Foolproof and Delicious Buttermilk Biscuits

Man I love Pinterest! I have found some of the best recipes on ideas on there. Not everything I try turns out to be my favorite, but these have to be the best biscuits I have ever made! 

They turned out thick and flaky, soft, and delicious! No more hockey puck biscuits for me! And no more refrigerated biscuits from a can - the only things I like about those things are the convenience and the fun explosion when you pop them open.

Anyway, like I said these biscuits turned out great. And they were so easy! I followed the recipe (found here) pretty closely. I didn't have buttermilk so I made some by adding one and a half tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to a cup and a half of regular milk and letting it sit for a couple of minutess. And, as often is the case, I doubled it! 

One thing that this recipe has that I don't think I've seen before is to fold over the dough over and over while rolling it out. I think this is probably what makes them so nice and big and fluffy, so don't miss that step! 

Here's the recipe for these amazing Foolproof Biscuits: 

• 4 cups flour
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 10 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 11/2 cups cold buttermilk 
• 6 tbsp honey

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt
• Mix in butter cubes into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter (or your hands) until it looks like a coarse meal
• Chill in fridge for ten minutes
• While the dough is chilling, mix together the buttermilk and honey in a small bowl
• Stir the buttermilk mixture into the dough/flour mixture just until the dry ingredients are moistened
• Place dough on a lightly floured work space and knead a couple of time to combine all the ingredients fully (a bit crumbly is okay)
• Divide the dough into two balls and roll one into a 9x5 rectangle, about half an inch thick, then fold the dough into thirds
• Roll out and fold into thirds three or four more times
• Cut biscuits from the dough using an up and down motion
• (Repeat last few steps with the second ball of dough)
• Place on baking sheet about 1 inch apart
• Bake for 11-15 minutes, until the biscuits have risen and are golden brown on top
• Cool slightly, and serve! 

       (Makes about 16 biscuits)

Thank you Pinterest for another pin-licious recipe! 

Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots

Last week we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. They served some scrumptious homemade garlic rolls. I'm not usually a huge garlic lover, but these were like an explosion of heaven in my mouth!

So naturally, I was excited when I saw a recipe on Pinterest for Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots (here). I knew I had to try it soon! 

When we decided to have lasagne for dinner the other night they sounded perfect to go with it, so I got to work trying out the recipe.

The recipe I pinned used canned biscuits, which would make the process more simple, but I didn't have canned biscuits on hand (they are not my favorite), so I pulled out my trusty breadstick dough recipe and used that for the rolls instead. I followed the recipe for the butter garlic sauce just as it said (doubled since I was making a bigger batch), and it turned out delicious! 

The rolls were all gobbled up in no time... another successful Pin-complishment!!

Here's the recipe I used (Already doubled):

Breadstick Quick Rise Dough

2 1/2 cups warm water

3 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp yeast

3 tsp salt

5 cups flour

Garlic Butter Mixture - whisk together all ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

4 Tbsp grated parmesan

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley flakes

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees

Mix all of the dough ingredients together, adding enough flour to make a stiff, but still slightly sticky dough

Shape into "knots" by dividing the dough into how many rolls you want*, then rolling each piece into a rope about 5 inches long. Tie each rope into a knot, making sure to tuck in the ends underneath

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet

Cover and let rise for a while (they don't need as long as normal dough, I think I left mine for about an hour total while I waited for the lasagne to be out of the oven, and that was probably more than enough)

Brush generously with the garlic butter sauce

Bake at 500 degrees for eight minutes, or until golden brown

Brush with remaining garlic butter

Eat, and enjoy! 

*this made about three dozen rolls when I did it, but they were on the small side, if you want bigger ones, just divide your dough into less pieces.