I am a devotee of the transformative powers of buttermilk.  It makes chicken tender and biscuits light.  Cakes have a fine crumb and dressings a nice tang.  I use buttermilk whenever I can, and I go out of my way to buy the best, farm-fresh buttermilk available.  I make biscuits of all sorts, marinate chicken for frying and whip up desserts galore, from Buttermilk Pie to Buttermilk Cake.  People sometimes ask me for ideas about what to do with leftover buttermilk, and I always wonder to myself “who has leftover buttermilk?” Buttermilk is Southern liquid gold.

This recipe started as just a little something I would whip up for myself when I had buttermilk in the fridge (which I almost always do).  Over time, I refined it to a company-worthy dish and added a creamy gravy spiked with fresh herbs to jazz things up a bit. I love the crispy coating on the extra tender chicken, and appreciate the simple cooking method.  No grease splatters with this one.  And quite by accident, I have discovered that this chicken is absolutely delicious at room temperature, so it would work beautifully for a picnic.

Buttermilk Pecan Crusted Chicken with Herb Cream Gravy

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups pecans

¼ cup panko breadcrumbs

4 – 5 sprigs fresh parsley

1 teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon mustard powder

Generous grinds black pepper

For the Gravy:

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh leafy herbs – a combo of parsley, thyme, oregano, chives, marjoram, whatever you have to hand

Salt and pepper to taste

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place between two sheets of waxed paper.  Using a mallet or rolling pin, pound the breasts until about ½ their original thickness.  Bash away, it’s a good stress reliever.  Cut each piece in half and place in a bowl.  Pour over the buttermilk and swish everything around to make sure all the meat is covered.  Place in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour, but as many as eight.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350°.  Place a rack on a rimmed baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.

Place the pecans, bread crumbs, parsley and spices in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until finely ground, like breadcrumbs.  Turn the coating onto a large, flat plate. Take the chicken from the fridge.  Remove one piece at a time, shake of the buttermilk and press into the pecan mixture.  Turn to coat the pieces all over, fully pressing the crumbs onto the chicken.  Place each piece on the rack and finish the rest of the pieces.

Bake the chicken for 20 minutes, until it is crispy, browned and cooked through.

For the Gravy:

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle over the flour and whisk until smooth.  Add the milk slowly, whisking and scraping the sides of the pan.  Cook until the gravy is thickened and smooth, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in the finely chopped herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 3 – 6, depending on how hungry folks are (One piece is plenty for me, but hearty eaters might want two)

You’ve had pimento cheese on a cracker, now you can have pimento cheese in your cracker.  In my on-going quest to eat as much pimento cheese as possible, I arrive at these little gems.  They are a hybrid of two Southern party classics – pimento cheese, the pate of the South, and the classic cheese straw.  Crumbly and cheesy, with the tang of pimentos and the crunch of pecans, these are the perfect nibble with tall glass of ice tea (or short glass of bourbon).  They are wonderful packed up in your heirloom Tupperware for a weekend at the lake or displayed on your heirloom silver for shower or a cocktail party.  They are a marvelous standby, as you can keep the rolls in the freezer for emergencies and they make a lovely gift, wrapped up with a ribbon.

And yes, to answer the obvious question, I would serve pimento cheese crisps and pimento cheese sandwiches at the same time.

Pimento Cheese Crisps

1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimentos

8 ounces sharp cheddar

½ cup (1 stick) cold butter

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon sweet paprika

Dash of cayenne pepper

A generous pinch of salt

A few grinds black pepper

½ cup chopped pecans

Rinse and drain the pimentos and place them on paper towels.  Pat them dry and then leave them for 10 – 15 minutes to air dry.

Grate the cheese and the cold butter together in a food processor.  Switch from the grating blade to the metal blade, then add the flour, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne salt and pepper.  Process until the dough just begins to come together and looks moist and grainy.  Add the pecans and process until the dough begins to pull away from the sides and form a ball.  Add the pimentos and pulse a few times until the dough is a ball.

Dump the dough onto a piece of waxed paper, scrapping out all the pimento pieces.  Knead the dough a few times just to incorporate and distribute the pimento pieces.  Cut two more lengths of waxed paper, divide the dough into two portions and place each portion on one waxed paper length.  Form each onto a log and roll tightly, pressing in to form a nice solid log.  Twist the ends like a candy wrapper.  Refrigerate the logs for at least an hour before baking, but you can refrigerate them for two days or freeze them for 3 months.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Remove the rolls from the fridge and slice into medium-thick wafers, about 1/4 inch each.  Place on the baking sheet with a little room to spread and bake until golden around the edges and firm on the top, about 10 – 12 minutes.  Cool on the pans for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 3 dozen

From the first time I made macaroni and cheese, I’ve used this basic recipe, with the sauce you simply stir up.  We were not a big macaroni and cheese family, and never had any version from the box until college, when the hot pot was our main cooking apparatus and I had an ingenious roommate.  I think I might have originally found the recipe in a kids’ cookbook, but I don’t really remember.  The recipe served me well for years, particularly in a poorly equipped kitchen in graduate school.  And I just thought this was how mac and cheese was made.  It was years before I learned that most macaroni and cheese recipes start with a roux made into a cream sauce.  As I progressed in the kitchen, I started working on recipes made with béchamel sauce, white wine based sauces, an onion soubise, exotic cheeses and the like.  But for simple meals, I always came back to this method.  And I’ve really decided I like it better.  It’s very creamy, very cheesy, and of course could not be simpler.  So now I make it with cheese only, or flavorful add-ins.

This version is my favorite, and based on a macaroni and cheese served at a favorite restaurant.  I am sure they use a great more expertise and skill in making it, but I manage to get the flavors I love spot-on. I like corkscrew-y cavatappi pasta, but regular macaroni, or shells, or farfalle work equally well.  Once you have this simple, basic recipe down, you can alter it however you please – with different cheeses, added spices, bacon or roasted chicken…the possibilities are endless.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese with Country Ham and Leeks

4 leeks

6 Tablespoons butter, divided

¼ cup white wine

8 ounces uncookedelbow macaroni or cavatappi noodles

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

8 ounces white cheddar cheese

4 ounces fontina cheese

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt  and ground black pepper to taste

8 ounces country ham, finely diced

Preheat the oven to 375° Butter a 2 quart baking dish well.

Slice the white and palest green parts of the leek in half lengthwise, then slice into half-moons. Rinse the leeks very well in a colander under cool running water and shake to drain. Melt 4 Tablespoons butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and add the leeks, with a little water clinging to them, and stir to coat.  Pour in the white wine and ¼ cup water, cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally until the leeks are wilted, transparent and soft, about 20 minutes.  If needed, add a bit more water to prevent sticking.

Meanwhile, cook the macaroni according to package instructions in well-salted water.  Drain and return to the pan off the heat.  Stir 2 Tablespoons butter into the pasta to melt and coat to prevent sticking.  Leave to cool.

Grate all the cheeses and toss together.  In a bowl, whisk together the milk, flour, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.  Shake well for at least a minute until the flour is completely mixed with the milk.

Toss together the cooled pasta and the most of the grated cheeses, reserving a few handfuls for the top of the dish. Stir in the leeks and diced country ham until evenly distributed. Pour over the milk mixture and stir thoroughly until well mixed.  Spoon into the buttered dish and spread out to create an even surface.  Sprinkle over the remaining cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden on top and bubbling and heated through.

Serves 6, 8 as a side dish

Bananas Foster is a classic New Orleans dessert with a storied history, and is one of the many dishes from the Crescent City’s famed restaurants that have made its way around the world.  And Bananas Foster is an impressive dish to order at a restaurant, when done the old-school way.  An expert server, rolls out a cart, heats the sugar for the caramel sauce, sautés the bananas, and flames the alcohol.  All tableside, to oohs and aahs, and nowadays, snapping cameras and flashing phones.

But who does that at home?  That experience is best left to the experts, in my opinion.  It is one of those dishes you go to restaurants for.  But rich, rummy caramel and bananas are a great combination.  Though I will admit here that I prefer cakes or cookies made with bananas to actual bananas.  We all have our quirks.  And so I love this cake.  I mean love this cake.  It has a very pronounced fresh banana flavor, and the addition of the mashed fruit makes it incredibly moist.  The rum is just a background note, enhancing the flavor.  The caramel glaze is a boozed-up version of my classic cheat for caramel icing, but the pairing with banana and rum takes it to a whole new level.

This cake makes an amazing dessert for any meal, but for some reason really shouts brunch to me.  Maybe because that’s when I’ve enjoyed the real Bananas Foster at those New Orleans restaurants.  Trust me, whatever the occasion; you want to make this cake.

Bananas Foster Pound Cake

For the Cake:

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

4 Tablespoons dark rum, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the Glaze:

¼ cup butter

½ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons dark rum

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease a 10 – inch tube or Bundt pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter for a few minutes, then add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 – 7 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir 3 Tablespoons of the rum and vanilla extract into the mashed bananas, then beat the mix into the butter until combined.  Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together, then gradually beat into the batter until completely incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the pan.  Bake for 45- 50 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  If the cake starts to get too brown, cover it loosely with foil.

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack set over a piece of foil or waxed paper (to catch drips from the glaze). Poke holes on top of the cake with a skewer, then dribble the remaining 1 Tablespoon rum over it, distributing it evenly.  The rum will soak right in.  Leave the cake to cool completely.

For the Glaze:

The cake must be completely cool, or the glaze will slide right off.

Cut the butter into cubes and place in a saucepan with the brown sugar, cream, rum and salt. After everything melts together, bring to a full, rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. When it reaches that boil, count to 60 Mississippi, then pull it off the heat. Leave the pan to cool for about 5 minutes, then vigorously beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.

Immediately pour the glaze over the cake, but do so slowly and evenly to cover as much surface as possible. Leave the glaze to set, then slice and enjoy. Covered tightly, this cake will last a few days.

Serves 10

It is that time of year.  I really need a big bowl of sunshine.  Fresh, local produce is between growth spurts, and I am generally a little tired of the dark, leafy greens that have dominated the farmers market for a while now.  Though we’ve had surprisingly spring-like weather, it is that transitional time.  Not still winter, but not yet spring.  I’m working my way through the supply of fruits and vegetables I canned and froze during the summer, and dreaming of the abundance of fresh produce to come.

That’s where this soup comes in.  I can still get sweet potatoes at the farmers market, and their beautiful orange color sustains me until the greens, yellows and reds of spring are here.  The apples aren’t local, but add a tart-sweet depth to this lovely soup, brightened with zingy ginger.  It is great on its own, but you swirl in some crème fraiche for added richness or a drizzled of olive oil.  It is a great host for crispy toppings, anything from bacon to croutons to sweet potato chips.  A little pile of chopped green apple, a squeeze of lemon or lime, a shower or chopped herbs – let your imagination run wild. Whatever your preference, I think you’ll feel like me.  Eating a big bowl of this soup makes me happy.

Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

3 Tablespoons butter

1 large white onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 – inch piece fresh ginger, chopped

2 ¼ pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 medium), peeled and cut into chunks

2 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

8 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large (7-quart) Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions to the butter, stirring to coat.  Cook the onions until soft and translucent, but not browned, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes.  Add the chopped celery and cook for a few more minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and ginger, stir to coat and cook a further minute.  Add the sweet potato chunks and the apple pieces and stir to coat, then immediately pour in the broth.  Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes and apples are completely soft, about 30 minutes.

Using an immersion blender or very carefully in batches in a blender, puree the soup.  Season with salt. The soup will keep, covered, in the fridge for a day.  Reheat gently before serving.

Serves 6 – 8

I love this simple soup, but you can jazz it up by sprinkling a Tablespoon of curry powder over the onion mixture before adding the sweet potatoes and apples. Stir it into the onions and let it cook for a minute or so until it is very fragrant.

This is, I suppose, a treasured family recipe.  For my entire life, both my mother and my aunt often waxed poetic about the favored meal of their childhood.  Waffles and Hash.  We were regaled at family meals about the tradition of having Waffles and Hash for Sunday night dinner.  Any mention of family food traditions with these two always includes waffles and hash dinners.  But in all my years, neither my mother nor may aunt have ever made waffles and hash.  We would sit around my grandmother’s table on Sunday nights during our visits, eating whatever lovely meal was prepared, and the conversation would turn to memories of waffles and hash.  There is some tangible evidence to the truth of these tales, though.  My great-grandmother submitted a waffle recipe to a local community cookbook.  My mother submitted the same recipe to a cookbook many years later.  They are known as Perre’s Waffles (we all share the same name). The waffle iron I still use today was a housewarming gift from my great-grandmother to my mother when she moved into her first apartment.  I have absolutely no recollection of my mother ever making waffles.  Much less hash.

So I finally decided to take on the dish myself.  I know (and have been told) that it is not like the hash from my mother’s childhood.  But she can’t really describe that hash except that involved chicken, so I was flying blind. My aunt and I sorted through my grandmother’s recipe notes and clippings a few years ago, and found a faded piece of legal paper with a hash recipe on it.  I thought I had found gold, but my aunt immediately read it and dismissed it as” not the hash we used to have at all.”

I include salty country ham in my version, because chances are, at those Middle Tennessee family dinners, we were probably eating a country ham. I love the slight sweetness added by the apple cider with that salty hit.  The waffles cook up crisp on the outside, but airy and tender on the inside.

My mother includes the absolute proviso that there must be lots of gravy, because the whole point is that the gravy from the hash soaks into the waffles. So let the gravy thicken, but not reduce too much.  If you want to, add a bit more cider, and definitely add more if you re-heat the hash.  The family legend also states that this meal included a waffle with hash for dinner, and a waffle with ice cream and maple syrup for dessert.

Waffles and Hash (Chicken Hash with Cider Gravy)

For the Hash:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 cups fresh apple cider

1 carrot

1 rib celery

1 yellow onion

3 cloves garlic

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

4 Tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 ounces country ham slices, cut into small pieces

salt and pepper to taste

For the Waffles:

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter

4 eggs,  separated

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

8 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups milk

For the Hash:

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Place the chicken breasts in one layer a baking dish and pour over 2 cups of the cider.  Place in the oven and bake until cooked through, about 15 – 20 minutes.  Remove the chicken to a plate and discard the cider.  When cool enough to handle, chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, finely chop the carrot, celery and onion (I pulse this in the food processor).  Pour the oil in a large saucepan and add the vegetables.  Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft. Chop the garlic and add to the vegetables, cooking one more minute.

Add the butter and stir until melted.  Sprinkle over the flour and stir to coat.  Pour in the reamaing 2 cups of cider and the cream and stir until slightly thickened.  Add the nutmeg.  Stir in the shredded chicken and the country ham to coat thoroughly.  Season generously with salt and pepper.

Pour the hash into a baking dish.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (up to one day).  When ready to serve, heat in the oven at 350 degrees until warmed through.

For the Waffles:

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.  Separate the eggs, placing the whites in the bowl of an electric mixer.

Stir the yolks together with the milk. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir in the milk mixture.  Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into the waffle mixture.

Grease a waffle iron, heat and prepare the waffles according to manufacturers’ instructions.  The size of the waffle iron will determine how much mixture to use in each batch.

Place the cooked waffles on  rack set over a cookie sheet and place in a low oven to keep warm until serving.

Serve the waffles with the hash spooned over. 

Serves 6 (my waffle iron makes about 16 4-inch square waffles)

The heirloom waffle iron at work

I have never set myself the task of making a real King Cake, as I figure there are enough people who do that already.  My brother used to send me delicious King Cakes from a bakery in New Orleans when I was in college.  Those cakes were moist and tender with a cream cheese filling, with a brightly colored, but simple frosting.  The cake was packaged with beads and doubloons and made for a fun party all around. I was always very popular during Mardi Gras season. That is really my idea of what a King Cake should be, though I know there are many different versions.  Those were the first, and still the best, King Cakes I have ever had.  But now, I often find the bakeries in my local grocery stores offer wildly decorated King Cakes leading up to Mardi Gras.  I have bought them, but they are generally dry and tasteless and a real disappointment (and often stale).  I once ordered a fancy, artfully decorated King Cake from a New Orleans bakery at great expense, but even it was dry.

These bars meet all my King Cake Flavor requirements, but are simpler to make and to serve.  They make a great dessert for a Mardi Gras party, and would pack up beautifully to carry to a parade-viewing.  I sprinkle colored sanding sugar in the traditional purple, green and gold color scheme over the top for a sparkly Mardi Gras feel, but you could easily tint the glaze, use sprinkles or the fancier luster dust.

And a word about the baby.  Traditionally, King Cake has a small plastic baby figure backed inside.  The person whose piece of cake contains the baby is then responsible for hosting the next King Cake party.  Many bakeries now include the baby in the box, but don’t bake it into the cake.  I assume this is for liability reasons, as a small plastic baby is a choking hazard.  If you do happen to have a plastic baby, feel free to bake it into the King Cake Bars, though it is likely to show through the filling and be less of a surprise.

King Cake Bars

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter

6 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

For the Filling:

2 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

For the Glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 Tablespoon milk

Colored sanding sugar or sprinkles (purple, green and gold)

For the Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour and sugar.  Drop in the butter cubes and beat on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and looks a bit like wet sand.  Add the milk and beat until it starts to stick together.  Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press it in to form an even layer, making sure there are no holes or gaps.

For the Filling:

Wipe out the mixer bowl and rinse and dry the paddle.  Beat the filling ingredients together until completely smooth.  Spread the filling evenly over the prepared crust. Bake the bars for 20 – 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set.

For the Glaze:

While the bars are cooking, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and milk until completely smooth.  As soon as you remove the bars from the oven, spread the glaze in an even layer across the top.  Immediately decorate with sanding sugar.  Leave the bars to cool completely, then slice.

Makes about 15 bars

As Mardi Gras time comes around, I start to get a good craving for some Louisiana cooking.  And what is more Louisiana than crawdads?  This creamy crawfish spread is perfect for a Mardi Gras party, or any time you need a little Creole kick.  I like to serve this as an appetizer or on the buffet with some thick rounds of baguette, but it ain’t bad over pasta!

Mardi Crawfish Spread

Look for frozen crawfish tails in the frozen seafood section.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

½ cup finely chopped celery (about 3 stalks)

½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper (about 1 small pepper)

½ cup finely chopped white onion (about ½ a medium onion)

1 pound peeled, cooked crawfish tail meat (thawed if frozen, rinsed and drained)

2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

3 teaspoon Creole mustard

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

In a medium sauté pan, heat the oil and cook the celery, pepper and onion until soft and translucent.  Add the crawfish meat (if it is in large pieces, chop into bite-sized bits first) and 1/3 cup water.  Bring to a boil and cook until the water has completely evaporated.  Sprinkle on the Creole seasoning and cook one more minute, stirring.  Add the tomato paste and mustard and stir to coat.  Cut the cream cheese into cubes and add to the crawfish bit by bit, stirring until all the cream cheese is melted.

You can transfer the dip to a serving dish and serve immediately, or cool it and refrigerate, covered, overnight.  Stir in a couple of Tablespoons of milk to loosen the dip and gently reheat in the oven, stirring occasionally.  Serve with French bread rounds or sturdy crackers.

Serves 8 – 10, but can be easily doubled

I love biscuits in all forms, and have myself developed many permutations, from fresh corn, to blueberry, to pimento cheese.  But with the sweetheart holiday coming up, I thought I’d try my hand at a rich, chocolate version. Bake up a batch of these babies for someone special and you’ll make your way onto their heart.

These biscuits don’t rise as high a standard buttermilk biscuit, but are sturdy enough to hold your favorite toppings. I love these spread with a little raspberry jam, and maybe topped with a little clotted cream or whipped cream.  These would also make an excellent base for strawberry shortcake. The crackly sugar topping is a lovely touch, but feel free to replace it with a chocolate drizzle or a sweet glaze.

Chocolate Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

¼ cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped

1/3 cup cold butter, diced

¾ cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Grease a baking sheet.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt baking soda and sugar. Mix in the finely chopped chocolate.  Cut the butter into pieces and drop in the mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment until the flour and shortening are blended together and look grainy.

Measure out the milk and crack in the egg.  Beat lightly to blend, then stir in the vanilla. With mixer running, add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together.  It will be a soft, floppy dough.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and sprinkle a little flour over the top.  With well-floured hands, lightly knead the dough.  If the dough is too wet to work with, you can work in a little more flour, but this is meant to be a sticky dough.  With floured hands, gently pat the dough into a rectangle about 4 by 8 inches. Place a little bowl of flour on the work surface and dip a biscuit cutter into it before cutting each biscuit.  I use a 2- inch cutter, but make them the size you prefer, even using a heart-shaped cutter if you’d like.  Carefully transfer the biscuits to the greased baking sheet.  Carefully re-roll the scraps and cut a few more biscuits.

Bake the biscuits until risen and firm on the edges, 8 – 12 minutes, watching closely.

While the biscuits are cooking, melt the butter in a small saucepan or the microwave.  Stir in the sugar until you have a thick paste.  The sugar will not dissolve completely.

When the biscuits are done, remove from the oven and immediately brush the tops with the butter and sugar mixture.  Coat the biscuits well, but you may not use all the topping.  Leave to cool on the pan.

Because of the sweet buttery, sugary topping, these biscuits do not keep well, so it’s best to make them the day you plan to serve.

Makes 14 – 16 biscuits

Making homemade crackers is one of the little culinary secrets I love so much.  It never occurs to most people that making your own is something that can or would be done.  But it is easy to do and pretty impressive when you serve homemade crackers.  It took me awhile to get where I wanted to go with making my own crackers.  I read and sampled a lot of recipes.  Some were too complicated, some just weren’t good, most were fine, but plain.  I fiddled around until I had a base recipe that worked with a lot of different flavor additions – herbs and spices and cheese.  But this version literally hit me like a lightning bolt.  I was serving myself a bowl of soup one night, and doling out some (store-bought) plain crackers and I suddenly thought – bacon crackers.  Could it be possible?  I went to work immediately, and here is where I landed.

These crispy, salty little gems are the perfect sidecar for a bowl of soup, particularly with Pimento Cheese Soup.  That being said, they also take pimento cheese spread to a whole new level.  These are excellent on a cheese platter, with a creamy brie, a salty goat or a tangy blue.  Or smeared with a little butter.  Frankly, they are good all on their own.

If you have a fancy-edged pastry roller this is a great place to use it.  Personally, I like the rough and rustic look.  Not all my crackers are even or perfect, but if I actually make my own crackers, I want them to look homemade!  The crackers do need to be roughly the same size on the same baking sheet for even cooking.

Bacon Crackers

4 strips of bacon, cooked very crispy

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

1 Tablespoon solidified bacon fat

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/2 to 2/3 cup very cold water

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with a silicone liner or parchment paper.

Pat the cooled bacon with paper towels to remove as much grease as possible.  Break the bacon into pieces into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.  Pulse several times to chop the bacon very finely.  Scrape the bacon out of the bowl and set aside.  Do not worry of there is some bacon residue left on the sides of the bowl.

Place the flour, baking soda, salt and one Tablespoon of the chopped bacon in the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Add the bacon grease and the butter pieces.  Pulse several times until the mixture looks like sand, with a few larger lumps throughout.  Turn on the food processor and drizzle in the ice cold water until the dough starts to come together.  Check the dough by pinching a bit between your fingers.  If it sticks together, you’re done.  You may use slightly less water, but you may need a touch more.  Add another tablespoon of chopped bacon bits and pulse a few times to mix through the dough. You may not use all the bacon.

Lightly flour a work surface.  Divide the cracker dough in half and place one half on the work surface.  Knead a little to bring the dough together and pat it into a nice square.  Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough until it is as thin as a dime, trying your best to keep it in an even rectangle.  Trim off the rough edges and set aside*.  Cut the dough into crackers, about 1 inch by 1 inch.  I find a pizza wheel a very handy tool for this. You can cut them into smaller crackers if you prefer, but you’ll adjust the cooking time.  Carefully transfer the crackers to the prepared baking sheets. The crackers puff up rather than out, so you can place them close together.  Prick the top of the crackers with a fork, then very lightly brush the tops with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the second half of the dough.  Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes until lightly puffed, golden brown and firm. Cool on the baking sheets.

The crackers will keep in a completely airtight container for several days.  I find a flat, sturdy container works best as a zippered bag doesn’t protect the crackers from breakage very well.

* I like to gather all the scraps and knead them together, then roll them out as sort of a third batch.  They may be not as pretty as the rest, but taste just as good.

Makes about 3 dozen