Grilled salmon and black bean biscuits.

Unlike Carmelo's in Tuscaloosa, I swear it can be done!  And they are pretty delicious, I must say.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp COLD butter
 1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
1 cup Cake flour
1 Tbsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking soda
2 tsp Fresh minced cilantro
2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup Shredded grilled salmon or smoked salmon
1/2 cup Drained, rinsed black beans from a can
1 cup Buttermilk or soured milk (milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar)
1 cup Shredded smoked gruyere or gouda

Method:

1.  Cube butter, place in 3/4 cup in freezer.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Mix all the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor.

2.  Add 3/4 cup of butter and mix on low with paddle attachment of stand mixer until crumbly or blend in food processor until crumbly.  Carefully mix in shredded salmon and beans.

3.  SLOWLY add milk to mixture while the mixer runs on low.  Add a little at a time until the dough forms solid ball.  Do not add all the milk at once or your biscuits will never work!

4.  Form the dough into a disk using your hands, adding buttermilk if necessary.  If time allows, let dough rest for 20 minutes in the refrigerator, covered.   On a well floured, clean surface, knead dough about 20 times.  Pat or roll dough out to 1-in thickness.  Using black bean can or biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place on baking sheet.  Reroll scraps and repeat until all dough is used.

5.  Brush tops of biscuits with remaining buttermilk if desired and dot with remaining 2 Tbsp of butter.  Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes.  At 10 minutes, add the shredded cheese to the tops of the biscuits and bake for 5 more minutes.  Remove from oven, cool on wire rack.

Now the key to this recipe is what you serve these biscuits with.  They taste good alone, but they taste great when served with a "gravy" masquerading as a corn chowder.  Try this recipe from Ina Garten at Food Network, but swap out the cheddar for more of that smoke gruyere or gouda to blend the flavors better!
 

Thoughts on an autumnal oatmeal cookie

This spicy cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookie is an update on the basic oatmeal raisin cookie. You can swap the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips for butterscotch chips and apple chips or raisins and walnuts or chocolate chunks with a raspberry drizzle.

Spicy Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Unsalted butter

1/4 cup Butter flavor shortening***

3/4 cup Packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp Molasses

3/4 cup Granulated sugar

2 Large eggs

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tsp Salt

3/4 tsp Baking soda

2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

3 cups Old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups Dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups White chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and shortening on medium until smooth. Add in brown sugar, molasses and granulated sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beat until smooth. Add in vanilla.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and oats. Gradually add into butter mixture on low speed until just combined. Add in cranberries and white chocolate chips, mix until well combined.

3. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop cookies, about 2 Tbsp in size, onto baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are set. Allow to rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool.

*** Why shortening and why butter flavor shortening?

I don't normally recommend using shortening in baking. However, with cookies, shortening does two things- it provides a very smooth texture and it increases the temperature at which the fats (the butter and shortening) in your cookies melt. This keeps your cookies from spreading too thin during baking and allows your cookies to stay chewy and soft.

I use butter flavor shortening to at least mimic the rich flavor of real butter since I'm using an otherwise flavorless, highly processed ingredient.

Don't worry, regular shortening will work too and if you only have butter and don't wish to use shortening, that's ok too. Just be prepared for a thinner cookie!