes 2 pizza crusts

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water 

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 1/2cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (plus more if needed for rolling dough)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Corn meal (for pizza pan)

Directions:

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm tap water that registers 110-115 degrees.  Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir gently until it dissolves, about 1 minute.  Let stand in a warm spot until a thin layer of foam covers the surface, about 5 minutes.

Using a stand mixer, combine the flour, salt, yeast mixture, and oil.  Using the flat beater, beat on medium speed until well mixed, about 1 minute.

Switch to dough hook and knead at medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Shape dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning to coat completely on all sides with the oil.  Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and set to rise in a warm place about 45 minutes.

With your fist, punch down the dough as soon as it has doubled in bulk.  Reshape into a ball, pressing out all of the air bubbles.  Divide dough into two balls.

Place ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour (unless using parchment paper).  Using the heels of your hands, press the dough piece into a circle, then roll it out with a lightly floured rolling pin until it is about 1/4 inch thick, keeping the edges a little thicker than the center.  While rolling dough, pick it up and turn it over several times to stretch it.  

Continue to keep the outer edges thicker than the rest of the pizza and add a little flour to the surface of the dough round and use the other hand to push the dough against it to form a slight rim around the dough, working your way completely around the perimeter of the dough.  Repeat with the other half of the dough.  Lay the dough on a cornmeal dusted pizza pan.

Leftover Steak Pizza

This past weekend my husband and I enjoyed the beautiful fall weather by charcoal grilling some steaks.  Yum!  I love the smoky flavor of a good, juicy steak.  But when my husband dumped that delicious pile of meat on my plate, I knew there was no way I was going to eat all of it.  Remember folks that a serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards.  This was like a casino.

Since I didn't finish my steak, I had leftovers to deal with.   What's a girl to do with one steak?  I remembered seeing a steak pizza on the Pioneer Woman Cook's blog.  So I scooted on over to check it out.  It looked delicious but I knew that I was going to have to make some changes.   Here's what I did:

First of all, I made a different crust.   A whole wheat crust of course.  I will include that recipe in a following post.   So stay tuned!  

Also, since I only had one steak, I added a red pepper when sauteing the onions.  I don't think it's a bad thing to swap a veggie for some meat in a recipe!  

PW used red onions, which I am sure would be terrific, but I had some yellow onions that needed to be used.  Two onions seemed like a lot so I just used one.  I sauteed my veggies in just 1 Tbsp of oil, plus some balsamic vinegar!

Adding balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to the pizza sauce really did give it a nice taste.

To assemble the pizza, just spread the sauce, add the meat and veggies, then top with cheese.  Of course, I cut back on the cheese from the original recipe.  I used about 6 oz, which I thought was plenty!

After baking, spread with steak sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  It oughtta look something like this:

Now, I know it is delicious.  But try not to eat the whole thing.  Remember the importance of sharing!

Leftover Steak Pizza 

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 pizza crust recipe

1 grilled T-bone steak, cut into bite size pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cups pizza sauce

6 oz mozzarella cheese

Grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup steak sauce

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Arrange rack in the bottom half of the oven.
Saute onion and red pepper in olive oil and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar over medium-low heat until dark and caramelized, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine pizza sauce with 2 tablespoons balsamic and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.
Roll out pizza dough until very thin. Top with pizza sauce and spread to coat dough.  Add steak pieces and sauteed red peppers and onions.  Then top with mozzarella cheese. 
Bake pizza for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.
Remove pizza from the oven, and drizzle with steak sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Food Science 101: Margarine vs Butter

Recently I wrote a post comparing and contrasting margarine and butter nutritionally.  (If you haven't read it you can check it out here: Health Tips: Margarine vs Butter.)  While I thought that was a good start on the topic of which is better to use, it didn't consider a factor near and dear to my heart, and I assume the hearts of my readers--which is better for baking?

As I said in my health tips post, I grew up using margarine.  When I left my mother's kitchen and started baking on my own, I continued to use margarine in recipes that called for butter.  I noticed over the years that things such as cookie dough were so sticky that they are almost unmanageable.  For a long time I was frustrated and thought maybe I just was just doomed to baking failure.  But after doing some reading on the subject, I decided to do something radical.  I tried butter.  I could not believe the dramatic results.  I found that dough made with butter is much firmer and easier to handle.   Why you ask?  (I know you are asking!)

It turns out there are two big differences between margarine and butter that explain their different baking properties.  One is the water content of the two products.  Butter is about 18% water and 82% fat.  Margarine is about 50% water (depending on the brand) and 50% fat.  If you consider a recipe that calls for a significant amount of butter and substitute margarine, you are adding much more water to the recipe, and the increased moisture will make it stickier.  For example, if a pie crust recipe calls for 1 cup butter, using 1 cup of margarine would include adding 1/2 cup of water.  Using butter would include less than 1/3 cup of water.  Of course, stickiness can be combated by adding additional flour, but that can result in a final product that is overly tough.

The other factor at play is the type of fat in the two products.  Because margarine is made of vegetable oils, it is primarily unsaturated fat.  Butter is an animal fat so it is primarily saturated fat.  What's the difference?  (You have so many good questions today!)  Saturated fat is solid at room temperature whereas unsaturated fat is liquid.  That is why the oil in your cupboard is liquid, but the fat you drained off last night's browned hamburger is now solid.  So, the solidity of the fat in butter results in a more solid dough when it is used instead of margarine.

I know your final question now is, "What does this all mean?"  Well, I think that for most baking purposes, butter seems to be the way to go.  This would especially be true for items that require a lot of handling, such as sugar cookies.  It is also true for pastries, such as pie crust, where the proportion of fat to other ingredients is important for proper results.  With that being said, I have had success using margarine in recipes where stickiness doesn't matter, such as cake batter.  Margarine could also be used in recipes where the amount needed is fairly small as the moisture difference would not be significant. 

There.  You learned something today!  I hope you now feel a little more confident about conquering the foodie world.  Happy baking!