Tuesday, February 26, 2008

TWD: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

Looks Tasty

The recipe this week was Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits (chosen by Ashley of eat me, delicious). Let's get the confessions out of the way first. I've never made biscuits from scratch before. And I didn't use the pecans (because I'm usually really meh on nuts in baked goods). And I couldn't find a sharp biscuit cutter (I tried two places and gave up) so I used one of my drinking glasses. Hmmm... I think that's it. Oh, nope. One more (it's kind of ugly, so you may want to look away).... I didn't have any whole milk in the house and kept forgetting to go pick some up. So the first time I made these (come on, it's me. of course I did this twice. I should have made them another dozen times, but I ran out of days), I used heavy cream combined with water. Only I read the recipe wrong and added a cup instead of a quarter cup. Soup. Sorta. I added some extra flour when I patted them out, but they came out more like scones than biscuits. Hardly any rise at all, but tasty as all get out.

Messy Baker


The second time around, I used evaporated milk. I noticed the right measurement for the milk this time, but I tried the high altitude adjustments suggestion of added an extra tablespoon of milk per cup of flour. The dough was still very sticky/wet, so I might have overdone it. (First time as written. You'd think I'd learn that, huh?) I'm pretty sure that I overworked the dough with the combination of working the butter then trying to get all the flour incorporated. I got a little more rise as you can see in the pictures, but not as good as some of the other TWDers.

Lessons Learned: Oh, I need way, way more experience with biscuits. Next time, I'll try grating the cold/frozen butter instead of working it. I'll also add the pecans next time, just to shake things up a bit. (Oh, and it helps to read the recipe right the first time! LOL) Need a little more experience with what the dough should feel like. I think it was still too wet the second time around, but I'm not sure.

Conclusion: Lovely taste, even with my two butchering attempts!

For the recipe, see Ashley's post. And don't forget to check out the rest of the TWD group!

Second Time Redux

14 comments:

April said...

They still look great!

Anonymous said...

I think that they still look delicious!

CB said...

I think they still look fab! I used buttermilk on mine since I didn't have whole milk. Maybe you can try that next time? Great job!
-Clara

Beosig said...

Those look really yummy, but you let slip that there are pecans and sour cream in them. Those are two of the nastiest things on Earth! Ok. Ok. I know. It's a personal preference, so take this as a knock on your cooking. Just don't try to sneak them on to my plate Saturday night. :)

Engineer Baker said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't read - I added 1/2 cup milk instead of 1/4 cup! They look beautiful, and I love the plate!

Anonymous said...

I think these look wonderful! Great job on trying to improvise the best you could!

Beth G. @SweetLifeKitchen said...

I think they look fantastic!! Great job :O)

Anonymous said...

very ingenius..!!! cream with water!

Anonymous said...

they look great!! mine didn't rise either and i sort of overcooked them and i JUST realized while reading your post that i used skim instead of whole milk. whoops! even with the correct amount of milk, my dough was really dry and i had to add more milk. ah well...

Rachel said...

I'm glad they all turned out OK despite the mishaps. They look great!

Anonymous said...

Those are some fine looking biscuits, you should be proud!

I'm looking forward to baking your choice for next week's TWD!

Mary said...

where I grew up in Virginia, there was actually a restaurant called biscuitville and we went there most weekends at some point...it was a highlight of my eating childhood...and your biscuits look so much like the ones they served there...that I LOVED! great job

eatme_delicious said...

Yum I think they look beautiful!

Jhianna said...

Thanks everyone!