How to make biscuits?

Question

I want to make biscuits that look really appealing and taste really nice. But I don't want to do something really hard for a start. Oh and please give me websites that got all the steps and pictures of biscuits!

Answer 1

Try the following

Amaretti biscuits
2 free-range egg whites
50g/1¾oz whole almonds, roughly chopped
1 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 orange, zest only

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Place the egg whites into a large, clean bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.
3. Gently fold the almonds and icing sugar into the egg whites.
4. Place small spoonfuls of the mixture onto a non-stick baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown.
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet.
6. To serve, place the amaretti biscuits onto a serving plate and sprinkle over the grated orange zest and icing sugar

or Apricot and Nut Crunchies
4 oz (110 g) dried ready-to-eat apricots, snipped
4 oz (110 g) butter
3 oz (75 g) demerara sugar
1 dessertspoon golden syrup or runny honey
4 oz (110 g) self-raising flour
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch salt
4 oz (110 g) porridge oats

For the topping:
1 oz (25 g) ready-to-eat dried apricots, snipped
½ oz (10 g) pecan nuts, toasted and chopped

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C).

The easiest way to deal with the ready-to-eat apricots is to snip them into small pieces with scissors, so do this first. Now put the butter and sugar into a small saucepan and add the syrup or honey. The best way to do this is to warm the dessertspoon under a hot running tap, take the amount of syrup you need on the spoon and literally push it off with a spatula into the pan. Next place the saucepan on a gentle heat and allow the sugar, butter and syrup to dissolve.

Meanwhile sift the flour, cinnamon and salt into a mixing bowl, then add the porridge oats and snipped apricots. Mix everything evenly and, when the butter, sugar and syrup have melted, pour this in to join the rest. Now, using a wooden spoon, stir and mix everything very thoroughly, then switch from the spoon to your hands to bring everything together to form a dough. If it seems a bit dry, add a few drops of cold water.

Now take lumps of the dough the size of a walnut and roll them into rounds using the flat of your hand. Place them on a worktop and press gently to flatten them out into rounds 2½ inches (6 cm) in diameter, then scatter the snipped apricots and chopped pecans on top and press these gently in. Then, using a palette knife, transfer half the biscuits on to a greased baking sheet and bake on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

While they cook, prepare the second batch of biscuits and place these on your other baking sheet. When the biscuits are ready, leave them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer them to a wire tray to finish cooling. Store the biscuits in a sealed container

or Granny's biscuit stacks
100ml/3½fl oz white wine
½ lemon, juice only
4 tbsp caster sugar
100g/3½oz flaked almonds
6 ready-made ginger biscuits
200ml/7fl oz double cream, whipped with 1 tbsp caster sugar
handful grapes, halved

Method
1. Heat the wine, lemon juice and two tablespoons of caster sugar ina saucepan over a high heat, boiling until reduced by half.
2. Melt the remaining sugar in a frying pan and the almonds. Stir well to make sure they are thoroughly coated with the sugar, remove from heat and pour out onto a baking sheet to cool and set.
3. Dip the ginger biscuits into the wine reduction and coat thoroughly.
4. Place a spoonful of cream and a few grapes onto a biscuit, and then top with another biscuit to make a sandwhich. Repeat with the remaining biscuits and cream.
5. To serve, pour any remaining wine sauce over the biscuits and sprinkle the remaining almonds and grapes over the top.

or Florentines
5 oz (150 g) dark chocolate (70-75 per cent cocoa solids)
1 oz (25 g) butter, plus a little melted butter for greasing
3 oz (75 g) caster sugar
1/2 oz (10 g) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2½ fl oz (65 ml) double cream
2 oz (50 g) whole almonds, blanched and cut into thin slivers
2 oz (50 g) ready-flaked almonds
2 oz (50 g) whole candied peel, chopped
1 oz (25 g) glacé cherries, chopped
1 oz (25 g) angelica, finely chopped (if you can't find angelica, use green glace cherries instead)
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).

Start by melting 1 oz (25 g) of butter, together with the sugar and flour, in a small, heavy-based saucepan over a very low heat, and keep stirring until the mixture has melted. Now gradually add the cream, stirring continuously to keep it smooth. Then add all the remaining ingredients, except the chocolate. Stir thoroughly again, then remove the saucepan from the heat and put the mixture on one side to cool.

Next, brush the baking sheets with a little melted butter, lightly dust with flour and then tap them to get rid of the excess flour. You'll find it easier to bake one sheet of the Florentines at a time, so now place heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture on to one of the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about an inch (2.5 cm) apart (to allow the mixture room to expand while baking). Flatten each spoonful with the back of the spoon, then bake on a high shelf for about 12-15 minutes, or until golden. Then take them out of the oven and leave the biscuits to harden on the baking sheets for 2-3 minutes, before quickly removing them to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the second batch.

Next, melt the chocolate in a basin over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Place the cooled Florentines, base up, on a wire rack and, using a teaspoon, coat the underside of each Florentine with warm melted chocolate. Then, just before it sets, make a patterned, wavy line on each one, using a fork. Now leave the Florentines to cool completely before packing in alternating rows of fruit and chocolate side up in boxes or tins.

Answer 2

These are BY FAR the best biscuits I've ever made. Light, ultra-fluffy, moist--really, they're just perfect! A no fail recipe that even my husband can make. :) The trick is to NOT over-work your dough. Good luck!


JAMES BEARD'S CREAM BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Slowly add 1 cup of the cream, stirring with a rubber spatula, to form a smooth dough. Add up to 1/2 cup additional cream if mixture is too dry, being careful not to overwork the dough or the biscuits will be tough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a square, about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 12 squares and dip into the melted butter to coat on all sides. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot.

Yield: 12 biscuits

Answer 3

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup Crisco shortening

Sift the flour to make sure there are no lumps. Add in
the baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add the
Crisco slowly, working it into the dry ingredients.
You can use a large spatula or spoon, but I preferred
using my hands.

Next add the buttermilk, working it into the mixture
too. After everything is thoroughly mixed, plop it
down on a floured counter top or cutting board.

Turn you oven to 450 to allow it to preheat. While
it's heating up knead your dough until it is about
the consistency of clay that kids play with in
grade school. You can make it a little dryer
if need be by sprinkling more flour on your
counter or cutting board. As you knead your dough
it will pick up more of the flour.

After you have it the right consistency you can
shape your biscuits by hand or using a cookie
cutter. I preferred pinching off a chunk, rolling
it into a ball, and then patting it a little flat.
It takes a little practice to get you biscuits all
about the same size. If you want them more perfect,
you can roll out your dough using a rolling pin and
then cut them with a round cookie cutter. That
would look neater when you have company over.

Anyway, place you biscuits on a cookie sheet that
is either lightly greased or lightly sprinkled with
flour. If you use the flour option, be sure not to
put too much.

Bake these biscuits for rougly 18 minutes on the
middle rack in your oven (depends upon how hot
your oven is and how far this rack is from the
top). If the rack is too low you can move the
biscuits to the top rack the last minute of so
to get them browned just the way you want. Leave
them on the middle rack and thy should turn out
lightly browned.

Pop them out of the over and eat them while still
piping hot. That's the only way to get the butter
to melt just right.

Enjoy!

Answer 4

1800 Beaten Biscuits
Servings [Reset]
Keys :
Ingredients :

2cupFlour
1/2tspSalt
1tblSugar
1/4cupShortening
1/2cupIce water

Method :

* Mix the flour and salt and sugar together. Cut in the shortening and add enough ice water to make a stiff dough. Beat your dough with a mallet until it is smooth, folding frequently. Takes about 20 mins then roll out the dough, cut with a small cookie cutter or tin can rim. Bake these for 30 mins in a 375 degree oven. If desired dust these with some powdered sugar.
* Makes 20 small biscuits or cookies.









Abernethy Biscuits
servings [Reset]
Keys : Scottish Scotland European
Ingredients :

5ozFlour
4ozButter
3tblSugar
1tspCream of tartar
1/2tspBicarbonate of soda
1tblMilk
1pchSalt

Method :

* Sift flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar together.
* Rub in butter until mixture looks like bread crumbs.
* Dissolve sugar in milk, stir into flour/butter mixture.
* Form into stiff dough.
* Roll out to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
* Cut in squares; prick all over.
* Bake in oven at 350 F (180 C) for 20 minutes.
* Makes about 10 biscuits.
* NOTES : A popular biscuit, as the Scots call cookies, to go with a cup of tea.

Answer 5

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 C Martha White all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
¼ t soda
¾ t salt
¼ cup shortening
1 cup buttermilk

Mix well all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles very coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and mix well but lightly. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly just until smooth. Roll to about ½ inch thickness. Cut with cutter to desired shape. Place on lightly greased sheet and bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12 biscuits.

For regular biscuits, use recipe above, omit soda, increase baking powder to 3 teaspoons. Use about ¾ cup of regular milk.

Answer 6

Here's a link to my article about biscuits and gravy:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/artbiscuitsandgravy.html

Answer 7

ok...to be really short, here are some websites that have really good biscuit recipes. and try to read the comments on some of these websites.http://www.aliciasrecipes.com/bread-muffin-waffles-pancake-recipe/default.htm has alot of biscuit recipes to choose from, so you would have alot of choices to choose from.

Answer 8

(L)
How to Make Good Biscuits
What is a good biscuit? In the American sense of the word, biscuit is a shortened bread, to be eaten hot. It should be baked in small portions, delicately browned, but not hardened on the outside, moist and light from the steam so suddenly developed in it from the quick baking, rather thick with a very soft, fine-grained crumb, but flaky and tender rather than porous and elastic like bread. Many cooks fail to realize this difference and vigorously knead their biscuit, not knowing that as soon as flour is wet it develops a sticky, elastic substance called gluten, which becomes more rubbery the more it is worked. For the same reason that one does knead bread, one does not knead biscuit.

The secret of baking good biscuit is to have the dough as soft as one can handle it, but not to handle it a bit more than is necessary after the wetting has been added to the flour, and to bake it in a quick oven.

Cookery experts have experimented with every possible variation of the cookery recipe until they have not only established the standard recipe; but have ascertained exactly the result of varying it in any given detail. But it is not enough to follow the standard rule; there is something in one's technique. Experience proves that a cup of flour will make five large fat biscuits, or ten or twelve smaller ones, but that the smaller ones are a little superior; that a proper degree of lightness is secured by two teaspoons of baking powder to the cup of flour; that half a teaspoon of salt will take away the flat taste of the dough without giving an appreciably salty flavor; that there should be about half as much wetting as flour; that two tablespoons of fat is enough shortening to make a tender, flaky crust, but that more makes it too rich, more like pie crust, and therefore apt to give a greasy, heavy crumb.

One's results depend largely upon the way the fat is mixed with the flour, the quantity of the liquid added and the method of adding it, and the subsequent handling of the dough. Whether one chops the fat into the flour with knives, feeling that this is cleanlier than to rub it in with the hands, or that the heat of the hands tends to make the mixture waxy, or whether one feels confident in the cleanliness of one's hands and finds that if the materials are properly cold one can be surer of the right results when guided by the sense of touch, the point to be aimed at is a mixture in which there are no fatty lumps and no unshortened flour; it should feel slightly mealy.

Whether the liquid to be added is water or milk, it should be cold, and the quantity should be half that of the flour used. This makes a dough too soft to handle. Stir it lightly just enough to wet the flour, and turn it out on a thickly floured board. By this method the dough should all come away clean from the pan. The top will be too soft and sticky to touch, but if you sprinkle it thickly with flour you can easily flatten it out with the hand or spatula and shape it up so it can be cut advantageously. The inside is still to wet to handle, so dip the cutter in flour to keep the dough from sticking to it. You may have to use a spatula to transfer the biscuits to the pan.

Make 2-inch rounds, and put them in a pan which has been dusted with flour to prevent sticking. Never grease the pan, nor the outside of the biscuit.

Lay the rounds so that they do not crowd each other too much, or as they rise they will become misshapen and too thick. Experiment has shown that they are much better when cooked twelve or fifteen minutes in the top of a quick oven, than twenty or thirty minutes lower down in a slow oven. Overcooking does not produce the ideal biscuit.

Does the kind of shortening matter? Not greatly, though, of course, butter is more expensive than other fats, and gives a characteristic yellow color, as well as a characteristic flavor which many people think too pronounced for a hot bread to be eaten with butter. Many cooking fats and compounds contain cottonseed oil, which in its changed form is not in the least objectionable, but unchanged cottonseed oil gives off a strong, offensive odor and is therefore highly objectionable. If you use sour cream, of course, use less shortening — how much less depends on the quantity and richness of the cream.

Of course, the measurements given here mean precise, level measurements. Accuracy in biscuit making, as in all other forms of cookery, makes all the difference between the unreliable products, the occasional brilliant successes and the frequent failures; of the hit-and-miss cook, and the consistently good products of the cook who knows not only the rule, but the principle by which she works. To summarize:


1 cup flour,
2 teaspoons baking powder,
1/2 teaspoon salt,
2 tablespoons fat,
1/2 cup liquid

with as much more flour as may be necessary to handle the sticky dough. Vary this recipe sometimes for specially dainty occasions, by pressing down into the top of each biscuit a cube of sugar dipped in orange juice. But remember that the melting sugar makes the tops brown more quickly than they ordinarily would, so be careful to avoid overcooking. Sometimes a cube of canned pineapple may be substituted for the orange-dipped sugar, or you may find something among your own preserves more to your individual taste. The sugar and juice make a little well of sweetness in the top of the biscuit, and they do not split like ordinary biscuit. Put a little butter on the top, serve very hot and eat with a fork.

Answer 9

You can go to www.foodtv.com.They have every recipe you can think of on that website.Just type in on the upper right side what your looking for and it will access recipes for you.Happy trails to you.