Red Lobster Biscuits

There are some recipes that I've avoided trying to recreate up until now because I just don't think I can emotionally stand failure. But yesterday I've had enough. Frustrated with pie crust failures (not satisfied with the pie crusts for the pies mentioned below, I've been trying alternatives...with mixed results that are not worth posting here) and granted the luxury of time thanks to spring break, I decided to try one of Mama's biscuit recipes.

Originally based off Nana Day's Buttermilk biscuit recipe, Mama came up with this version so that we could have Red Lobster's biscuits even though we could only afford to go to Red Lobster on very special occasions. My altered version with notes is below, but I'll include Mama's directions to make 'muffins' with the batter, in case anyone wants to try.

GF Red Lobster Biscuits

Cook Time : 12 min
Prep Time: 20 min

3 cups GF Bisquick
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more, if you like very cheesy things)
1/3 cup Parsley Flakes
1/3 stick of butter or margarine
Garlic Powder (Do NOT replace with garlic salt. They are NOT the same.)
Spectrum Organic Shortening*
1 cup Buttermilk**

Preheat Oven to 500
Grease biscuit pan with shortening

To make the biscuits pour the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center with your hand. Put a scoop of shortening (about 1/2 a cup) in the well and pour in the Parsley Flakes. Toss in the cheddar and add the butter milk. Pulling the flour down from the sides of your well, begin to make the biscuit patties by folding them over in the palm of your hand and placing them one at a time in the biscuit pan until full.

Before you place them in the oven melt your butter (or margarine) in the microwave and add a good amount of garlic powder and stir. Using a spoon or a basting brush pour over the top of the biscuits-- take care to not let too much to pool in the bottom of the pan, however, to prevent burning.

Bake for 12 minutes.

The biscuits will brown a little bit on the top but will otherwise be white. I like them best hot (and they reheat well if you fold one in a paper towel and put it in the microwave) , but Dave says he likes them best cold on the second day.

Muffin Alternative Directions
Quantities below can be adjusted to liking.
Also, the shortening may be replaced with a stick of melted butter or margarine.

Use 2 cups of GF bisquick and cut in 1/4 to 1/3 cup shortening with a fork or pizza cutter. Add other ingredients and stir until moistened. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

* So, it turns out that I don't much care for the distinct flavor that Spectrum Organic Shortening gives baking. I'm currently looking for another Gluten-Free, Soy-free alternative. However, if you are fine with Soy then I recommend that you just use Crisco. It's what my mother or grandmother would use.

** I couldn't bring myself to go dairy-free on this one because I know that so frequently milk alternatives lack the texture and fluffiness that their counterparts have. Because this recipe has so many emotional ties, I couldn't stand the thought of not using buttermilk and just made my biscuits smaller than normal so that I could (hopefully) have minimal tummy upsets. If you don't want to use milk, I recommend hemp for this one because of the thickness and texture when baking.

It's J'ess pie.

Supposedly that's what a modest baker responded with when asked by friends what kind of pie they had brought to the party. Or, at least that's my favorite version of how Chess pie got its name. No one really knows for certain how this decidedly southern treat was named or what exactly it has to do with the contents of said pie (the variations of this pie are vast). What is agreed upon is that it is pretty tasty.

Before you set out to make this pie, go ahead and get your crust ready. A quick Canola Oil crust makes this pretty easy, but word on the street is that Whole Foods also makes pre-made GF crusts.

I tried the following recipe on my family and it went over really well. My mom is currently eating her second piece as we speak (she's claiming this is now her new favorite pie) and my Dad (the pickiest of eaters) even gave it a resounding, "That's a pretty good piece of pie." Personally, I found it a little dry and the middle a touch grainy. I'm going to try it again when it cools a bit more (I've a terrible habit of trying food before it cools fully. I've never been the most patient of people).

Old-Time Chess Pie

Ingredients
1 9" pie pan and crust
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp arrowroot
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten well
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place your pie pan and crust onto a baking sheet*.

In a large bowl combine the sugar, flour, xanthan gum and arrowroot**. Stir with a fork to mix them well. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Using a fork or a whisk, stir well to combine everything into a smooth, thick filling. Pour the filling into the pie crust.

Place the pie on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.

Lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the edges puff up and the center is fairly firm -- wiggling a little is okay. 30-40min depending on oven. The top should be a nice golden brown without looking/smelling burnt. If you're concerned about burning the edges of your pie crust you can take a piece of tin foil and cut it out in thin circle to cover the edge of your pie but leaving the center open. This will allow your crust to cook but prevent it from burning while the rest of your pie bakes.



*If you use aluminum pie pans instead of hard tin or glass ones, I find that putting it on a baking/cookie sheet will prevent you from spilling the contents all over the counter.

**Part of cooking GF is playing detective. In a recipe that usually only contains 2 tbsp of flour for the normies, what does that mean to those of us that eat alternatively? The best Chess pie, in my opinion, has a thick and creamy middle. And since GF flour doesn't thicken the same way that traditional flour does, this calls for us to put on our experiment hat. I've found that arrowroot acts a lot like cornstarch and will thicken up just about any recipe nicely if you use it in moderation.

Pie and Other Southernisms

It's frustrating to go through the holidays and go without. Most of the time I don't even think about it, but there are certain things that just drive me up the wall. Pie is one of those things.

I remember going to my grandmother's house for holidays and having the fridge packed with different sorts of homemade pies. Pumpkin and pecan are two of my absolute favorites. So, when I happened upon a book called Southern Pies: A Gracious Plent of Pie Recipes, from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan by Ms Nancie McDermott I decided that God did not mean for me to go through life without ever tasting pie again. And, if I did, I certainly wasn't going to be out for the count for a week or more.

So I plan to go through this book and try to make Becca-safe alternatives for all these classics. Now, with grad school still breathing heavily down my neck, I don't know how quickly this will be accomplished...but here is my start.

Canola Oil Crust

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of your favorite GF baking mix

( I use 1/3 cup garbonzo-fava bean flour, 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1 tsp xanthan gum)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons cold milk (or milk alternative-- I find hemp milk works nicely with baking)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Use a fork or a whisk to stir them together well.

In a small bowl, combine the oil and milk. Use a fork to mix them together into a frothy mixture. (Or put them in a jar with a lid and shake well to combine them.)

Scoop out a well in the flour mixture and pour the oil-milk mixture into the flour. Use a fork to bring the liquid and dry ingredients together into a crumbly mixture.

Press the dough into your pie pan, using your fingers to build up the sides of the dish.

You can wrap and refrigerate the crust for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 weeks if you don't want to use it immediately.

Egg Custard Pie

Ingredients

1 9" pie pan & crust

1 1/4cups milk (or milk alternative)

4 Eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp G/F vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Because you don't cook this pie for very long, you need to partially cook your crust before you get started. Take the crust that you created from the above recipe and cover it with a sheet of parchment paper. Use dry rice or beans to fill pie pan on top of the parchment. This keeps the crust from shrinking as it cooks and holds the paper down. Bake in the oven at 375degrees for 10 minutes then remove and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350degrees.

In a medium sauce pan heat the milk (or milk alt) until it steams. Look for tiny bubbles at the sides and rising steam from the milk. Remove from the heat before it comes to a boil. Also, resist the urge to immediately add this hot mixture to your eggs because it will cook your eggs too quickly and give it a scrambled egg texture.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs well. Stir in the vanilla, sugar and salt. Stir well to dissolve the sugar and combine everything well.

Slowly pour the milk, stirring with a whisk or a big wooden spoon.

If you are using an aluminum pie tin and not a glass one, place it on a cookie sheet before the next step.

Pour the custard filling into the partially baked piecrust (now free of rice/beans and parchment) and sprinkle nutmeg over the top.

Place the pie on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake until the custard filling is mostly firm but still wiggly in the center. 25 to 35minutes (depending on oven). Let the pie cool to room temp before serving.

Things that are Awesome

My Kingdom for a Curry

Tonight, my friends, I have sunk to a new low. Tonight I made brownies from a bag. This after not having so much as touched the oven for more than tea for weeks. This, I feel, more than anything points to how much grad school is addling my brain. But there is one week left in the whirl-wind quarter and I plan to use the following three week break to my benefit.

I'm trying my best to be optimistic about the brownies. I picked up the Namaste brand when I was in Whole Foods awhile back on a whim. It was the first time I saw a package that was soy AND corn free in addition to gluten free. My thought: Why the heck not? Every girl needs an emergency stash, after all. The package does call for 3 eggs and a half cup of oil. I used Ener-G Egg Replacer and coconut oil instead of olive oil.

Batter taste test was....not promising. Grainy. Bitter. Upon further examination my guesses were accurate: Brown rice flour. I've been spoiled with my flour templates. But! Maybe I'll luck out and have brownie soup. That's good even if it's gritty.


Lord. This quarter needs to end so I can stop living off M&Ms and bad california rolls.

So We Meet Again. . .

I have never been what you might call a 'muffin person'. My personal opinion in the great kitchen debate is: Why bother with muffins when you could have cupcakes? Cute + Edible + Frosting = Win in my book. It seems a fairly simple equation.

But, I'm afraid that my hatred of all things muffin did not come about in a natural means. Once upon a time muffins and I were on civil terms. There was no cringing at the mention of their name and the doughy, slightly moist smell that inevitably comes along with them didn't make bile rise up into my throat. I could even walk into the complimentary breakfast at hotels and think: MMMM, Muffins! Not my favorite food, perhaps, but still a viable alternative to cold cereal.

It turns out that I have problems with moderation.

I'm a gung-ho sort of girl and when it comes to food it's no different. Add to that a week long theatre conference, limited funds, and a Sam's Club membership. Did you know that Otis-Spunkmeyer Muffins come in giant palettes? I must have eaten forty of those awful things. ugh. Not exactly my brightest moment.

That said, it has been a good 4 or 5 years since I took leave of my senses and have decided to give them a go again. This time I have Erin McKenna on my side and I feel I have a good ally in her. The product is fairly tasty (Maybe in future trials I shall use more spice

. Mine came out too cinnamon and not enough ginger.), but I must say that even so I would take a cupcake any day.


Ingredients

• 2 Cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour*
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
• 1 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil, plus more for the pan
• 2/3 Cup Agave Nectar
• 2/3 Cup Rice Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract
  
• 1 1/2 Cups Canned unsweetened Pumpkin Pure**
  
• 1/2 Cup Hot Water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prep your muffin tins by either greasing (Coconut Oil is fantastic and I find it to work way better than Pam or Olive Oil. It's also healthier for you, I'm told) your pans or putting your paper liners in place.

In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients. Once everything seems to be evenly mixed start to add your wet ingredients in the same bowl. Save your hot water until the very last because it's going to help break down the coconut oil while it is in a solid-ish form. Stir everything until you have a good consistency. You don't want it too runny but you don't want it too difficult to stir, either.

Fill each cup 2/3 of the way full with batter and place in the center of your oven and allow to bake for a total of 22minutes. After the first 10 minutes you should rotate the tins 180 degrees to allow to cook evenly. Finished muffins will be soft to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center should come away clean.

*I am unable to eat the Bob's baking flour because it contains corn so I use the following flour mix template, which makes 3 cups:

• 1 1/2 Cups Sorghum Flour
• 1 Cup White Rice Flour
• 1/2 Cup Tapioca or Potato Starch
  
• 1 Tsp Xanthan Gum

**The whole foods here was out of the puree so I used a can of spiced pumpkin pie filler and it seems to have turned out alright.

Embracing Simplicity

Isaac Newton once said that "Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things." I find that also to be true in baking (as in most things). Minutes ago I finished what is possibly my most successful cupcake adventure to date. The slightly lemon aroma of warm bread in cupcake form is insidiously taking over the boys' house and while I am pleased I keep wondering if they are going to come in one day and throw up their arms in exasperation only to tell me "THAT IS ENOUGH!" To be honest, I thought Jamie would have done that back in November when I baked an inedible, oily brownie brick into one of his nice glass casserole dishes. But I am a scientist (!) and cannot be stopped by such a paltry thing as failure (or kitchen fires, as it turns out).

That said, I really want to share this recipe with everyone. I cannot take credit for it as it comes from the Babycakes cookbook by Erin McKenna. I'm systematically working my way through that little wonder and so far there is absolutely nothing bad in it yet! Granted, it might be a little more work than anyone without allergies may wish to do, but for those of us who lead lives without it's a God-send. These little babies will melt in your mouth. Whoever said that vanilla had to be plain or that simple was boring?


Ingredients

• 2 Cups Garbanzo-Fava Bean Flour
• 1 Cup Potato Starch
• 1/2 Cup Arrowroot
• 1 Tablespoon Plus 1 1/2 teaspooons Gluten-Free Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspon Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 2/3 Cup Coconut Oil (may substitute canola, grapeseed, avacado, etc if you'd rather)
• 1 1/3 Cups Agave Nectar
• 3/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
• 3 Tablespoons Gluten Free Pure Vanilla Extract
• Grated Zest of 1 Lemon
• 1 Cup Hot Water (likely not needed if you do not use coconut oil)
• frosting of choice (I used dairy-free cream cheese)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar, applesauce, vanilla, and lemon zest to the dry ingredients and combine. Stir in the hot water and mix until the batter is smooth.

Pour 1/3 cup batter into each prepared cup, almost filling it. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the tins 180degrees after 15 minutes. You know your oven best, so keep an eye out on them in case they are cooking a little fast or slow. The finished cupcakes will be golden brown and will bounce back when pressure is applied gently to the center.

Let the cupcakes stand in the tins for 20 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely. Frost and enjoy!