Square Biscuits

I was raised by a (N)Carolina man. I've spent every birthday in (S)Carolina. I went to college in New Orleans, Louisiana. For those reasons, I cannot wait to write a post on my last meal, which is also my birthday meal, which is also Christmas dinner. Yes, you are correct, shrimp and grits. It is my weakness. If you don't like grits it is only because you've never had good grits. You know, with the butter and the whole milk. 

Until then, I must share a favorite side of mine to serve with shrimp and grits: good biscuits. But really I like to serve biscuits with anything that has a gravy.  At Christmas, we even add ham steak and Jarlsberg to our biscuits. 

This Pin changed the way I make biscuits. I believe it is because unlike most biscuits, this recipe calls for double the baking powder. Another factor could be how lightly I mixed the dough and the square nature. The blogger suggested using very cold butter and very cold milk. I did. I did not use a food processor but instead hand mixed, because that is how I grew up making biscuits. That is for you to decide. 

For these flaky biscuits you will need:

• 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pea size bits
• 1 cup cold milk

1. Heat the over to 450F. 
2. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and powder very well in a bowl. 
3. Add in the chopped butter and begin to snap into your dry ingredients. It should not blend in completely but every bit should be snapped once, if not twice.
4. Pour in your milk and if you have a silicon spatula, use that to begin mixing lightly. I recommend taking the spatula around the outside of your bowl and turning the mixture to the center.
5. When you have formed a dough ball, quickly mix the dough with your hands to make sure you have included all the dry ingredients from the bottom of the bowl.
6. Move your dough ball to a lightly floured surface and begin to hand flatten. Once it is thin, fold it over and flatten again. Repeat a few more times, or until your biscuit dough is as tall as you prefer. This is a tall, flaky dough.
7. Begin cutting your biscuits into squares, about 2" with a sharp, non-serrated knife. By not using a biscuit cutter, you do not overwork the leftover dough, which increases quality. The trade-off is including the folded edges in your biscuits which may cause them to look like exploding day planners. 
8. Place on a non-greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
9. Enjoy! 

Here are a few of mine! 

You can see where the folds still exist on the edge of the dough, 

but with so many layers of flaky hot dough, 

who cares?!

Good night pots. Good night pans.

Sky

Welcome to Midnight Kitchen

I love food. I love to cook. I love to bake. And I love to eat. I love to cook enough to have leftovers all week. I love to throw dinner parties and send my guests home with full, happy bellies. I love scouring Pinterest and ohmygosh, cookbooks! for recipes. I love trying new things, and making the same thing repeatedly. 

But underneath all of that is my love to be in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Hence, Midnight Kitchen was born. What started out as a silly #hashtag one night, and then a beautiful Pinterest account with silly board names, is now a place for me to share with you the mess I make in the wee hours of the night. 

Please bear with me while I do my damnedest to honor the original bloggers who post the recipes I am recreating, my attempt to take appetizing photos of food and my need tell you all the things I did differently. At the end of the day, I'm a twenty-something with a very limited budget and one of the smallest kitchens you've ever seen.

I wish you many a kitchen adventure, and I hope that preparing food brings you closer to friends, family, good health and a happy home. 

Good night pots. Good night pans.

Sky