Do you ever buy a used cookbook from a thrift store, because of something "shiny" you see inside? Then do you go home, put the book down, and completely and utterly forget what you wanted to try?
Well, I did just that with a thrift store cookbook purchase. I bought it early a year ago (or longer, ha ha!). I have had it out on the table, then counter, then table, then counter, then the kitchen island, and then back and forth.
I finally.....finally (screaming from the rooftop), made a recipe I decided on.
First, let me tell you, the cookbook is all about high carbs (the good kind). I do plan on reading the forward in the cookbook another day. Much of the recipes are not for our liking, but I did try a biscuit recipe (that I had been wanting to try for months!!).
On a side note, this cookbook, has a lot of reading sections in it, as well as recipes. I'll be taking a closer look at it soon.
The recipe called for lowfat cottage cheese and eggs as the "liquid" and there is no milk in these. They are stated as a "protein rich" biscuit. I wasn't out looking for a high protein biscuit, but with the colder temps, and well it heated up the kitchen, I gave the recipe a whirl.
I'll be honest. I did not roll and cut the biscuits per the instructions. Second, my fingers were covered with dough, I had to wash them, and butter my hands well, and dig back into the dough. It's a sticky dough, and I did not want oil in the biscuits, so hence butter (and it worked well). I also used my square biscuit cutter and just flattened the dough with my hands. No rolling pin needed, but you could if you wanted to I guess. I am sure I lost a whole biscuit after realizing I should have buttered my hands first (oh well, lesson learned).
Recipe said to sprinkle the baking sheet with corn meal. I used organic of course. You do want to do this when baking these biscuits.
I love how these biscuits turned out using my square biscuit cutter.
These are a more dense biscuit, but very good.
Here is the recipe:
Quick Cottage-Oat Biscuits
2 cups unbleached organic all-purpose flour
1 cup of organic oat flour (or grind your own)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup butter, organic (cold)
2 eggs, beaten well
1 1/2 cups low-fat organic cottage cheese
Organic cornmeal for dusting the baking sheet
In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Blend butter into the mixture using a pastry blender or fork and knife. Combine the beaten eggs and cottage cheese, and add the mixture to the flour mixture. Knead dough for a few minutes (butter your hands to keep dough from sticking). I just pressed the dough and used a biscuit cutter, leaving the dough about 1/2 inch or so. You can do what the recipe states, as well, which is cut the dough in 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 inch roll, and slice the roll in 1/2 inch pieces for your biscuit. You could also roll the dough like a "drop" biscuit I think. Sprinkle a dusting of cornmeal onto your baking pans and bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes at 425°F (mine baked in 12 minutes). I cooled the biscuits on a cooling rack.
Recipe is from Jane Brody's Good Food Book (1985), which I purchased for $2.50 at a thrift store (it's a big book).
The biscuits made delicious mini breakfast sandwiches with egg, cheese and bacon.
Of course we had to try them with sausage gravy too! So good, and the biscuits tasted great with the homemade gravy. I have yet to see how well these biscuits freeze, but that is on the plan yet. By the way, we bought the last 3 cans of canned evaporated milk (our store sells organic) due to people panic buying during the snow storm.
Different? Yes. Good? Yes. No milk? No problem. I still like our traditional biscuits, but these offer a biscuit with zero milk and less butter.
