CINNAMON BISCUIT FANS AND BREAKFAST PUFFS

Dear Betty Crocker,

I love you, and your Best of Baking Cookbook. I made these yummy treats and ooooohhhhhhhh.

Yes I was baking this morning. I wanted to bake early when there are less children running around to pull me away from the task at hand. I made these two recipes and I love them both, although I have to say I think the Cinnamon Biscuit Fans are my favorite. They have layers of cinnamon-sugar, buttery goodness AND a glaze on top really yummy and the biscuit keeps it from being so sweet that the plaque on your teeth stand up and salute.

Cinnamon Biscuit Fans

By Betty Crocker Best of Baking

Biscuits

2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup firm butter or margarine

3/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 3 teaspoons milk

1.Heat oven to 425ºF. Grease 8 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, mix flour, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, the baking powder and salt. Cut in firm butter using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture particles resemble fine crumbs. Stir in just enough milk so dough leaves side of bowl and forms a ball.

2.Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll into 12x10-inch rectangle. Spread 3 tablespoons butter over rectangle. Mix 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and the cinnamon; sprinkle over rectangle. Cut rectangle crosswise into 6 (10x2-inch) strips. Stack strips; cut crosswise into 8 pieces. Place cut sides up in muffin cups.

3.Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from muffin cups to cooling rack.

4.In medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over warm biscuits. Serve warm.

Makes 8 biscuits

As for the French Breakfast Puffs, I think next time I will do some slight alterations. I would add 1 tsp vanilla to the dough and maybe even some lemon zest.

French Breakfast Puffs

By Betty Crocker Best of Baking

Ingredients

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1.Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease 15 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches.

2.Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg thoroughly in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

3.Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

4.Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll hot muffins immediately in melted butter, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Serve hot.

Makes 15 puffs

SEED SAVER'S EXCHANGE AND CHEEKY KITCHEN BISCUITS

Okay, it is time for me to admit my love affair with butter...I have admired Paula Deen's candor for her fondness of butter and it is now time for me to step out of the refrigerator and shout I LOVE YOU BUTTER! My chunky thighs and bubbly butt stand testament to the sadly not-so-clandestine relationship butter and I have. In all this time, years of trying many different biscuit recipes looking for one to fall in love with and bring into the family as a near daily table setting I think I found "The One" and I discovered the recipe, here.  It was just posted, and with the exception of not knowing if the recipe called for 1/2 a stick or 1/2 a cup I started with 1/2 a stick...foolish girl in denial about what me and butter have going on. After grating the 1/2 stick into the flour mixture butter looked so lost in that sea of white so I added the other half of the stick and went with the 1/2 C of butter (1 stick). I love you butter, sorry for trying to keep our relationship a secret baby.

So back to the biscuits, super easy recipe to whip together and the outcome...
YUMMY! A great all around biscuit, it is most definitely flaky and would be lovely at the breakfast table OR the dinner table. The search is over for me, mamma I'm coming home.  I imagine a lifetime of friendship. Me and biscuit, we can keep our new relationship alive by being creative, maybe adding some chives and bacon bits to the batter...there are so many possibilities.

LAZY LINDA TIP: Why dirty an extra bowl, just leave the milk in the measuring glass and beat the egg in the glass with the milk. Oh and when I get to the scraps of biscuit dough, I keep pushing them together and recutting until the very end. I even form the last bits of scraps into a circular shape and bake it up too. It is like the runt of the litter, but still yummy as its siblings.

Seed Saver's Exchange is my all-time favorite place to order seeds from, they are an heirloom and organic seed supplier. They are the best, most friendliest people I have come across in the seed sales business. I just called the other day because I wanted to order my sister-in-law a gift certificate to SSE for Christmas and when I was on the website I had an issue, I could not seem to get the shipping address to change. It turns out it was one of those pesky glitches, the website had issues, and the kind lady on the other end of the line went right into my order and changed the address for me and processed my order. She was sweet, friendly and very knowledgeable. So in addition to having a fantastic seed selection the people make the company worth investing in. I am already dreaming of next years garden...purple tomatoes, paste tomatoes, bell peppers, the list goes on and on...