"biscuit" news and stories

Sonya Thomas, a.k.a. "the Black Widow," has just set a new record in her chosen sport of competitive eating. Yesterday, at a competition during the 16th Annual Virginia State Harley Davidson Owners Group Rally, Thomas ate 60 ham biscuits in 8 minutes, beating out 11 other competitors.

A ham biscuit is a simple, popular Southern snack that consists of a fluffy biscuit, split in half, and filled with ham and butter. The biscuits used in the competition look more like hamburger buns than real Southern biscuits, but that might have made them easier to eat, since the "gurgitators" dunk them in water to soften them up and make chewing easier.

Sonya has another trick to help her get the food down, which is hopping up and down during the final moments of the competition. You can read her account on her website.

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I have had strawberry shortcakes that look like this before and, while the tall cake is pretty, it almost never tastes as good as it looks. Diners spend too much time emphasizing the look of the cake over the flavor.  I much prefer the biscuit style of strawberry shortcakes, like the one pictured here from Di's Kitchen. I love the way a slightly buttery crumbly scone-like cake is paired with juicy strawberries and sweet cream. The flavors and textures come together perfectly as the cake soaks up the strawberry juices and the whole thing becomes a lovely summertime treat. One of the best things about it is that it takes a relatively small amount of time to make, since the biscuit component is done in minutes and can be made ahead. Instead of whipped cream, I prefer to top my strawberry shortcakes with a blend of sweetened mascarpone cream, but if you have good berries, you can't go wrong.

If, by some chance, you don't have good berries, check out these strawberry puddings for some alternative uses.

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Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the movie version of Dan Brown's mega-seller The Da Vinci Code arrives in theatres today.

What you don't know, however, is that the success of Dan Brown's novel has inspired me to write a pastry-related religion/art history/murder thriller, The Da Vinci Scone. An excerpt is below and a real scone (like our Pumpkin-Cranberry, Dried Fruit or White Chocolate Buttermilk recipes) might help set the mood:


What did it mean, this baked good in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre?

The security doors were slammed shut. There had been no way out for whoever had left the scone in front of the Caravaggio painting.

"Is this some sort of biscuit?" Sofie asked.

"It's what we call a scone," Langdorn replied.  "A scone is bread product made with baking powder as a leavening agent. It's a component of the ancient English ceremony of high tea. "

Langdorn stared at the currants flecking the scone. They formed a strange shape. A star? A pentagram? An asterisk?

What message was contained within the elaborate pattern of the currants?

What sinister truth did this scone hold?

Adding potato to bread doughs gives them a moist, but very light texture. Potatoes are on the bland side, though, so Gemma, the Part Time Pro-Bono Baker decided to add a little more flavor to her potato biscuits by adding cheddar cheese and topping them with poppy seeds for a bit of crunch. They take mere minutes to put together, and even though the potato needs to be cooked in advance, boiling one potato doesn't take much time. When I bake things that call for adding potato to the dough, I will often just use reconstituted potato flakes, which you can buy at the store. They turn out the same consistency in the finished product - and these biscuits are a finished product I wouldn't mind seeing on my table.

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Irish steel cut oats, like McCann's, make oatmeal that is out of this world, but they are also very versatile. The oats can be used in savory applications, like oat risotto, as well as sweet ones. McCann's has a recipe on their website for a variation on oat cakes that use steel cut oats. Oat cakes are flat biscuits or crackers that are made with oats. They are fairly plain on their own, but the flavor of the oats and the crunch of the biscuit make them pair perfectly with cheese and other spreads. They're a great addition to a cracker tray when serving appetizers or for snack food at any time.