Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits with Honey Butter

One of the fun things about having a food blog is that it challenges me to conquer recipes that have given me difficulties in the past.  Enter biscuits.  One of my husband's favorite foods and every time that I tried to make them, something just wasn't right.   I've always been determined to learn how to make light and fluffy biscuits, but had yet to find the right recipe. 

Two weeks ago I was in Houston for work and had dinner at Rio Ranch, a restaurant attached to our HIlton Houston Westchase.  Before dinner, they served us a huge basket of biscuits, cornbread and honey butter. I could have made a meal on those biscuits.  They were so fluffy and delicious.  

After eating the biscuits, I was perplexed as to what made them so light and fluffy and then I figured it out.  Those biscuits had yeast in them!  Upon further research, I found that yeasted biscuits are actually called angel biscuits and I decided to give a recipe a try.  

These biscuits are exactly what I was looking for.  They are flaky, crumbley, buttery and fluffy as can be.  I felt like I would have made a southern cook proud with these babies!  Slather them with some whipped honey butter and you have yourself some down home cookin'. 

Fluffy Biscuits

Recipe from Add a Pinch

4 cups self rising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 packet yeast

3 tablespoons warm water

1/2 cup vegetable shortening 

2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease a pan or line a cookie sheet with parchment. 

In a large bowl, add flour, sugar and salt and whisk to combine.  In a small bowl, add warm water to the yeast and mix to activate.  The mixture should be smooth and velvety.  

Add shortening to flour and cut into it with two forks or a pastry cutter.  When ready, mixture should resemble small peas.  Form a well and add the buttermilk and yeast mixture.  Slowly bring down the sides and mix until a dough forms.  Do not over-mix.  

Heavily flour the counter and turn dough out.  Dough will be very sticky, so be sure to continue flouring, flipping and moving the dough around.  Pat out dough into a disc about 1 inch thick.  Cut biscuits and place in prepared pan or sheet pan.  

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven and brush the tops with melted butter. 

Makes 12-15 biscuits.  

Honey Butter

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons cream, room temperature

1/4 cup honey

Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and whip with whisk attachment for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. 

Caramelized Onion Dip

Well, it is Super Bowl (Puppy Bowl) Sunday and true to fashion, I am posting my Super Bowl recipe too late.  But hey, at least it is the day of!  At the rate I am going, you're lucky this isn't two months later, lol :)  The good news is that it doesn't have to be Super Bowl to enjoy this spectacular dip.  

Those of you that know me, know that I can never get enough of Ina Garten and Martha Stewart (the old Martha shows).  They make entertaining and living look so easy yet luxurious.  There is a newcomer though, who is climbing high on my list of must watch cooking shows.  

Amy Thielen has a show on the Food Network called Heartland Table and she is simply inspiring! Her Midwest roots shine through in each recipe and it is all about living off of the land with seasonal dishes.  That is where I first saw this recipe and knew that I had to try it.  

I don't think there is any better smell on the face of the earth than onions cooking in butter.  Nothing.  Not even fresh cut roses (I'm not even kidding).  Cooking the onions in clarified butter for a long time make them so sweet and delicious.  Add them to a creamy base with some spices and this makes for the tastiest of all onion dips out there!     

Caramelized Onion Dip

recipe adapted from Heartland Table

4 tablespoons clarified butter

1 large onion, sliced into thin rings

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup white wine or dry vermouth 

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce

2 tablespoons chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

To clarify the butter, melt in a pan over low heat until the milk solids rise tot he top.  Using a spoon, skim the milk solids from the top of the butter.  Clarified butter will allow the onions to cook longer at a higher heat, resulting in uber-caramelized onions. 

Add sliced onions to butter and turn heat up to medium-low.  Cook for about 20 minutes, flipping and stirring often, until they are caramelized.  Don't worry if some edges turn dark or black, this just adds to the flavor. 

Once the onions are caramelized add the honey and garlic and cook for 3-5 more minutes.  Finally, add white wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.  

Remove onions from pan and let cool on a cutting board.  In the meantime, whisk together the cream cheese and sour cream.  Once the onions have cooled, use a knife to dice them into small pieces.  Add onions, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and chives and stir to combine.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

Place dip in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to cool.  Serve with chips or veggies of your choice!  

Braised Carnitas

Helllloooooo my long lost friends!  I am so sorry for abandoning you all for such a long time.  The end of the year was filled with lots of travel, family,  holidays, food and fun.  Well, not all fun because I was sick, like very sick, for the last two weeks of December.  No bueno, but I'm finally feeling better and more like myself.  

Now that Heather's got her groove back, I'm ready to rock and roll and share more recipes and travel with you all this year.  In addition to lots of travel for work, I also have two very dear friends who will be getting hitched!  So thrilled to be part of the upcoming celebrations and nuptials. 

 So to kick of 2015, I'd like to share with you this kick a$$ recipe for carnitas at home!  These take a little bit of time and effort, but all the steps are super easy.  Once you make the rub and find all of the ingredients, it is quite simple to throw together.  Most of the time, the pork is just slow cooking in the oven. 

Let's just talk about slow cooking meat in the oven.  Low and slow (in my Isaac Hayes voice) is the answer to all of your dry meat prayers, as is braising in an aromatic filled liquid.  When I pulled this pork out of the oven, it was basically falling apart.  So good.

We have been eating this pork for the past few days and we're not even close to being sick of it.  The flavor is out of this world and it tastes just as good as any Mexican carnitas dish out there.  A Mexican fiesta at home, count me in!  

Well, it feels so good to be back.   Stay tuned my friends, for there will be more to come!    

Braised Carnitas

Dry Rub
1 tablespoon ground coffee
1 tablespoon  paprika
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon corriander
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix together in a small bowl.  If you use a 4 pound pork shoulder, you will use all of this rub. If you are using smaller cut of meat, save some for another time or piece of meat.  This would go great on ribs or brisket.  

Pork
4-5 pound boneless pork shoulder, skin on
dry rub
1 onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic
6 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves
4 dried red chilies
1 cup lard (or butter or shorting)
2 cups chicken stock

Cut pork shoulder into large chunks, about the size of a baseball or Rubik's cube {patting myself on the back with that random visualization analogy}.  Toss pork with the dry rub and let sit ofr at least an hour.  The more time, the better with overnight being best.

Chop onion and peel garlic.  In a large dutch oven, heat lard (or some type of fat/oil) over low heat.  Add onion, garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and chilies and cook in oil for 5-10 minutes, until onions are slightly softened and the aromatics are fragrant.

Add pork chunks and stir to coat in the fat and onions.  Cook for another 5 minutes, continually stirring to coat pork in onion mixture.  Add chicken stock to slightly cover the meat.  Put lid on pan and cook in a 250 degree oven for 4-5 hours.

Take pot out of the oven and remove the pork from the liquid so it can cool.  I like to get two cookie sheets out.  One for the pork chunks and one for the pork once it has been shredded.

Pot the pot of liquid back on a burner and bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Cook over medium heat until liquid has reduced by over half.  Strain liquid and then pour the fat off of the top.  What remains should be a very concentrated form of the cooking liquid, full of FLAVOR.

Pull the pork and remove any large pieces of fat or grizzle.  Evenly distribute shredded pork on a cookie sheet.  Spoon reserved liquid over the pork, not all of it but just enough to coat the pork, not soak it.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and throw the pork in an oven with the broiler on high.  Cook for 8-10 minutes, just until pork is brown and crispy on the top.

Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the toppings.

Toppings
tortillas
cotija cheese (or queso blanco)
pico de gallo (tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, cilantro, lime juice salt and pepper)
avocado
lime wedges
{more} cilantro
crushed chicharones (fried pork skin...mmm)
hot sauce
sour cream

After that carnitas labor-of-love, it's time to build some tacos.  You know what to do,  Here are some of my favorite toppings!