Cream Biscuits

I made these to go with Grandma B's Chicken A La King.  Chris' mom typically bakes up a can of Pillsbury Grands biscuits when she serves this but leave it to me to want to try something a little more homemade.  This though, was very fast and easy to throw together!  I only baked half a batch.

Overall I was pleased with the way that these tasted alone/with butter.  They taste like a good biscuit that you'd use for like...biscuits and gravy or a breakfast sandwich.  As a base for the Chicken A La King versus what we're used to though, it fell a little flat....literally!  It didn't bake up nearly as fluffy or flaky as a Grands biscuit.  Probably because there wasn't any butter in the batter!  I was also lazy and just dropped tablespoons full of batter onto the cookie sheet instead of rolling and then cutting into perfect little rounds.  I read later that the little bit of kneading can really add some oomph (as in height) to the biscuit so I'm going to leave the original roll/cut instructions in but just know you CAN be lazy like me (and it'll turn out but maybe not quite AS good as intended).

I would make these again but like I said I'd use them for a different type of application.

Cream Biscuits
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Yields: 10-12 dozen biscuits

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream*

*Note: You can probably get away with using milk but it won't be as rich of a biscuit.   If you do substitute, start with half the amount and then add more if needed.  Milk is much thinner than cream so in this application I don't think you can do a 1:1 substitution.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt butter in a small pot or microwave dish, and set aside.
3. Sift two cups flour, the baking powder, salt and (if using) sugar into a large bowl. Fold in 1 1/4 cups cream. If the dough is not soft or easily handled, fold in the remaining 1/4 cup cream, little by little.
4. Turn dough onto a floured surface, mound it into a ball and, using your hands, press it to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Cut into rounds, 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Gather dough scraps and continue to make rounds.
5. Dip or brush the top of each round in/with melted butter and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately, or flash freeze for future use. (Biscuits can be baked straight from the freezer, and additional few minutes baking time will be needed, usually around 3 to 5.)

Source: From James Beard’s American Cookery as adapated by and seen on Smitten Kitchen

Grandma B's Chicken A La King

This is Chris favorite meal...especially in the winter but probably in the whole wide world (OK...chicken tenders MIGHT rival this for him).  It is a recipe he enjoyed as a small child through both his maternal grandmother, mother, and now I'm adding my twist to an old favorite.

Lately his mom has been issues getting the sauce thick enough.  The original recipe calls for shaking together a simple mixture of flour and cold water then adding to the chicken mix and boiling.  I decided to deviate a little from the recipe (*gasp*!) and take inspiration from the Ham and Potato Soup recipe to make sure my sauce got nice and thick as well as lend it a creamy, buttery flavor.  I also tried my hand at making homemade biscuits.  His mom always serves this on top of freshly baked Pillsbury Grands biscuits but leave it to me to try something from scratch.

I was pleased with the way that this turned out and Chris gave it his stamp of approval.

Are you a Grandma B food fan?  If so, you might want to check out some of these recipes, too! (and these are just the ones I've made and posted so far...she kept an entire stenograph notebook full of recipes!)

• Grandma B's Brownies
• Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs (This is another Chris highly requested meal..in fact, I'm making it later this week)

Grandma B's Chicken A La King
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Ingredients

• 2 large bone-in chicken breasts
• Vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 2 chicken buillion cubes
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 4 Tablespoons flour
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Biscuits, baked (Chris' mom always uses Pillsbury Grands, I tried Homemade Cream Biscuits)

Directions

1. Rinse chicken breasts well under cold running water.  Pat dry then coat in a thin layer of flour.
2. In a large pot, coat bottom of pan with vegetable oil.  Brown chicken breasts on both sides.  Remove them from the pot and drain remaining grease from pan.
3. Put the chicken back in the pot and add enough water to cover the chicken.  Let cook over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink (about 30 minutes).  Remove chicken from the pot and put on a plate to cool.  Once chicken has cooled, cut or shred into medium sized pieces.  Skim off grease and fat from top of water.
4. Add chicken pieces, onion, celery, and carrots back into the pot.  Add bullion cubes and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft.
5. While the vegetables are cooking, in a small pot melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add flour and whisk together until incorporated (consistency will be like a thick cookie dough).  Remove 1/2 cup of broth from the large pot and and slowly add it to the roux mixture, whisking until smooth.  Bring mixture to a boil and allow to thicken (like gravy).  Turn off heat and then add this mixture to the large pot.  Stir until combined and if needed, add more roux to thicken more.
6. Serve hot chicken mixture over biscuits.

Source: Modified from Grandma B. (Chris' Grandmother)

Comments are Fixed!

Wow after all this time I thought people just didn't give a *bleep* about my blog but it turns out that the comments link just didn't work!  Thanks Mindy for bringing this to my attention.  After going back to the template FAQs I was able to solve the problem so you should be able to comment to your hearts content now!

Leave me comments, please :).  I'm so lonely in this world wide web...