Ham & Mustard Butter Biscuits

Y'all. I will eat just about anything on a biscuit. Biscuits are home. Biscuits are Sunday mornings with family. Biscuits are a fluffy vehicle for sweet and salty fillings alike. I could eat a biscuit with just a little jam. I could devour a biscuit with a little jam and a hunk of juicy sausage.

And I melt for a biscuit with mustard, more butter, and thinly sliced ham. It's my breakfastlunchdinner. Salty ham, tangy mustard, and sweet onions on a buttery biscuit. I can't ask for more.

Fried Chicken Biscuits

So guess what I'm doing in October. The Color Me Rad 5k! Remember when I made a resolution to do a 5k this year? Well I'm keeping it. No, it's not a crazy mud run, though my sister and I want to do one of those too sometime. It pretty much sounds like the most delightful situation you could put yourself in when running. At every kilometer you get this color dust thrown on you so that at the end you look like a walking rainbow. Doesn't that sound fun?! I'm running as an individual even though I'll be running with my sister, but I had to come up with a team name. Will and I brainstormed and finally came up with Rainbow: First Blood. Like Rambo: First Blood but...Rainbow because it's a color run. Get it?!

So obviously in the coming months I'll need to carbo-load. With fried chicken biscuits. What could go wrong?

These biscuits come together in three-ish parts. Step one: Make a simple buttermilk biscuit. You'll need: all-purpose flour, butter, buttermilk, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

As always, give the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt a good whisk.

Add your cold butter and cut it in with a pastry blender. Or a couple of knives. I've never actually used the knife method because I really like my pastry blender.

You want the butter to be about the size of small pebbles.

 Stir in your buttermilk.

And you should get a shaggy dough that'll come together when you pat it out.

 I prefer to pat my dough to about a 1/2" thickness as opposed to rolling it with a rolling pin. It's probably not as precise, but biscuits aren't exactly a highfalutin undertaking.

Use a two-inch biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. I got about seven out of this batch.

Bake about 15 minutes in a 400º oven.

In the meantime, put together your honey glaze. It's just a little honey, thyme, and bourbon. You can leave out the bourbon if you abstain.

Heat the honey and bourbon over medium heat until the honey has loosened up and blends with the bourbon.

Add a few sprigs of thyme and steep off the heat for 5-10 minutes. Discard the thyme leaves.

See that biscuit? It's about to get the treatment.

Brush the tops of the warm biscuits with the honey glaze. I would pay for someone to do this to my face.

And now, the hard part. Which really isn't all the hard as frying goes. You'll need: Flour, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, salt, and chicken thighs.

These are boneless, skinless thighs that I cut into smaller pieces to make them biscuit-appropriate. You could use breasts if you prefer white meat, but I like a thigh. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the chicken.

Season your flour with more salt and pepper, plus paprika and cayenne. Add a few pieces of chicken and coat them with flour. Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies.

Carefully place about four pieces of chicken in about an inch of peanut oil that's been heated to about 365º. An easy test is to drop a little flour in the oil first. If it sizzles the oil is ready. If it doesn't, let it heat some more. If it pops at you, it's too hot. Cover the pan and let it brown on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken, cover, and let it fry until golden on the other side. I will note that I probably could've used a little less oil in this pan.

Drain your pieces of chicken on a wire rack that has paper towels under it to catch the grease.

 I think these biscuits are best with a little more of that honey glaze drizzled over the chicken and open biscuit.

A tender, buttery biscuit never had a better match than a crispy bite of fried chicken. Except for maybe country ham. Or sausage. Whatevs, I'm in training.

Fried Chicken Biscuits (makes 6-8 biscuits)

Biscuits:
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
8 tbs unsalted butter, very cold
2/3 c buttermilk

Honey Glaze:
1/4 c honey
1 tbs bourbon
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

Fried Chicken:
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt, plus more for chicken
1/4 tsp black pepper, plus more for chicken
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into biscuit-sized pieces
Peanut oil, for frying

• Preheat oven to 400º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. For biscuits, whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and cut it in with a pastry blender. When the butter is the size of small pebbles, stir in the buttermilk until a shaggy dough just forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and pat or roll into a round about 1/2" thick. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake biscuits 13-15 minutes.
• While biscuits are baking, combine honey and bourbon in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until the honey has dissolved into the bourbon, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add thyme sprigs. Steep 5-10 minutes and discard thyme. Brush biscuit tops with the honey glaze while they're still warm.
• For the chicken, whisk together flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne. Sprinkle additional salt and pepper over the chicken pieces. Begin heating about an inch of oil in a medium cast iron skillet. Coat chicken with the flour mixture, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies. Add about four pieces of chicken to the hot oil and cover. Cook 4-5 minutes or until golden brown on one side, then flip the chicken. Cover and cook an additional 4-5 minutes or until golden brown on the other side. Remove chicken and drain on a wire rack or paper towels. Repeat until all the chicken has been fried.
• Slice biscuits in half and top with chicken and more honey glaze. Eat with gusto.

Eggs Bennett

...Do y'all watch Swamp People? I've sort of gotten into it. And Moonshiners. See, it's fascinating because these people's way of life isn't so far removed from my own, but it completely is. I didn't grow up shooting alligators in the swamp, but I did grow up with them practically in my backyard. I have what I think is a healthy respect for them. They stay away from me, and I'll keep away from them. Oh and for goodness sakes, I won't go reaching for any golf balls in a pond like that fool in Florida.

As for moonshine, I've never distilled my own liquor nor have I had actual moonshine. I've seen it in the liquor stores here now, but if it's sold in stores is it really moonshine? So many questions unanswered. I...have no segues to take us to our dish today. Do you like Eggs Benedict? Me too. Except I think it should have country ham. And while we're using country ham, let's make a gravy with it. You still get the creaminess that you would with a hollandaise, but it's a totally different flavor. This is more like a sausage gravy. Except with ham. Let's get it!

First things first are the biscuits. You need: Flour, buttermilk, butter, shortening, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pepper.

Dry ingredients are whisked together to combine them evenly. Confession: I didn't actually use a whisk. I used the pastry blender. Same effect!

The pieces of cold fat are cut into flour. You can use your hands or a pastry blender.

You want the butter and shortening to get broken up into small pieces, about the size of peas.

 Gently stir in the buttermilk until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Don't overmix!

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a disk about an inch thick. There's no need to knead this dough.

 Cut out your biscuits using a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Or a wine glass if your biscuit cutter is all broke up.

Top each peppery biscuit with a little pat of butter, about 1/4 teaspoon worth.

Bake the biscuits until just golden brown.

The rest of the dish is pretty easy. You'll need: milk, eggs, country ham, and flour. Oh and butter, which didn't make the picture.

You want to heat a cast iron skillet and fry the country ham. The package might say a minute per side, but that's a load of horse hooey. It's more like 2.5 or 3. You should start the water in a shallow saucepan for the eggs if you want them poached now as well. Bring it to a simmer.

The ham will have crispy bits and a little caramelization. It's the business.

Now I didn't anticipate the ham not giving off a lot of fat, so the butter was a last-minute addition. No problem, dude! See all those crispy bits on the bottom? We'll still get plenty of salty pork flavor in our gravy. And when has adding butter ever been a problem? That's what I thought.

The butter melts and you add flour to start the gravy.

Whisk and whisk and whisk to break up any and all lumps and cook the raw taste out of the flour.

Whisk in the milk and keep scraping to get the good stuff off the bottom.

To the eggs. When your water is at a simmer, toss in a tablespoon of vinegar. Break the egg into a shallow bowl or ramekin. Stir the water to create a vortex in the middle and slide the egg into the pan. Gently stir around the egg to help the whites come together. Let it cook until the whites are set, about 3-4 minutes. Drain on paper towels. You can repeat this process with up to 3 more eggs before you need to change the water.

When the gravy is at the thickness you like, give it a taste. Season it very lightly with salt and pepper. I didn't pepper my gravy until I'd spooned it over the biscuits for aesthetic purposes only. Oh and if your gravy gets too thick simply thin it out with a little milk. Easy peasy!

Assemble the whole shebang as such: Biscuits broken in half-country ham on one half of each biscuit-poached egg on top of ham-gravy all over everything. You can garnish with green onions if you want, too.

As with just about anything, the runny yolk makes it. This would be a lovely brunch dish for Mother's Day served with some fruit and asparagus. The country ham is salty and wonderful against the smooth, creamy gravy. The black pepper-studded biscuits provide a nice anchor for the dish without being too heavy. It's pretty dreamy. And of course, if you're wondering, I called it Eggs Bennett because Bennett is our family name.

Eggs Bennett (serves 6-8)

Biscuits:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
3 tbs shortening, cold and cut into cubes
3/4 c buttermilk

Poached eggs:
8 eggs (or one for each biscuit)
2 tbs white vinegar

Ham & Gravy:
3-4 slices country ham
4 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs flour
2 c whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Green onions for garnish, optional

• Preheat oven to 450º. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
• Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and soda. Whisk to distribute evenly. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender until the fat is incorporated and the size of peas. Stir in the buttermilk gently until the dry ingredients are just moistened.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a disk about 1-inch thick. Cut out biscuits using a 2-inch biscuit cutter. You may re-pat the dough once to get more biscuits. Arrange biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and top with 1/4 tsp of butter. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown on top.
• In a shallow saucepan, heat 2 inches of water to a simmer. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and stir to create a vortex in the pan. Crack the egg into a ramekin and gently slide it into the vortex. Stir around the egg to help the whites come together. Cook until the whites are set, about 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with 3 more eggs, then change the water and start the process over with the remaining eggs.
• Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the country ham slices and fry until browned on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add the butter to the hot pan and let it melt. Add the flour and whisk it to remove lumps. Cook about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the crispy bits up. Continue to whisk until gravy thickens, about 6-8 minutes. Taste, then season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Assemble the dish by cutting the biscuits in half. Top with half a slice of ham and a poached egg. Finish with gravy and garnish with green onions if desired. Serve immediately.

Buttermilk Dinner Biscuits

Y'all, a bird scared the bejeesus out of me the other day.  See, we've had such a mild winter and beautiful, warm weather lately, so the wildlife has started to return to my backyard.  The little lizards are figuring out the porch, and the birds are darting back and forth between the bushes.  Except I think two of them were fighting.  Or heaven forbid, mating.  It looked like a fight, so we'll go with that.  Anyway, these two birds were flying at each other and then they were flying at the porch and BAM!  One of them hit the screen, and I almost spit coffee everywhere.

Grady (And A Recipe Fail)

These...were supposed to be biscuits.  Candied bacon biscuits.  As you can see, they're more like candied bacon scones.  But without the scone texture.  Truthfully, I have no idea what to call them.  I wouldn't call them a fail exactly because I'm still gonna eat the bejeesus out of them.  With Nutella.  They're just not everything I was hoping and dreaming for.

But since I don't have a sweet recipe to share with you, I'm going to try to make up for it by showing you the cutest baby I know.

He's grabbing lots of things now and putting them in his mouth.  Those paws you see are Buddy's because he wants to play too.  Or at least lick Grady's head.

 We had some pretty productive tummy time.  He tried to move and groove, but that giraffe was a little slippery.

Faceplant!  He's been trying to roll over but gets stuck.  Oh and I just realized it looks like he's right next to the edge of the bed, but he's totally not.  I'm not dumb.  He's under my watchful eye and the middle of the bed.

Aaaand this is the view you get a lot these days.  He's all about putting his hands and especially his feet in his mouth.

I hope this sorta kinda makes up for my failed biscuits.  But isn't he so cute?!