NogBerry Biscuits

NogBerry is my shorthand for eggnog and cranberries. In biscuits.

Eggnog in biscuits, you say? Well, yes.

This post is part of the Improve Challenge orchestrated by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. The improv ingredients were eggnog and cranberries. I though about muffins and cupcakes, but that sounded too "expected." You don't win Iron Chef when you make what everyone expects.

Okay, the Improv Challenge isn't anything like Iron Chef, but when I'm working on any sort of challenge, I try to be creative - particularly if I'm working with assigned ingredients. I've never seen biscuits made with eggnog, so I figured it was different enough.

The resulting biscuits are a little bit sweet, but not crazily so. They're definitely not a breakfast item. They'd be perfect for breakfast, or even for the right sort of dinner.

I used dried cranberries for this and I put them in as-is, which left them with a nice chew. If you want softer cranberries in the finished biscuits, you can soak them ahead of time in water, cranberry juice, orange juice, or even your favorite liquor.

Since eggnogs vary in thickness, you might need to adjust the liquid to compensate. The dough should be soft, but not sloppy. There shouldn't be any dry spots in the dough. If it seems dry, add a little extra eggnog to moisten it. If it's too wet, you can compensate for that when you roll out the dough by adding more flour to your work surface.

Eggnog and Cranberry Biscuits

2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick very cold butter
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup eggnog

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.

There are several ways to incorporate the butter. You can cut it in with a pastry blender. You can cut it into pieces, then rub it into the flour with your fingers. Or, my new favorite, you can use a vegetable peeler to make thin slices of butter.

Once the butter is worked in but still in pieces, add the cranberries and stir to distribute them. Then add the eggnog and stir just enough to moisten all the flour.

Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Form it into a rough rectangle with your hands. Flour the top surface lightly, then roll it to a thickness of about 1/2 inch thick. Fold it into thirds, then roll it again and fold in thirds. Roll it to about 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick then use a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut rounds from the dough.

Place the rounds on a baking sheet. If you prefer crisp edges, keep them separated. If you prefer tender edges, arrange them on the sheet so the edges touch.

Bake at 400 degrees until the biscuits are lightly browned, 12-15 minutes.

Make your own applesauce

When I was a kid, I thought applesauce was one of those magical foods that you could only buy in stores, like bread or pie. Okay, so mom wasn't much of a baker.

Thinking back to childhood, though, I think we all had foods that we grew up thinking could only be purchased rather than made at home. My mom made her own salad dressings and she made pickles and jelly. She even made her own noodles once in a while. Those weren't mysterious.

Applesauce, on the other hand, came in jars. And it didn't appear very often. If we were having a pork roast for dinner, applesauce might be a side dish. Or it might be served with potato pancakes. But it wasn't an everyday item.

As an adult, I like applesauce but find that many brands are too sweet for my taste or they're loaded with cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices. I like all those spices well enough, but when I have apples, I want it to taste like apples and not like the spice cabinet.

The other problem with applesauce is that it spoils relatively quickly after opening, particularly if you use it like a condiment (like I do) instead of like a snack. And the brands I like best don't come in kid-sized portions. Nope, the ones I like are mostly in big jars. So when I open a jar, I have to think about what else I'm going to use it for. If I don't, it ends up at the back of the refrigerator and the next time I think about applesauce, it has green fuzz on top.

The solution to all of my applesauce woes is to make my own. I can make just as much as I need, and make it as tart, sweet, spiced or unspiced as I like. It's also a great way to use up apples that have a few bruises and bumps that make them less tempting for eating out-of-hand. And when I want to get creative, I can add other things, like dried cherries, fresh cranberries, or maple syrup in place of the sugar.

Speaking of which, sugar is completely optional. If your apples are very tart, you might want sugar to balance the tartness. For many apples, you might decide you don't need sugar at all. You can make that decision after the apples are cooked down a bit.

You can use any type of apples you like for making sauce. There are differences in flavor, but if it's an apple you like to eat, you should like the flavor in applesauce. The big difference, though, is texture. Some apples - the kind that are good for baking or pie-making - will hold their shape much longer during cooking. Apples that are less suitable for baking will break down into sauce much sooner.

But that doesn't mean you can't use the baking apples for sauce - you'll just need to cook them longer. However, if you like a chunky sauce, those baking apples will provide that texture you're looking for. And you don't need to use all of one type of apple. Mix them up any way you like.

Applesauce

5 apples, peeled, cored, and cut in chunks
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Put the apple chunks in a saucepan on medium heat with just enough water to keep them from sticking when you begin cooking them. Add the salt and cinnamon (if using) and cook, stirring as needed, until the apples break down to a sauce consistency. This can be as short as 5 minutes, or as long as 20 minutes, depending on the apples you are using.

Taste for sweetness and add the sugar, if desired. Continue cooking and stirring until the sugar is dissolved in the mixture. Taste again, and add more sugar or cinnamon, if desired.

If you prefer a smoother sauce, you can pass it through a sieve or food mill, or use a stick blender to smooth it out.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

You can make applesauce in much larger quantities, if desired. If you want to can the applesauce for storage, consult a canning book for proper procedures to process it safely.

This bread is really square

I recently picked up a pullman loaf pan. If you're not familiar with it, a pullman pan (also known as a pain de mie pan) has a lid.

Rather than having the flared sides of a typical bread pan, this one has straighter sides.

The lid performs several different functions. First, it keeps the bread confined, which means it can't rise as much as it wants to. That affects the crumb structure. You won't get big bubbles.

Second, the bread comes out of the pan with a square top. It's actually pretty square all around. It makes nice sandwich bread, and if you need to cut the crusts off for presentation, you won't have a lot of waste.

Third, since it cooks in that confined space, the steam from the cooking bread doesn't escape the way it does when you cook free-form, or even in an open pan.

Does everyone need a pullman pan? Probably not. But if you want this type of bread, having the right pan sure works a heck of a lot better than more, er ... creative methods.

Pullman Loaf (with Semolina and White Wheat) 
makes one 13x4x4 loaf

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 cup (5 1/2 ounces) semolina flour
2 tablespoons honey
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1/2 cup white wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the water, semolina flour, honey, yeast, and bread flour. Stir to combine. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

Add the white wheat flour, salt, and butter and knead with the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Flour your work surface lightly, and knead by hand briefly, then form the dough into a ball. Drizzle with olive oil and return it to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. turn out the dough and knead it briefly to knock out the large bubbles. Form it into a log about 13 inches long - to fit inside the pan. Place the log in the pan, seam-side down.

Put the lid on the pan and set aside until the dough has risen to within about an inch of the top of the pan - about 40 minute (but you might want to check at 30 minutes, just in case)

Bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.