HBinFive: Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Apple Strudel Bread, and Hamburger Buns

I am really enjoying participating in the Healthy Bread in Five baking group. I love bread and being able to make my own and still have it be healthy is a great thing. The differences in store bought and homemade are even more noticeable than when I was just using my bread machine. The crust is soft and slightly chewy...in a good way! And my apartment smells amazing while the bread is baking! That is a big, big plus!

On our schedule this time was the soft whole wheat sandwich bread on Pgs 92-93, Hamburger or Hotdog Buns on Pgs 94-95, and Apple Strudel Bread on Pgs 277-278. After the success I had with the master recipe, I was eager to try the soft whole wheat bread. As before, this was pretty easy and quick to prepare. Unlike last time though, I did make the dough ahead of time and allowed it to rest in the fridge for 24 hours before baking.

The first thing I made was the regular sandwich loaf. As I said last time, I love a good sandwich and am always looking for a good sandwich bread. The whole wheat master recipe made a really good sandwich but this soft whole wheat was even better. It wasn't so intensely whole wheat. It stood up better to my favorite quick work lunch sandwich...the PB&J wonderfully. Plus this bread was sweeter than the master recipe. But it wasn't too sweet. Perfect for the PB&J.

The next one I made was the Apple Strudel bread. I love apple strudel so it was a no brainer that this was getting made! For the filling I used some wonderful Jonagold apples and dried cranberries in place of the raisins.

I think I rolled it a little to big because there was about a 2 inch border around the filling. After I rolled it up, I just tucked the extra under the rest and it was just fine.

I used turbinado sugar as the topping. I am in love with this sugar! It has been going in just about everything.

The smell of the sandwich loaf baking was amazing but this was just out of this world. Even Charlie was making trips into the kitchen to get a good whiff every now and then!

When I pulled it out of the oven, I noticed a slight crack on the edge where the filling had spilled out a little. It wasn't too bad but I let the bread cool slightly in the pan before I took it out. When I came back to check the bread later after I had taken it out to cool the rest of the way, it had sunk in the middle a bit. I was worried then that I had taken it out of the oven too soon. However, when I cut into it I was happy to find that it had cooked all the way through.

oh my goodness. Delicious doesn't even being to describe this. The filling was tender and juicy. The bread was soft and perfectly cooked. I love that this was made with whole wheat. You could taste it but it didn't take away from the dessert feel of the bread.  It just made you feel not so bad when you cut a big slice!  And it also puts it into acceptable breakfast food (at least in my head!).

Next up was the hamburger buns.  I almost didn't get these made but I had just enough dough leftover from the sandwich loaf and the apple strudel bread to make 4 buns.  The rest time after shaping was shorter than the loaf and apple strudel bread so I was able to make these in time for dinner (though I didn't let them cool as long as I probably should!).

They looked more like big rolls than hamburger buns but when you think about it, a bun is essentially just a big roll anyway.  My only issue with the buns was that my sesame seeds fell off when I sliced the buns.  That was probably more my fault than anything.  I used melted butter instead of the egg wash.

I used some of my homemade barbecue sauce I made with my Memaw recently and mixed it with some shredded chicken to make a barbecue chicken sandwich.  The sweet tanginess of the sauce paired wonderfully with the slight sweetness of the bun.  The buns made excellent 'sauce soppers'.  They sucked up the delicious sauce but didn't get soggy.

I definitely will be making all the breads again.  The sandwich loaf was just perfect for my sandwich eating and the apple strudel bread was just amazing.  And the hamburger buns were light years above store bought.  I keep saying it but I may not buy ready made again!

Check out the blogroll here to see a member list for HBinFive and for more delicious bread.  If you would like more information on HBinFive, visit our founder Michelle at Big Black Dog.  You can purchase the book here.  And you should definitely buy it!  I've loved every recipe that I've made so far.  But don't just take my word for it.  Try some for yourself!

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

It's Daring Baker time again! This time we made Nanaimo Bars. We also had an additional challenge of making our own graham crackers for the graham cracker crumbs needed for the bars. Having always bought graham crackers from the store, I was eager to give the homemade version a try. Especially after seeing Alton Brown make some last week on his cracker episode. Nanaimo bars are not something I had heard of until recently. Being a Canadian favorite, they aren't something that you see very often in the States unless you live closer to the Canadian border. With the Olympics coming up in Vancouver, Canadian foods have been making a big appearance everywhere. Nanaimo bars really peaked my interest because I had no idea what they were.

The graham crackers were fairly simple to make. I made them the night before I made the nanaimo bars. You can get them done in one evening but you could also stretch it out into an afternoon if you needed too. If we weren't going to make them with the gluten free flours, we were allowed to use wheat flour.

Oh my goodness. I loved these. If I had known earlier how good and how simple these were to make, I would have been making them by hand. They were sweet and tasted like...well...graham crackers. Only better than you would find in any box at the store. They were crunchy yet slightly chewy. Delicous plain or with a little of the icing like middle layer of the nanaimo bars.

The nanaimo bars were simple but time consuming. You have to make each layer and allow it to chill before adding the next. My only trouble came when it was time for the chocolate top layer. My first try was not thin enough. I think I let it cool too much and it nearly was solid like a candy bar. I was able to spread it slightly but it almost messed up the white middle layer. On my next try I added a touch more butter to make the chocolate stay liquid while it cooled. This time it spread perfectly.

After a long chill in the fridge, the bars were ready to cut and plate. Or at least I thought I was going to plate them. I had made a half batch and used a small rectangular pyrex dish to make them. These little buggers did not want to come out in one piece. The top layer kept snapping off when I tried to pry them out. I had to go through one row nearly of messy looking ones before I was able to get some nice ones out. I'm sure it would have been the same with the full batch in an 8x8 though.

I was only able to eat one tiny square because boy these things are super rich. And way too sweet. And too chocolatey. I'm sure they would be great for a large group of people but for just me...not so much. The middle layer was my favorite because it was so icing like. I spread a little of that on the graham crackers and liked that more than the bars. It was nice to try a favorite of Canada but I'll stick to something a little lighter next time.

Thanks to our host, Lauren of Celiac Teen for the great challenge! For more nanaimo bars and graham crackers, check out the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Nanaimo Bars and Graham Crackers

Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars


Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Additional Information:

These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer.

The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Mine lasted about that long.

If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.

For the Nanaimo Bars, if making with wheat, replace the gluten-free graham wafer crumbs with equal parts wheat graham wafer crumbs!

TWD: Cocoa-Nana Bread

For this weeks edition of Tuesdays with Dorie, Steph of Obsessed with Baking chose Cocoa-Nana Bread, page 46. I was eager to try this because I am a big lover of banana bread. Not so much of chocolate (though I do like it) but it's not my favorite thing to eat.

I made half a recipe and then made that into 2 mini loaves. Trying to get as much banana flavor as possible, I used 2 bananas instead of just one. Other than that, I made the recipe as written.

I really wanted to like this bread. Really, I did. I love bananas. I like chocolate. I love bananas and chocolate together (chocolate covered banana anyone?). This however, I did not like. It was way too rich and dense. I felt like I was eating a bar of dark chocolate. It was a little better when warm but not much. I couldn't taste the bananas at all.

It almost reminds me of a Milky Way Bar in appearance when it's sliced.

I'm sure the chocoholics among us would love this recipe but unfortunately...I'm not a chocoholic. I'd rather have a nice banana bread with chocolate chips mixed in.

Thanks to Steph for choosing this week! I'm sorry I wasn't a fan!

For more Cocoa-Nana bread, check out the TWD blogroll.

HBinFive: Master Recipe

For our 1st Official bread baking from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, our recipe was the Master Recipe on pages 53-59. From that we could make either (or all) pages 53-59 - 1 Loaf of Bread, pages 71-73 – Epi or Wreath shaped bread, pages 233-234 - Spicy Whole Grain Snack Crackers, or something else from the book if we desired. Because I was baking at nearly the last minute, I decided to make 1/2 of a recipe of the Master and make the Hearty Wheat Sandwich Loaf on pages 62-63. I may go back later and make the 3 options. The crackers sound very interesting!

I'm always on the lookout for a good sandwich loaf recipe. I like to take sandwiches to work for lunch but those can get boring very quickly. A big part of the downfall of a sandwich for me is the bread. If the bread is dry and blah...you can forget having a decent sandwich no matter what the filling is inside.

I made and baked the loaf in the minimum amount of time that the authors give for the recipe. I almost forgot to make the bread for this bread braid and I wanted to get it done. It was probably a lot wetter than it would have been after a rest in the fridge. I also don't know if affected the rise in the oven because it seemed that the dough rose very nicely. I didn't have an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan so I used a 9 x 5 x 3 instead. The bread ended up filling the pan and rising slightly above the rim.

It baked for right at 40 minutes. I was worried that it might have baked for too long because the top was really brown. When I sliced it however, it was just fine. Next time I might start checking at about 35 minutes.

My slices turned out better than my previous attempts. Usually they end up a little wonky. Thinner on top and a little too thick on the bottom seems to be my norm!

While I didn't have a chance to make a sandwich out of this loaf (yet!), I did enjoy a little strawberry jam and honey cinnamon butter on a few slightly warm slices (I can't wait for it to completely cool!). I was worried that the whole wheat would be overwhelming but it was surprisingly subtle. The jam and butter were allowed to shine as they should on good bread. That's not to say the bread was boring or blah. Far from it. By itself it was good. A little plain perhaps. It's not the type of bread you want to eat alone. It needs a filling, spread, or something to be really good. Of course, it is called a sandwich loaf. Obviously it's meant to be filled!

You can also see much more from the HBinFive bloggers here on the bread braid.  Check out the blogroll here to see a member list for HBinFive.  If you would like more information on HBinFive, visit our founder Michelle at Big Black Dog.

Daring Cooks: Pork Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppyliciousand she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

When it comes to Asian food, I’ve really only had Chinese and Japanese.  That’s not because I have a dislike of other Asian foods.  Rather, those are the two kinds that I grew up eating in my area.  You didn’t really see many Thai or Korean places but Chinese take out and Japanese hibachi restaurants were very common (perhaps a little too common in Chinese take out…).  I love Asian food and always enjoy getting to try new varieties and flavors.  I’ve experimented little with Thai food in the past because of the spicy hot peppers that seemed to be very prevalent.  With this month’s Daring Cooks Challenge, I was able to try more Thai cuisine without burning my mouth!  

We were given a few options with this challenge.  Mainly, a choice in protein and marinade.  I went with the faster marinade because I had all of the ingredients in my pantry and fridge.  For my protein I went with pork.  I tend to stick to beef and chicken  as my protein of choice so I needed a little variety.

I held off slightly on the cayenne pepper in the marinade because I am a spice wimp.  Other than that, I made the marinade as written.  I left the pork in the marinade for about 24 hours to get the full effect of all of the flavors.  When it came time to cook the pork, I broiled in the oven because I have no grill.

I served the pork satay in tortillas drizzled with a little of the peanut sauce.  I loved the slightly spicy hint I got from the marinade.  It was just enough heat without being overwhelming.  The best part was the peanut sauce.  It really pulled all of the flavors together.  Alone, the pork was good but it was absolutely delicious with the peanut sauce.  I will have to use the sauce for other meats in the future.

I included all of the options we were given (sauces as well).  The marinade I chose was the faster marinade but the regular marinade sounds tasty and I may try it next time.  Thanks to our host Cuppy for a great challenge!  To see more satays, checkout the Daring Cooks Blogroll. 

Recipes

Depending on the ingredients you select…
Time Table

	Prep	Marinate	Cook
Pork	30 min.	4 – 24 hrs	20 min.
Beef/Lamb	30 min.	6 – 24 hrs	20 min.
Chicken	30 min.	2 – 12 hrs	10 – 15 min.
Vegetables	5 - 10 min.	2 hrs	5 - 10 min.
Tofu	5 - 10 min.	2 hrs	5 - 10 min.

Things you’ll need for the long version:
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Food processor (optional)
Juicer (optional)
Medium bowl w/ lid or plastic wrap (or ziplock bag)

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Fast Marinade

Chill Chart

Pork	Beef/Lamb	Chicken	Vegetables	Tofu (no oil)
4-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	6-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	1-4 hours Up to 12 hrs	20 min – 2 hrs Up to 4 hrs	20 min – 4 hrs Up to 12 hrs

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Pepper Dip (optional)

4 Tbsp soy sauce (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Tamarind Dip (optional)

4 Tbsp tamarind paste (helpful link below) (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)
1 tsp brown or white sugar, or to taste (about 5 mls)

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

TWD: Tarte Tatin

I'm ashamed to admit it but I haven't participated in Tuesdays with Dorie much the past month.  It's not that the recipes weren't to my liking, a combination of being on vacation a good chunk of the month plus being sick had to put the baking on hold.  I'm still sick but better than I was for a while!

We had two options for the recipe this week.  Because it is the 2nd anniversary for the group, our founder, Lauri of Slush, had a vote between members and Tarte Tatin and Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake were the top vote getters.  We could do both or just one.  I decided to do the tarte tatin because it seemed to be the simpler of the two.  While I'm sure the cake is delicious, I'm the only one eating it right now and cake is way more than I want to make.


Traditionally, the tarte tatin is made with apples but Dorie suggests pears as an acceptable substitute.  Being a big pear fan I jumped at the chance to use them.  She also has an option for the crust you can use.  Puff pastry was my crust of choice because I nearly always have some in the freezer for an easy dessert.


I only had one problem while making the tarte tatin.  Despite cooking the caramel for over 20 minutes, it never got to the right color.  I decided to just put it in the oven and see if it would still turn out (I admit, I was tired of watching it!).


Where I really veered away from the recipe was in the baking.  You are supposed to bake in the pan you made the caramel and cooked the pears.  Because I made a single serving of the tarte tatin, I moved the filling into a ramekin and then topped with the puff pastry.  

The puff pastry really puffed up.  It shrunk back down after it was removed from the oven however.  


I was worried that the tarte tatin wouldn't come out of the ramekin since it was a little thicker in height than the pan but it came out just fine.  A few slices of pears stuck to the bottom of the ramekin but that was easily fixed.  The flip was no problem because of the ramekin's size.  Just place a small plate over and out it came!  After a short cool down period, the tarte tatin was ready to taste.

Despite being very simple, the tarte tatin was really delicious.  The pears were perfectly tender and sweet from not only the caramel but their natural sweetness.  I was worried the caramel would be too sweet but it turned out to be just perfect.  After sitting in the caramel sauce while the tarte tatin cooled, the puff pastry soaked up some of the caramely goodness.  I had a little too much caramel sauce for my single serving.  I had to move the tarte tatin to another plate because it was practically swimming in caramel sauce.  Next time I would cut down on the amount I used.  It would probably be enough for two single servings.

To see more Tarte Tatin or Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake, check out the TWD blogroll.  To get the recipes, see Tarte Tatin, pages 312 and 313 and Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake, pages 256 and 257 in Baking.  

Recipes to Rival: Pigs in a Blanket

I'm late, I'm late!  My apologies to my fellow Recipes to Rival members for not posting on time.  I had planned on making the December challenge on New Year's Eve since they were appetizers.  Unfortunately, a few days before my sinuses decided it was the perfect time to start doing what they do best....make me sick while on vacation.  While I probably could have made the pigs in a blanket appetizer like I planned, I just plain felt yucky and couldn't do it (I'm sure everyone I was with was probably grateful too!).  I'm still not 100% but I really wanted to get these made before my vacation is over.

We were given 3 options for our appetizers and only had to choose one if we wanted.  I decided to go with the mini pigs in a blanket because they are a staple at nearly every family gathering and I love them.  Normally we just roll the little smokies in the canned crescent rolls (come on...who doesn't love the crescent rolls?!).  For Recipes to Rival, we had to make a biscuit dough from scratch.  It looked like a fairly simple and quick dough to put together.  Instead of the traditional beef little smokies, I went with a turkey version.

Like I anticipated, the biscuit dough came together in no time.  I had to add a little more flour because it was incredibly sticky.

I then rolled the dough out to about the thickness of the canned crescent rolls.  Because it was just me at home now, I made only a quarter recipe of the dough.

That was enough to do about one package of the little smokies.  For the few little smokies I had leftover, I rolled in half a slice a bacon and then rolled them in brown sugar.  Bake them until the bacon is crispy. soooo good!

They baked up in about the same time as the other version.  Dipped in mustard, they were quite delicious.  The biscuit was slightly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  The turkey smokies weren't as flavorful as the beef but for the amount of fat I saved, I was happy I used them.  Would I make the pigs in a blanket like these every time?  Probably not.  I have a soft spot in my stomach for the crescent roll version and as fast as these were, the other is even faster.  But these were very good and worth the effort of making the dough from scratch.  If I was to make then again, they probably would be even better with a little parmesan sprinkled on top.

For more of the appetizers we were given, check out the Recipes to Rival blogroll here!

Mini Pigs in a Blanket

Bride's Biscuits

adapted from Southern Sideboard, by the Junior League of Jackson Mississippi, 1978
*note- this is a large recipe purposelly so you can use it as needed. If you are not big on biscuits or anything made with biscuits you can reduce the amounts.

5 cups flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk
1 package dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons
5 tablespoons warm water
mini hot dogs, aka cocktail weiners (I used 1 package for a 1/4 recipe of dough)

Sift dry ingredients, then cut in shortening. Add buttermilk. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to mixture. Knead lightly. Cut squares and wrap hot dog at a diagonal. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 450F about 10 to 12 minutes. Store dough in refrigerator, pinching off as much as needed each time. It can also be frozen.