Drop Biscuits for Supper

Well, I had forgotten for a while about making drop biscuits when you're tired or in a hurry. It's very simple...you take a regular biscuit recipe and drop the dough into a muffin tin. As you can see in the picture that I made last night, the biscuits are irregular and a little crispier--especially on top, but I like them very much.  And I find that less cleanup from not having to roll them out is worth it to me. Let me say that some children don't like the harder outside--Michael didn't when he was much younger--so be sure that your children will eat them. I'm going to give you a recipe for a regular biscuit with the instructions for making them into drop biscuits. I wouldn't have given you a second recipe so soon, except that I made this for supper last night and decided to share it with you. This is another recipe from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

All-American Baking Powder Biscuits

12 large biscuits

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 to 4 tablespoons sugar

4 to 6 tablespoons (1/2 to 3/4 stick) butter or shortening

1 cup milk (or buttermilk)

First: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Making the dough: Mix together the dry ingredients. With two knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut or rub the butter or shortening in until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.

Add the milk, all at once, mixing quickly and gently for about 20 seconds until you have a soft dough.

Shaping: There are three ways to shape these biscuits.

• Drop them by the spoonful onto a lightly floured baking sheet.
• For tidier shapes, fill the cups of a greased muffin tin about two-thirds full.
• After kneading the dough gently on a floured surface 8 or 10 times, roll or pat it out until it's about 3/4 inch thick and cut the biscuits with a round cookie cutter dipped in flour. You can also use a spatula or bowl scraper to cut out diamonds or squares so you don't have any dough scraps left over.

Baking: Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes or until they're lightly browned.

Now I didn't actually follow this recipe completely. I melted butter in a pan and put in the milk to warm just a bit. It's a good idea to make a well in the flour mixture before adding the liquid. And I added more milk than is called for because one cup wasn't enough to make them wet. But however you make them, just suit yourself.

~                                                                                                    Mariquita Road in Corrales

I'm going to lunch with Alice today, but we're meeting at Hannah & Nate's in Corrales--a small village just outside of Albuquerque proper on the Rio Grande. The first time I was driven down Corrales Road, I was looking around and said, "It looks just like the old West." And Lisa said, "Mom, it IS the old West!" Corrales has beautiful land and lots of trees, unlike much of Albuquerque. There are ranches and buildings made out of adobe that have been there for a long time. But no matter how much I enjoy the dry air and beautiful, sunny weather here, most of my family prefers the green, green grass of Tennessee.

Have a great Thursday!

Blessings...Mimi