Baking Powder Biscuits

I will be the first to admit that I am definitely on a biscuit baking kick. They're so darn good, what can I say? I also find cooking and baking in general to be very therapeutic. There's something very calming about working with your hands, delicious smells, and in the end, something really yummy that you made entirely by yourself. I decided to try these baking powder biscuits because, well, admittedly I ran out of cheese (shame, shame I know).

I have to warn you that these little guys have a ridiculous amount of heavy cream and butter in them that even I couldn't  really justify adding in whole. If you have no concerns about the state of your arteries (or thighs for that matter!) go ahead and splurge, but I for one decided to only use a quarter of the cream that was recommended (substituted the rest with milk). If you are as Martha-y as I am, you will certainly agree that she uses a boat load of the heavy stuff in her cooking that really isn't all that necessary.

Chef`s final thoughts on these biscuits: sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. They were so incredibly flaky  and went along beautifully with our beef stew. We plan on toasting them in the morning and serving them up with some yummy, homemade strawberry jam. I can`t wait. Bon appétit!

ps - as a final thought, I highly recommend that you check out this slide show on different kinds of homemade biscuits. They have everything from buttermilk to corn meal to sweet potato biscuits. Yum! http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/biscuit-recipes#slide_1
pps - jamming to the Temper Trap while baking is also very therapeutic. Mrs. Giles highly recommends this :)



Ingredients: (for 10 biscuits)
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing (or 1/2 cup cream + 1 1/2 cups milk ... this worked very well and the biscuits were still DELICIOUS).

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

2. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Add remaining 2 cups flour, and toss to combine.

3. Pour in heavy cream; using a rubber spatula, fold cream into dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, until dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky.

4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured fingers, gently pat dough into a round about 1 inch thick, pressing in any loose bits. Do not overwork the dough. Use a floured 3-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits as close together as possible. (Use one cut edge as the edge for the next biscuit.)

5. Place biscuits on an unlined, lightly greased baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Generously brush tops of biscuits with cream. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool.
(recipe cred to www.marthastewart.com)