Digestive or "Wheatmeal" Biscuits

Alternative Healthcare

(A recipe for  when healthcare reform is reversed.)

While snooping around for an authentic recipe for digestive biscuits, I learned how they got their curious name. Sometimes referred to as Wheatmeal Biscuits, these date back to the mid-19^th century and they’re probably from England. It was believed that the baking soda would fend off stomach acid as well as flatulence. Also, the fiber in the whole wheat flour and oatmeal would encourage regularity. My feeling is any cookie that has this quantity of butter isn’t screaming ‘fit for life!’ Wheat is one of the more difficult grains to digest. And, finally, be honest, have you ever farted and followed up with, “Time for a biscuit!”

I like these cookies because they’re delicious. They aren’t very sweet, they pair well with fruit, cheese, nut butters and/or jam and they’re great plain (my preference).   You should bake them regularly often. You can prepare them up to the ‘cut-out’ stage; lay them on a cookie sheet on wax paper or parchment (this way, you can layer them), freeze them, and then seal them in freezer bags.  Bake them directly from the freezer, adding a few minutes to baking time.

You can get all the grains for these biscuits in the “Bob’s Red Mill Aisle” at Fairway.  Or you can purchase these products online at Bob’s own site, or through Amazon. Buy organic when you can.  Once you begin using these products, you may not stop.  The quality is unsurpassed, and the price point is remarkably good. Buy the big bags of stuff.  Go to Bob’s site and register for sale notification. (Then pounce.)

For fun, purchase a small set of round fluted cutters. I bought mine at Sur la Table, but you can get them from Amazon - easy.

My recipe is adapted from an oat biscuit recipe from Nancy Silverton’s great book, Pastries from the La Brea Bakery. 

I liked the original recipe, but nobody else did, so these curatives were born.  

And now that we have them, we can worry less about health care reform being killed as the republicans dip into deep corporate pockets to buy back the house.

Peace, love and good health always,

jane

Digestive Biscuits

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup, minus 4 tsp. whole wheat flour

½ cup graham flour

2 cups old-fashioned steel cut oats

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 ½ tsp. kosher salt

½ cup fresh and moist light brown sugar, packed (generous, if you want a sweeter biscuit)

8 oz. unsalted European style (83% butterfat) butter, cut into 1” cubes and chilled,

            frozen (If you can’t find Cabot, Plugra or President, use Land-o-Lakes)

½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. low fat buttermilk (additional may be needed to make dough biscuit come together)
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract (optional), added to buttermilk

Procedure:

In the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a steel blade, combine all dry ingredients, pulsing to incorporate. 

Add the frozen butter and pulse until the mixture is a fairly fine meal. 

Transfer to a large bowl and make a well in the center.  Pour in the buttermilk and with your hands, rotating the bowl, mix the dry ingredients into the center, tossing and rotating until incorporated.  (This is where you may need to add a little more buttermilk, a very small amount at a time, until you feel the dough will come together when turned out to be kneaded together.)

Turn out onto a large surface that is dusted with some whole wheat flour and knead JUST until the dough comes together. Too much kneading will make a tough cookie.


You can immediately roll out the dough and begin baking, but if the butter has become too soft, you should: 

Separate into two and flatten to two large discs. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm – at least an hour, but longer is preferred.  You can chill the dough overnight.

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

On a lightly floured, large surface, roll a manageable sized piece of dough, 1/8 inch thick.  Cut the biscuits with a 2 ¼” (smaller or larger) fluted (plain if you don’t have fluted) round cutter (or even easier, a juice glass works well). Place close together on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, depending on thickness and your oven, until lightly browned.

Yield: varies upon size of biscuit cutter and how many you scarf down before counting.

hummus bi tahini the way it haute to bi

This has been a distracting period, and I've shared fewer recipes and trucs.

For my cyberfriends who actually read (and try some of) these recipes, my knives were recently sharpened at Chelsea Market by Samurai Sharpening and I'm excited about sharing more and wringing my hands less.

This is an updated and GREATLY IMPROVED recipe.  And an added perc is that it's easier than the original. If you've made the original recipe, try it this way. You'll hate me for pushing the "publish" button the first time.

If you haven't unsubscribed or flagged Blue Heron Kitchen as spam, I hope this one will absolve me. (IMHO, this one is worth checking the expiration date on your Beano.) I humbly offer:

Hummus Bi Tahini the Way it Haute to Bi

Once you've soaked and cooked beans, you'll hate canned beans and save them for the next food drive. Your beans won't be mushy, and the liquid won't look like it's a potential breeding ground for West Nile Virus.  

My friend, Bernadette, whose brainchild is the Long Beach, NY's Farmer's Market, is an expert about things green and healthful She advised me to cook beans in Kombu (seaweed).

You can buy Kombu at your health food store or at better markets, like Fairway or Whole Foods.  You can purchase Kombu online. It has all kinds of health benefits, none of which I really know about.  I use it because it's supposed to minimize the discomfort and shame of gas.

If you can, buy organic beans. Soak the beans overnight, drain them and then throw in a five inch strip of Kombu and cook them according to the directions on the bag. When the beans are cooked, the Kombu will be all slimy and viscous.  Some people actually keep it, eat it, or use it for soup. Frankly, I think it's unappetizing and that it tastes like rubber, so I chuck compost it.

I like my hummus rough.  This recipe is for a more 'toothsome' product.  If you like yours creamy, just use the steel blade of your food processor and whip the daylights out of it.  See if I care.

Without a food processor, you'll need a food mill. It's a great kitchen tool that you'll use when you make tomato or applesauce.  It separates skin from the pulp, and your sauces won't come out like baby food.  You can also make great baby food with a food mill. I have an ancient one made in France by Mouli that one day my kids will bat it out over.

Buy organic ingredients whenever possible. They are better for several reasons.  A primary one is because they taste better. (You may disagree, but like it or not, when your taste buds have grown accustomed to ingredients with numbers attached to their name, mother nature is on vacation and your taste buds have been tampered with.)

Once you've soaked and cooked the chick peas, this is quick and easy.  When it's finished, so that the flavors can meld, let it sit in the fridge overnight (or at least several hours).  It can be made oil free (there is, however, oil and fat in the tahini).  You can also opt to add some oil upon serving.

Some suggestions: drizzle olive oil, flavored or 'hot oils' before serving, sprinkle with Hungarian sweet or Spanish smoked paprika, squirt on or mix in some Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce,  available at any Asian grocery store or on Amazon.
Add Harissa, grate in some fresh horseradish, or roasted and puréed red pepper, chopped olives, toasted pignoli nuts, oregano, toasted and ground cumin, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, a swirl of pesto base, or popcorn (checking if you were paying attention).

Add your own serving suggestion in the "comment" suggestion!

What's great about this is that you're in the saddle.  So, hitch up your camel, start soaking your beans and have a gas!

Hummus bi Tahini

"Master Recipe"

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chick peas, liquid discarded (cook your own - it's worth it)

1 small clove fresh garlic chopped, or passed through a garlic press 
                 (more to taste if you're a garlic freak)

4 Tbsp. tahini (more or less to taste)


1-2 Tbsp. excellent quality extra-virgin olive oil (you can omit this, but the flavor will
                be less 'rounded')

Juice from 3 large lemons (more to taste if you're a lemon head)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste*

Procedure:

Using the grater disc of your food processor, pass the chick peas and garlic down and transfer to a medium sized mixing bowl.  Be careful to scrape everything into the bowl.

Add remaining ingredients (except salt and pepper) to the bowl, and using a potato masher, mash to desired consistency, adjusting quantities to taste.

Add salt and pepper, to taste (*Kitchen Truc: If you're salt-restricted, the addition of lemon juice is an excellent alternative.)

Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Serve with fresh pita, pita chips (brush pita with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and herbs, toast and cut into wedges), raw vegetables, on a sandwich with lettuce and tomato and other vegetables, or add herbs, olive oil and lemon juice and make a salad dressing. 

Yield: 1 1/2 pints 

peace,

jane

Top of the Form

Time to sharpen your pencils and shine your shoes!

Drive carefully, School's Open.

peace, love and pork,

jane

Honey Cake

Honey Cake

Adapted from Joan Nathan by Blue Heron Kitchen

Joan Nathan owes her life to celebrity chef, Tom Colicchio, who, at a star chef event, performed the Heimlich maneuver on her when she began choking on a chicken bone. 

Everyone says they hate honey cake.  That’s because they’ve never tasted this one. After baking and tasting this honey cake, like Joan, you too will be inscribed in the book of life.

Thanks to my friend Pnina, who is both a fabulous baker and a registered dietician, I’ve gotten into the habit of replacing part of my unbleached white flour for either whole wheat pastry flour, or straight up whole wheat flour. Use Bob's Red Mill flours.  They're available online, through Amazon or at better markets everywhere. 

For these honey cakes, Golden Blossom Honey is queen.  The orange blossom-ness is perfect.  It has been around forever and it's reliable, available and consistent.  I use it for graham crackers too.  Save the Manuka for health and well-being and the Tupelo for pay day and Van Morrison.

I use freshly ground coffee beans and throw in a shot of espresso. And King Arthur Flour’s, fiori di sicilia, an extract/flavoring of vanilla and citrus oil, adds an enticing “voos up mit dat?” 

These cakes rise to the heavens, so whatever loaf pans you use (I use the paper ones), fill them no more than between a half and two thirds up.

Last, you don’t have to be Jewish to make/love/honey/cake.  

Peace, love and L’shana Tova,

jane 

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly brewed strong coffee

1 ¾ cup honey

½ tsp fiori de sicilia (or flavoring of choice … 1 tsp. vanilla will work)

4 eggs, size large, room temperature

4 Tbsp. canola oil

1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar (make sure it’s very fresh and moist)

2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. ground mace

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground makes all the difference)

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Procedure:

Coat the inside of your liquid measuring cup with some canola oil and measure out honey (it will pour out easily).

In a 2-qt. saucepan, combine the coffee and honey and bring to a soft boil.  Remove from heat and cool.  Stir in fiori de sicilia/flavoring. 

While liquid is cooling measure out all dry ingredients into a large bowl and with a wire whisk, mix them together well.

Preheat oven to 300º F. If you are using conventional loaf pans, grease and flour two 9 x 5 loaf pans.  Or, use paper molds (no need to prepare these).  Or use any combination of loaf pans you have available.  Cupcake molds will work, but I'm sick of cupcakes.

In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or other electric mixer, beat the eggs, oil and sugar.

Stir the flour mixture and cooled honey mixture alternately (Truc: always end with the dry).

Pour batter into prepared (or unprepared paper) pans and bake for 60-70 minutes (in the large loaf pans) or less in smaller loaf pans, or until the cakes are springy to the touch. Wrap them up after they've cooled.

Ahead of time self-control warning:

So that the spices and honey have a chance to develop a spicy and complex relationship, DO NOT SERVE FOR 24 hours.  

Olive didn't wait and look what happened to her.