Buttermilk Biscuits, a Surprisingly Good Accompaniment to Dinner

M-J’s Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups of white or unbleached white flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

One teaspoon of salt (I use Himalayan salt)

1 and 1/4 cups of buttermilk

One stick of butter (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup of lard (manteca)

1/2 cup of flour for working dough on the counter

¼ cup of melted butter and lard for brushing layers—composed of equal parts of each

Arrange bits of butter and lard over the 3 cups of flour in a large bowl. Toss butter and lard with flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the fats into the dry ingredients, and add a tablespoon of cold water, mixing until the dough looks like a bunch of small peas. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Put into refrigerator for about ten minutes. Remove to counter again and incorporate the buttermilk, mixing gently. 2. Turn dough out onto your counter, which has been dusted with flour. Gently knead the biscuit dough 3 or 4 times, adding a bit of extra flour if necessary. With floured hands, form dough into a rectangular shape, about ½ inch thick. Brush dough with a bit of your melted fat mixture, and dust it with flour. Fold dough over onto itself. Roll it out into a new rectangle, brush again with melted fat and dust with flour. Repeat the last two steps once more. Cut 3/4 inch high dough into biscuits with a small glass or my favorite, an empty, clean  tomato paste can. If you are using the biscuits for canapes, roll the dough 1/2 inch thick. Brush tops with melted fat. These layered biscuits are easy to crack open and fill with marmalade or, if one uses them as canapes, various meats. To make a croissant biscuit, cut the dough, which has been flattened to 1/8 inch, four inches wide and brush with melted fat as above. Roll and pinch ends together.

Bake biscuits in a pre-heated 450° oven until they are lightly browned.

Serve with chicken dishes of all kinds; these biscuits also complement beef and pork. If you have company for breakfast, making these fresh biscuits is sure to be appreciated, especially if served with a selection of jams, jellies and marmalade.

M-J's Buttermilk Biscuits

M-J de Mesterton, 2009

M-J's Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Patties

Recipe and Photo Copyright M-J de Mesterton 2009

M-J’s Elegant Walnut Shortbread Cookies

M-J’s Elegant Walnut Shortbread Cookies

M-J's Walnut Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

One half-pound of butter (two sticks)

Two and a half cups of flour

One cup of powdered sugar

One third-cup of granulated sugar

One half-teaspoon of salt

One third cup of buttermilk or regular milk

One teaspoon of vanilla (imitation vanilla is just as good as the real thing)

One cup of ground walnuts (I use a food-processor)

Method

Soften butter till just before melting point. Add and incorporate rest of ingredients. Form small balls of dough, set them on a cookie sheet, and flatten with a fork, or any tool you prefer which will put a texture on top of the cookies. A metal cookie- baller, much like a meat or melon-baller, could be useful for forming the cookies. Bake at 350* Fahrenheit for  half an hour.

~~Copyright M-J de  Mesterton, Elegant Survival~~

Transporting Cookies as a Gift

M-J Makes a Waxed-Paper Gift Bag for Cookies and Biscuits, Using an Old Iron and Pinking Shears

Walnuts