Biscuit Possibilities

I was driving in town the other day and a Hardees billboard caught my attention. It was a picture of a Blueberry Biscuit, and it looked good. We never eat out for breakfast unless we are traveling so I didn't even think about stopping and trying one of these biscuits. However, when I got home I did a web search on Hardees menu and I created my own blueberry biscuits. I also recreated their cinnamon raisin biscuits as well. My husband doesn't really like sweet things for breakfast. He is much more a biscuit and gravy kind of guy. So I took my main biscuit recipe (included at the end of the post) and made three different things out of it all at the same time. That way everybody in my house had a choice, and I only had to make one breakfast! In the above picture on the left, I have the Blueberry Biscuits, the middle biscuits are the cinnamon raisin, and the large sandwiches are Chicken Fried Steak Biscuits. We had left over chicken fried steak from a previous dinner so I made larger biscuits to accommodate the hunk of meat. My hubby was happy. Here is my biscuit recipe for your enjoyment!

FAST FOOD BISCUITS

3/4 cup Crisco Shortening

4 Cups Self Rising Flour

1 2/3 cups Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 475. Grease a large baking sheet with low sides. (I use a jelly roll pan). Blend shortening into flour. (I use my kitchen aid mixer, but you could do this by hand). Leave large pea-sized pieces of shortening. Add buttermilk and stir until dough leaves side of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured board. Knead gently until smooth. Roll out dough to about a half inch think. Cut into rounds with a large biscuit cutter. (I use a large drinking glass. This makes the large sandwich biscuits that you see in the picture. If you want regular size biscuits, just use a regular biscuit cutter. I will generally cut back the oven temp. to 450 and cut back the baking time when I make smaller biscuits). Place in prepared baking pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Brush hot biscuits with melted butter.

Blueberry Biscuits: I follow the above recipe except I also add about a Tablespoon of sugar with the flour to make my dough. I use a regular size biscuit cutter to make the smaller biscuits. I place them in the greased baking pan. I use the back of a spoon and press in the middle of each biscuit making a small well area. I then place a teaspoon or so of blueberry pie filling. Bake at 450 for about 12- 15 minutes. When cooled a bit, make a glaze of powder sugar and milk. Pour over the biscuits.

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits: I add about a teaspoon of cinnamon to my flour when making the dough. I also add about a Tablespoon of sugar along with the flour for my dough. I sprinkle in a small pack of raisins into the dough. Mix. I again use a small biscuit cutter. I bake at 450 for about 12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them because you don't want them to get too brown. When cooled a bit, I pour my glaze over the biscuits.

Sandwich Biscuits: I make the large biscuits. After they have baked, I let them cool down a bit. I then cut them in half. You can make any sandwich that you like. My family loves sausage egg biscuits with cheese. Sometimes I will make a small egg omelet and fold it over and place it on the biscuit to make a sandwich. This makes it easy to carry out the door when in a hurry. Any leftover sandwich biscuits gets wrapped up and put in the refrigerator. These make great snacks heated up later in the day!

The above recipe makes a lot of dough. Last Sunday I decided to make all 3 of these types of biscuits out of the same batch of dough. First, I took out enough dough to cut out 3 large biscuits for my Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich Biscuits. I then divided the remaining dough in half. I added a little extra sugar to the dough and kneaded it a bit. I then rolled it out for my blueberry biscuits. To the remaining dough, I added a little sugar and cinnamon and raisins. I rolled them out and placed them next to the blueberry biscuits on the baking sheet. I baked them all at the same time. I wouldn't have done this if I were serving guests. I would have baked the larger biscuits separately, but it worked out okay and it gave me 3 different breakfast choices for a busy Sunday morning!

grace and peace,

julie