Well, I tried my hand at Martha’s buttermilk biscuits. Alas, I did not get the results I was after. But I think I might know why.

First, I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand. Actually, I never have any buttermilk on hand. (No, not never really, but hardly ever.)

Now for most people this little discrepancy would mean no biscuits today. But that’s where I stand out from the crowd. ‘No buttermilk’ doesn’t mean we can’t have buttermilk biscuits. No, it just means we can’t have traditional buttermilk biscuits.

Instead we’ll be having them made with milk and lemon juice. Its much better like this and way cool. And to make it even cooler, I says to myself, I says “Lets not measure the lemon juice before we add it to the milk. We’ll eyeball it.” Sweet.

Second, it might have had something to do with the fact that I decided to cut it in half, but forgot to cut the amount of ‘buttermilk’ in half. Argh.

It was like a bad movie. I just kept adding more and more and more liquid. Eventually I stopped but I think I had like a tablespoon left, so it was kind of like — Argh.

Then, I decided to rescue the soupy biscuit batter by adding more flour. Then I rolled them out and cut them out and baked them for a while and cooled them for a while.

Finally I tried one. I didn’t want to, but I felt obliged. I’ll spare you the details and just reiterate that I did not get the results I was after.

I’ll try again another time. I might even make them the traditional way.

We have some absolutely bookmarkable posts this week.

By the time you finish reading them, you’ll have:

• 6 new delicious recipes to add to your collection,
• 6 new cool crafts to try out,
• some useful facts on how to make your money work for you and
• the particulars on a plethora of food blogs

I know you’re as excited as I am, so lets get started.

• Mama Bear shares My Mom’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake posted at I’ve Got A Little Space To Fill. It sounds so good; it looks even better. Be sure to check it out.

• HowToMe posts about How To Bake a Treat – Mom’s Savory Banana Cake over at HowToMe. Its a recipe which has been handed down from generation to generation, you know it must be good.

• vh presents Cheap Eats: Albondigas soup posted at Funny about Money. What an excellent idea for a chilly autumn night!

• Mary talks about Food Gifts over at SimplyForties. A couple of great gift ideas and a neat tip on being prepared to give when the opportunity presents itself.

• Annette presents Sun-Dried Tomato Bites posted at Craft Stew. An elegant dip tweaked to perfection.

• Stephanie shares her Cider Chicken recipe posted at Stop the Ride!. Its tried and true.

• Joanne posts about Supplies For Homemade Gift Baskets over at Homemade Gift Basket Ideas. Outstanding tips on where to get what you need. Very helpful.

• ChristineMM presents A Hat for a Friend (or I May Keep It If She Remains Too Busy To Connect With Me!) posted at ChristineMM’s Creative Pursuits. Ever wonder how to make a hat that’s warm enough to be worn while skiing and stylish enough to be paired with a dress coat? ChristineMM tells you how.

• Alex offers Printable Christmas Cards over at Home Life Weekly. Many different designs to choose from, plus a great tip on what kind of paper to use and why.

• Lisa presents first-anniversary posted at la femme papier. Such a wonderfully darling solution for what to give on a very special day.  

• Cindy explains how to make a recycled-net-market-bag over at My recycled bags. What a splendid idea. It looks fantastic!

• Stephanie shows a way to Make a Simple Fleece Scarf in Minutes! over at Make It From Scratch. A truly thoughtful gift in four easy steps.

• MBB presents How To Create A CD Ladder posted at Money Blue Book Finance Blog. You work hard for your money, now its time for your money to work hard for you. This excellent post shows you how to get started.

• Kelly shares the Top 100 Blogs for Foodies over at Culinary School Guide. Its a terrific resource. This is one post you won’t want to miss.

Wow that was fun!

Be sure to check out next week’s edition over at The Daily Dish.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

You’ve made this week’s carnival one of the best editions yet!

Needless to say, breakfast did not go as planned.

No matter.

Besides who wants a lavish breakfast in bed when he can have a fast and easy breakfast sandwich in the kitchen. Not me, no-sir-ree-bob!

I have always been a fan of breakfast sandwiches. Just grab a biscuit and your favorite filling and go. Quick and delicious.

However there has always been a small issue with my sandwiches. The look. I know what matters most but while taste is paramount, aesthetics must also be considered.

I have developed a system that helps me achieve my goal.

I start by cutting out the biscuits with a cookie cutter that is the size of one of the cells from my muffin tin. The biscuits are placed on a ‘parchment paper lined’ cookie sheet.

Then I beat a few eggs, season with a bit of salt and pepper and pour the eggs into the muffin tin, filling it half way.

Next I hand pick a couple of frozen sausage patties and arrange them in the baking dish.

After that, everything goes into the oven and gets baked until done.

Assembly is quick and easy. Open biscuit, add egg patty, add sausage patty, add shredded cheddar, close biscuit. Eat.

These breakfast sandwiches taste great. They also freeze well and make for a convenient breakfast when prior plans … um … fall through.

ps Sunday is a day of rest around here so I’ll see you Monday

Tomorrow I shall order breakfast in bed.

I shall have a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, a two egg omelet with a dash of salt and a bit of pepper, two sausage links mixed especially for me by my favorite butcher and a sticky bun made from my own little recipe.

My breakfast shall be served to me on a beautiful ‘rose petaled’ platter. I shall be given a lacey little napkin to lay in my lap and a lovely little bell to ring when I am finished.

I shall not awake until all of my breakfast needs have been met.

If I don’t figure out the cookie dilemma, I could send brownies during the holidays.

It would be a great alternative, if it didn’t pose a bit if a problem. And that is the fact that I don’t have a tried and true recipe for gourmet brownies. And if I plan to send any, no other type of brownie will do.

I want a very special brownie recipe. It can’t make light and fluffy brownies, those that are more like a cake. And it can’t be too dense, I don’t like fudge. No this recipe must create brownies that are silky and smooth, not too heavy not too light. Just perfect.

I do have one brownie recipe in my collection, but I don’t use it. I must say that I prefer the stuff from the store. My brownie recipe is only there as a place holder. I always planned to switch it out with a 5 star recipe, but just never got around to it. However with this new need for something to fall back on, I think its time I made finding the perfect recipe a priority.

I am so excited.

I’ve been granted the privilege of hosting an absolutely amazing event.

Come next Tuesday, I shall be hosting the ‘Make it from scratch’ blog carnival.

Woo hoo!

I’ve already taken a sneak peek at some of the posts that will be included in the carnival.

This is going to be so much fun.

If you’d like to join us, you have two options:

1.    You can submit your post to blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_1123.html

Or

2.    You can submit it via email to makeitfromscratch at ymail.com

If you choose the second option, make sure you include the following information:

(1-5 are required, 6 & 7 are optional.)

I am really looking forward to this.

As I was making a batch and freezing the other two batches of chocolate cookies, I could not help but think about Christmas time.

Like many, I love the idea of sending cookies during the holidays. I know how cool it is to receive special treats in the mail and getting that sort of thing during major holidays just has a way of making it even more special.  

I feel a lot of excitement and a bit if anxiety this year.

I’m excited because I’ll be able to send these chocolate cookies along with chocolate chip cookies. I’ll send some with chocolate morsals, some with walnuts, and some with both. 

I can give those who visit frozen ‘log shaped’ dough with a gift card that tells the baking temperature and the cooking time. I’m very excited.

But as I mentioned there is some anxiety. It stems from the fact that the cookies take two days to get where they are going. I wondered about freshness. So I wrapped the cookies in plastic and placed them in a box to see what they would be like after two days.

I was not pleased. They never live that long here, I only bake enough for one day, so I had no idea what a difference a couple of days makes. I must find a way to send them through the mail so that they reach their destination with as much freshness as possible.

I know I have options. If all else fails, I could go the ‘cookie in a jar’ route or simply ‘overnight’ the cookies.

I had a wonderful weekend. But today I find I have no sweets. I must away to the kitchen to make pies and cookies and cakes and such.

I’ve tweaked the cookie recipe again. And I’m extremely pleased with it now.

As I was working with it, I thought the melted chocolate was too much trouble and that I should just omit it. But I discovered that warming the chocolate in the microwave worked just as well as warming it on the stove and it only took a few moments. Of course the chocolate had to be watched very closely, but again it only took about 30 seconds, with me stirring every 5-10 seconds.

Chocolate cookies

½ cup butter flavored crisco

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 oz melted chocolate

1½ cups flour

 ½ cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

First I beat the crisco and sugar, at the medium setting, for about a minute. Then I added the rest of the ingredients and beat until everything was incorporated.

When the cookie dough was done, I put it into an oiled ziplock bag. Then I removed as much air as possible, and proceeded to roll the dough into a log. Once logged, the dough went into the freezer, while I cleaned up.

After I was done, the dough came out. It was stiffer and easier to cut. I placed the pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. They cooled for 5 minutes.

How did they taste?

Terrific!

They were soft but not too soft. They were rich and delicious and they sort of melted in my mouth. They were extremely chocolaty, having both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. I did choose to leave out the chocolate chunks called for in the original recipe, but they certainly could have been left in to deliver a triple chocolate whammy. Come to think of it, nuts would’ve been great too.

 Suffice it to say, they were very very good.

ps Sunday is a day of rest around here, so I’ll see you Monday

I was just about to make the chocolate chocolate chip cookies when I decided to give Martha Stewart’s milk chocolate cookies another chance.

That picture looked so good.

But I didn’t want to make three dozen cookies. I only wanted to make a few in case the problem really was recipe related.

        I used a conversion calculator to scale things down. This time I only made enough batter for about 6 cookies. Even then though, I had decided not to put all of my hope in one cookie basket.

        I resolved to make another scaled down batch. This one for tweaking. Not much, just one or two changes. Like melting the chocolate by itself and using butter flavored Crisco instead of butter and adding a little water because the batter looked a bit dry.

Small changes.

They both baked at 325 degrees for 10 minutes and cooled for 5.

The first set, the original recipe, were not like the cookies I’d made a few days ago. They were good. Not at all crunchy.

        The second batch was also good. Very soft, very fudgey.

Which was better?

I have to be honest and confess that my palette is not yet sophisticated enough to be able to tell the difference. I know which version I’ll be making in the future but other than that, I think they are both good.

I have to say I sure am glad I gave the recipe another chance.