Thursday, April 2, 2015

Life Lessons and Recipes - B is for Buttermilk Biscuits

Biscuits are the topic for the second day of the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Yesterday I had a great time exploring and hopping from blog to blog discovering everything from Adoptions to Apple Fritters, it was a wonderful day. I hope you are enjoying this A to Z journey!

When I think of biscuits the first thing that comes to mind is the time my grandfather came over early one morning and my mother making breakfast for all of us. She made her delicious buttermilk biscuits, eggs and bacon. My mother's biscuits were the bomb that were light, fluffy and buttery.

Now you have to understand, we were not a well off family and everything was always doled out equally between my siblings and I. We knew exactly how many biscuits there were and how many each of us would be able to have. They were so yummy that we each wanted to make sure that we received our share.

When I reached to get my second and final biscuit, the basket was empty. Empty. I looked at grandpa, "Grandpa how many biscuits did you eat?"

He looked at me blankly and said, "I have know idea, I didn't know there was a limit." He smiled uncomfortably and later, as an adult, he told me that he felt bad that he had eaten my biscuit.

From that moment on, whenever we had biscuits at grandma and grandpa's house, grandpa would turn to me and jokingly ask if I had counted the biscuits and how many biscuits he was allowed to have. It became a family joke which I actually didn't mind, most of the time.

Lessons Learned: Make sure you grab both your biscuits first thing, Hah! Make sure everyone knows the rules, especially the unspoken ones that may only be known in your family. Make sure everyone gets their fair share whenever possible. Remember when something uncomfortable happens, there is a good chance you will laugh about it later.

Comfort food:

As much as we loved mom's biscuits it was often what we put on them that we loved even more. My mother would make chocolate and biscuits, in fact, we often had our choice between that or Butter horns, which is something else in our family that isn't like traditional butter horns.

Unfortunately my mother never taught me how to make her buttermilk biscuits, anytime I asked, she would say, "You've seen me make them a million times, just do it the way I do." That pretty much sums up how my mother taught me to cook, well not completely but it seems like it. She almost never used measuring utensils and that made it even harder.

Photo by Elizabeth Famellos

Chocolate and Biscuits


Use your favorite biscuit recipe, I used the recipe Southern Buttermilk Biscuits this time. It wasn't as good as my mother's but it was good.

After you put them in the oven begin the chocolate syrup.

In a small to medium sauce pan:

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flour (optional)

Mix really well.

Turn on burner to medium and add 1/2 cup milk (yes only a half cup) and stir until all is mixed together.

Stir frequently (or constantly) until it comes to a boil. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla, boil for one minute more and then turn it off or to very low. Stir occasionally until you are ready to serve..

Open up your biscuits, add a slice of butter, and spoon hot chocolate syrup over them and enjoy! Pour a tall glass of milk and you have a decadent and delicious breakfast.

What special breakfast did your mom make when you were growing up?



Check out the other bloggers participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge.




PageLines- picture20193.jpgMorgan Dragonwillow is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, poet & author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam, creatrix of  #OctPoWriMo You can find her writing and dancing into a wild and juicy life at Playing with Words. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.
You can also find her on Google+

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19 comments:

  1. Your mother cooked like my mother - "what's a measuring utensil?" Sadly, I picked up the same habit - a dash of this and a spoonful of that. Recipes are guidelines, road-maps for creativity. The beauty is that each dish comes out a bit different every time. Those chocolate biscuits sound scrumptious!

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    1. Yes, I cook like that as well but for my girls, I figured out approximate measuring so that I could write down the recipes for them. And I do agree, "Recipes are guidelines, road-maps for creativity." Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  2. That sounds awesomely delicious! Thanks for sharing it :)

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  3. Well, you've made me hungry again this morning!

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    1. Hah! Hope you can find something yummy to fill that hunger! Thanks Lee, for stopping by!

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  4. Taking me back to the woman who raised me!! :D Yummy

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  5. I learnt to cook the same way too. The biscuit sounds delicious. I like poetry too, and tend to read lots of it at given time.

    Best wishes for a great A-Z,
    Nilanjana.
    from Madly-in-Verse

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nilanjana, Sounds like we have a lot in common. I'm looking forward to checking out your blog!

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  6. Oh my those chocolate biscuits sound delicious! My grandmother made the most wonderful cinnamon rolls, but alas it was one of those eyeball measurement things plus a yeast dough, two things that make duplication challenging. But my taste buds still remember. :-)

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    1. Thanks Deborah, yes, eyeballing it makes it difficult for others to recreate a recipe. I learned how to bake bread from my ex-husbands mother (she also cooked like that but was good about showing you how) but after he and I broke up, I didn't make it for a long time. Now I can't remember how to make it. :(

      Glad you still remember the taste of it. :D

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  7. chocolate! those look so yummy! biscuits!

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  8. All I can say is YUM! I've never had (or even thought about having) chocolate on biscuits. But what a great idea.

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    1. I'm told it is an Oklahoma thing. I have only met one other person that grew up with Chocolate and Biscuits and that is where her family originated as well. Hope you decide to try it because it is quite yummy!

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  9. My husband, who is an excellent cook (fortunate for me, as I am not!), does not measure. I've tried to feature some of his recipes on my blog and it is hard to get him to translate what he does into a form others can follow. Biscuits are not in my northern heritage at all. I love a good biscuit with sausage gravy (a love developed when I lived in the South) but never heard of serving one with chocolate.

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    1. Hi Alana, I too love biscuits with gravy and I'm originally from California so it isn't necessarily a southern thing. :D

      Regarding your husband and how he cooks, I think a lot of the best cooks work this way. I had to force myself to figure out approximate measuring for my daughters because I really wanted them to be able to cook my recipes. As they grew up they have learned to do the same thing that I do.

      I haven't heard of many others knowing about this recipe or combination but I just did a Google search and there are others with the same combination but different recipes. As far as I know it goes back to my great grandmother in my family but her mother may have cooked it as well.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  10. Dang! Those chocolate biscuits look incredible! I'm really enjoying the bits of your own life story that you are weaving into these food posts, Morgan.

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