Another cheesy dessert and a better biscuit
Over the past two weeks I’ve discovered that although I can lose some pounds on South Beach Diet, phase one, I cannot think well on SBDP1…basically it became really difficult to write, to think, and to be happy. Thank god that’s over and I’ve got those bad eating habits that I accrued over the past few months off my back. SBDP2 is much more user and brain friendly.
This is a fabulous dessert that I whipped up yesterday. It’s just a simple baking powder biscuit with a delightfully light, rich, flavorful melange of whipped cream, ricotta, and neufchatel cheese sandwiched between the layers of the biscuit. Circled with some blueberries I found in the freezer (again!) and sprinkled with just a touch of powdered sugar it was simply divine.
As I said, the filling for this luscious treat was whipped cream, ricotta, and neufchatel. I mix a container of lowfat ricotta, a 8 ounce package of neufchatel together in the foodprocessor. I add 1/4 of equal sweetener (sugar would be better but not on SBD) and the insides of a vanilla bean. Whirl that all together and transfer it to a container and refrigerate for at least two hours. Then whip a pint of heavy cream. Once it’s almost fully whipped add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/4 cup of equal sweetener. Whip it to mix it all together until it’s light and fliffy whip cream. Gently fold the cheese mixture into it and refrigerate for another two hours before serving. I usually serve 1/3 of a cup of this in a pretty glass cup with or without berries.
I make an awesome biscuit and I’ve just recently improved my technique to the point that I have to share it with you. I know, it’s just a biscuit and you can buy those in cans at the store, but if you try mine you’ll never, ever whump a biscuit again. A typical biscuit recipe cautions you right and left not to overwork the dough. Yet, they tell you to roll it out with a rolling pin and then cut the biscuits out. If you want round biscuits, the classic biscuit shape, you use a circle cookie cutter and then your left with the dough that was in between the circles…so you have to bunch that up and roll it again…etc.
Whew, I’m telling you, that freaked me out every time I did it. It was a waste of time and it always worked the dough more than I felt was right. Instead, try rolling the dough once into a cyclinder the circumference of which will be the size of your biscuit, and then slicing it (with a serrated knife) into sections the size of the biscuit you want. You’ll not only work the dough less but it’s so much faster…really it knocks at least 7 minutes off my biscuit making time and I can make biscuits in my sleep. Plus these biscuits are sooo much more tender and flakier than any I’ve ever made. Try the cylinder technique and let me know what you think.
Vanessa’s Better Biscuit
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of butter, very cold, diced
1 cup of milk (more or less)
Put the flour, salt, and baking powder into the workbowl of your food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse this to mix it and then add the diced butter. Pulse until it is coarsely combined. Add the milk through the opening in the top as you pulse it to mix it together. Add it very slowly and only add enough to bring the dough together. It’ll be different every time you make them.
Turn the dough out onto the counter (here comes my new technique) and roll it into a cylinder with a circumference that is the size of the biscuit you want to make. Cut the cylinder into equally sized pieces…again depending on the size of biscuit you want. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with silpat or parchment and bake at 400ยบ for 8 - 15 minutes depending on the size you chose to cut them into.
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8 Responses to “Another cheesy dessert and a better biscuit”
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Wowee, this looks amazing! Pat on the back for you I think Vanessa! I like your biscuit tips too. I will try these sometime when I have guests. Yum :)
Nice going Vanessa - I do that cylinder technique with cookie dough, just to make my cookies evenly sized - and because it is faster. Now I must do that with biscuits too… thanks!
That looks so good!
I can’t believe I never thought of rolling biscuit dough into a cylinder and slicing it. I’m so careful with the dough that I just press it out gently with my hands, but I always worry about working it too much when I have to work with the remnants of the dough. Vanessa, you’re a fountain of knowledge for me today.
Thanks for the great idea… like Maura, I’ve never applied the cylinder technique to biscuits. But, it’s a fine idea.
I think we also have a bag or two of blueberries in our freezer. Time to use them up!
Thank you, Better Biscuit Bureau!
Yup, a terribly corny joke that I had to make before anyone else did.
But for real, I’ll be taking care of biscuits… and working overtime.
*sigh*
The puns never end.
As long as you’re not making dog biscuits with the Collie flour.
Signed,
Duncan A. Biscuit
Holler, thanks for the kind words…it even looks good in IE!.
Dave and Kevin…thanks.
Maura, you’re just like me…feaking out over the dough.
Burp, I can’t believe someone else didn’t think of it first..
Dana and Burp, I love the puns, keep them coming. I wish I could pun…But I’m rather lame at it.