Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits & A Beachy Cake

Remember the other day when I posted the crazy Chocolate Avocado cake with Avocado Buttercream? I mentioned that I had lifted the recipe from Joy the Baker's blog. Well, that same day as I was perusing Joy's blog, I came across a recipe for the tastiest biscuits I have seen in a while. I am a sucker for anything with "pepper" in the title. I don't use salt, unless a recipe calls for it. I don't add it to anything I put on a plate to eat. I figure there is enough salt in most everything we eat and I don't need to add any more. (Wish my husband felt the same, but that is another story). But pepper? I add pepper to almost everything. I keep a pepper mill on the table in front of where I sit so I can add fresh ground pepper to my food. When I saw this recipe, Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits, I knew I had to try it. Joy's photos of the recipe being put together are great. Looks like you could reach right through your computer screen and snatch a biscuit.

Tonight I didn't have anything in particular planned for dinner and was sitting on the couch watching the weather forecast (10-14 inches of snow!) when I remembered I had printed the recipe for the biscuits and thought how yummy breakfast would be for dinner, with those biscuits on the side. Now, my hubby, while a hard core salt man, does not care for pepper. Too hot for his taste buds (wussy!) and normally when I cook I try to avoid adding pepper to things. But, tonight I wanted to try this recipe like it was intended. I figured I would apologize to my hubby later. :)

It took no time at all to whip these up. Took longer for the shortening to get cold in the freezer than it took to mix everything up and have the biscuits cut and on a baking sheet. I brushed the tops with heavy cream and then, being the loving wife I am, I only added fresh ground pepper to the tops of half of the biscuits. There is pepper in the dough, but I went a tad lighter then the recipe called for. But, I decided I could load up the tops of my biscuits.

15 minutes later I had the most wonderful looking biscuits cooling on my counter. They baked up tall and flaky looking. I scrambled some eggs for my hubby, heated up some sausage (I precook a couple of pounds of deer sausage and keep it in the freezer. Then when I need some, I only have to zap it a minute in the microwave) for him and put two of the biscuits on his plate. He ate his with butter.

For mine, I took Joy's advice and fried up a couple of eggs, cooked a couple of slices of bacon and made biscuit sandwiches.

Oh. My. Goodness. Hubby and I both loved, loved, loved these. They tasted every bit as good as they looked. Tender, buttery, flaky without crumbling apart in your hands (like a certain doughboy's do when baked). The cheddar cheese was subtle. The pepper? My hubby didn't really notice it in his. I could tell mine were peppery but I think it was more from the tops than from inside the biscuit. These were so good. And, because they were so quick to make I think I will stop buying the bags of frozen biscuits at the store and make my own.  Try these. You won't be disappointed! You can find the recipe here...

One last thing. I was contacted this week to do a small anniversary cake for one of my daughter's co-workers. The young lady told me that her and her hubby were married on a beach and that while on their honeymoon they saw starfish. She asked if I could do something that would incorporate those things. This is what I came up with. The chairs are wood and from a little kit I bought at a dollar store, knowing they would come in handy one day. The shells and starfish are melted chocolate. The towels and umbrella and flip flops are fondant. Everything else is buttercream. When I delivered it, the young lady was thrilled!

Baking for my dog

This is my mutt. Well, she's really not a "mutt". She is a pure-bred Australian Cattle Dog, also called a Blue Heeler. She is 8 years old, and the apple of her "daddy's" eye. I often tell people I would worry if someone asked my hubby to choose between me and his dog. Most of the time I think I would get picked, but sometimes I wonder.

For Christmas this year my sister-in-law gave me a kit for making your dog homemade dog treats. The kit included a recipe book, a treat tin, and a couple of cookie cutters.  Today I decided to give one of the recipes a go. While out running errands I picked up a bag of Spelt flour which the recipe I picked needed.  I had the rest of the ingredients I needed here at the house.

Everything got mixed up in a food processor,,,flour, walnuts, eggs, oil, molasses, yeast. You are supposed to spread the dough out over the pan and bake it in one large piece, cutting it into bite-sized pieces later. I thought it would be more fun to cut out dog bones and bake them like that.

They baked for about 35 minutes and then cooled for an hour. They smelled interesting baking. Not bad, but nothing like a batch of cookies or a cake would smell while baking. And, not good enough to draw the dog (her name is Patches, btw) into the kitchen to see what I was up to. I tasted the dough before baking it and found it kind of bland. I hope no one is suddenly freaking out because I tasted OMG! DOG BISCUIT DOUGH!! None of the ingredients really screamed DOG to me while I was putting them together. :) I would not eat a Milk bone, btw, in case anyone is wondering.

When my hubby came home he checked out the biscuits himself, before giving one to Patches. (OMG! My husband ate a dog biscuit! Hahaha!) Said they were kind of plain tasting to him. And, what did Patches think? She really liked them. She ate two and would have eaten more but I said that was enough. She needs to go on a diet, just like her "Mommy" and "Daddy"!

I was really glad to see she liked them. I would have hated to have gone to all the trouble of cutting out all those little dog biscuits only to have her turn her nose up to them. And, she is a finicky eater. She won't eat just anything put in front of her.

I don't know if the rest of you are as crazy about your dogs as my hubby and me are about ours, but if you are, and you would like to show your love by baking some homemade treats for the furry friend in your life, the recipe is below. :)

Bobby's Brownies

7 oz. (200g) wholewheat flour

7 oz. (200g) spelt flour

3 1/2 oz. (100g) chopped walnuts

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons sunflower oil

2 Tablespoons molasses

1/2 package of yeast

water and flour as required

In a food processor, mix all the ingredients to form a firm dough. If necessary, add a little extra flour or water. Shape the dough into a ball and let it rise in a warm spot for 1 hour. (I didn't see any "rise" in this after an hour; it was a very dense dough)

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C). Line a shallow rectangular baking pan with baking parchment.

Spread the dough over the baking pan until about 1 1/2 inches (4cm) thick. Bake for 35 minutes, then let it cool for 1 hour, still in the baking pan.

Turn out the baked cake, with the baking parchment, onto a board. Remove the parchment and cut the cake into dog bite-sized pieces. Store in a paper or linen bag (I put mine in the tin that came with the recipe  book). The brownies will keep for about 4 weeks.

I hope your dog likes them as much as Patches did!