cheddar-chive scones

cheddar chive scones, originally uploaded by doesinheadlights.

I rarely ever make scones, because I don't keep cream on hand, but after brunching at S's a weekend or two ago (see cinnamon rolls), and eating a version of these, which are a version of Ina Garten's cheddar-dill scones, I decided they were worth a special trip to the grocery store. The recipe is in Ina Garten's (first, I believe) book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. I halved the recipe and copied S, swapping out the dill for fresh chives. These were incredibly cheesy and chive-y.

cheddar-chive scones

2 cups ap flour, plus more for rolling
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
4.5 ounces (yellow) extra sharp cheddar cheese, small-diced
1/2 cup minced chives (I trimmed with scissors)
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add the diced butter to the flour mixture and using two knives, a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Those pieces are the key to perfect scone texture. Lightly beat the eggs into the heavy cream and add to the flour/butter mixture. Combine with a few quick strokes. Add the diced cheddar and minced chives, then stir until mostly incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead briefly and lightly, until the chives and cheese are thoroughly incorporated. Roll out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut the dough into eight equal portions, then roll each into a small ball. Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silicone. Flatten each lightly with the palm of your hand, then brush with the egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes until light brown and crusty on the outside.

Yields 8 fantastic scones.

chocolate chip cookies

five cookies, originally uploaded by doesinheadlights.

Here's a shot of the chocolate chip cookies I made for work tomorrow (I am in a training session and thought they would be a nice treat). I should, but I don't, have a special chocolate chip recipe that I use all the time. Instead, I use whatever one is on hand at the time--one pulled from a cookbook, a blog or the back of a bag of chocolate chips. I do follow a few rules though, regardless of the recipe:

1. Always use good chocolate.
2. Never bake chocolate chip cookies in an oven hotter than 350.
3. Room temperature butter, no exceptions.
4. Salted butter and/or extra salt in the recipe.
5. Beat the butter and sugar senseless--that's the true meaning of "creaming" them.
6. Always consider doubling the vanilla.

These cookies (made from the JOC recipe, if you're curious, with the above modifications) came out with crisp exteriors and chewy exteriors. If I drank much milk, I'd be tempted to break out a glass.

peach cobbler promises

peach cobbler, originally uploaded by doesinheadlights.

I wanted to make cobbler mostly because the peaches at the supermarket were huge, smelled strongly of peachiness, and were under a dollar a pound. I checked out a number of cobbler and crisp recipes, but found most of the proportions were not quite what I was looking for (too much sugar, not enough sugar, sweet crusts). In the end I used the simple JOC method (i.e. prepare fruit filling of your choice, top with biscuit dough of your choice, brush with butter, sprinkle with sugar, bake). The most arduous part of this process is blanching and peeling the peaches. My mother said she would have left the skin on, and I'm inclined to believe that doing so wouldn't be a bad idea.

simple peach cobbler

6 large peaches (about 3lbs)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3-4 tablespoons flour (or cornstarch)
1 3/4 cups ap flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dried buttermilk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cold water
butter for the pan and topping
sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425.

Boil plenty of water in a saucepan large enough to accommodate fat summer peaches. In the meantime, wash the peaches and prepare an ice water bath large enough to accommodate them. When the water is boiling, drop the peaches in for 30 to 45 seconds, and remove to ice water. Remove after 30 seconds to a minute. Peel by hand or using a paring knife.

Pit each peach and cut into several wedges. Place wedged peaches in a large bowl and toss with granulated sugar, brown sugar and flour or cornstarch. Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and powdered buttermilk. Cut the unsalted butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Pour in cold water and stir the mixture gently until combined. Add more water if necessary, but dough should be sticky and dense.

Butter a large casserole, eight small ramekins, or some combination of the above (I used a small casserole dish and four small ramekins). Spoon the peach mixture into each. Top with loosely formed balls of the dough. Brush or spoon butter all over the top, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Serve with excellent vanilla ice cream.

Yields 8-10 generous servings.

i wish i had a fridge muffins

I made these muffins because I just purchased some of those nifty nut and party cups to use as muffin tin liners, a la Chockylit of the apparently defunct Cupcake Bakeshop and because the refrigerator-less state of my otherwise lovely office means that I can't carry the sort of snacks and foods to work that I would bring normally. I wanted something whole grain and savory, and these hit the spot. I put in just a smidge of regular old ap flour to prevent the muffins from being totally dense, and used plain old grocery store sharp cheddar cheese. I don't need to tell you that an artisanal cheddar would elevate them, or that many other hard cheeses (pecorino perhaps, or manchego) would be great too. Dried herbs or some pepper would be a welcome addition. I used skim milk because it's what I keep on hand-I'm sure whole would be great. If you plan to consume these right away, try half a stick (1/4 cup) of melted butter in place of the vegetable oil (using oil generally helps keep muffins moister longer). I plan to take these as a snack for work, but consider them as an excellent bread to serve with breakfast or dinner.

i wish i had a fridge muffins

1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ap flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (grated) sharp cheddar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1/4 cup canola oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a twelve cup muffin tin with paper liners (or, nut and party cups). Whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt and a medium-sized bowl. Add grated cheese and mix until the pieces of cheese are mostly separated (this prevents huge clumps of cheese from forming in the muffins). In a smaller bowl (I did this in my four cup measuring cup), beat the milk, oil and egg until thoroughly combined. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together, using as few strokes as possible, until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Divide the batter among the cups (they will be pretty full). Bake for about fifteen minutes or until an inserted toothpick emerges cleanly. Cool in the pan for three minutes and then on a rack before storing.

Yields twelve muffins.

make this biscotti today: chocolate pistachio biscotti

I have never made biscotti before. This was the first time, and it was awesomely delicious. Everyone always gripes about how complicated Martha Stewart's recipes are but this was not too bad at all, the only trouble I had was slicing up the biscotti before their second spin in the oven, and to be honest, I fear the knife I used was not quite sharp enough. You could easily substitute other nuts for the pistachios but really, they taste so excellent with the chocolate and they're such a pretty green color I can't see why you would. I toasted the nuts beforehand because always do, but doing so is not required by the recipe. Here, I make two "loaves" so that the biscotti fit easily into a lunch bag, but feel free to make one large one if you'd prefer the more traditional shape.

chocolate pistachio biscotti
adapted from martha stewart's cookies.

2 cups ap flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons salted butter (I omitted the salt since I only had this on hand), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (could use semisweet, I had bitter on hand)

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet.

In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of salt if you are using unsalted butter. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the flour mixture, in two parts. The dough will be very stiff. Stir or fold in the pistachios and chocolate chips by hand, until just combined.

Split the dough into two logs, place them onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into flattened logs, roughly eight by three inches in measurement. Bake for 25-35 minutes until slightly firm. Remove from the oven, drop the temperature to 300, and set the biscotti to cool for 5-10 minutes. Patience will be rewarded so give them plenty of time to firm up before slicing. Then use a sharp, serrated knife and cut on the diagonal to make one inch thick slices. Bake (or "dry out"), cut side down, until crisp but a bit soft toward the center. Martha Stewart said about eight minutes, it took me closer to twenty. Use your eyes. Cool completely before eating.

moving sucks out your soul

My absence here in the last fifteen days might suggest that I have decided to quit being housewifely. Not so. Over the first two weeks of summer I have done more baking, cleaning, cooking, and the like than I have in the last several months. The trouble is, I was also finishing up final exams and papers while moving home. My dorm was (and will be in the floor) a fourth floor walk up and I cannot seem to live without my muffin tins, stationary, or a few dozen hundred books, so I had a lot of stuff to move, and oops, now I am making excuses, which seems like poor etiquette. I am starting a new job on Tuesday, but one of my goals for the summer is to keep up with the blog pretty much daily, especially as there is nothing I love to do more when I have the full home kitchen at my disposal than make cookies.

In penance, I offer up the recipe for incredibly chocolate-y cookies that I made three weeks ago. These are so rich and chewy that I think they're the perfect thing for when brownie batter cravings. I kept aside 5-6 for NH and put the rest out on the dining room table for my sorority sisters, and they were gone very quickly. They're a simple variation of a peanut butter and chocolate confection I saw on Baking Bites, but since NH doesn't like peanut butter at all I do not bake with it much. You can check out the original recipe here.

Oh, I picked up Martha Stewart's relatively recent Cookies at Costco today. I am going to make the chocolate pistachio biscotti after I post this.

toasted almond chocolate chunk ridiculously chocolate-y cookies

1/2-1 cup whole almonds
2 cups ap flour
2/3 cup good cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350.

Chop almonds coarsely (you can buy them pre-chopped but I can't account for the quality of chopped nuts and they're more expensive anyhow). Toast the nuts in a dry pan over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until they smell delicious. Keep turning them and make sure they don't burn. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix up flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until nice and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture slowly. Fold in chocolate chunks and cooled, toasted almond. Drop nicely rounded tablespoons of dough on a lined cookie sheet, allowing plenty of room for spread. Bake cookies for about ten minutes, or until they appear relatively set. Watch carefully, it can be hard to see if chocolate burns. The cookies will need some time to cook before they can be removed from the sheet.

Yields about forty cookies.

midnight muffins

I scratched out a recipe for these while resting this evening. The lemon curd is not very prominent (it probably helps that the homemade curd I have on hand is on the thin side), it adds just a touch of lemony creaminess in the center of the muffins, and could probably be doubled for stronger lemon flavor. Another variation would cut the butter in half, and/or replace it with vegetable oil, and/or replace the half and half with low fat milk, but I wouldn't recommend any of those things-the richness good in these too. The muffins are delicious and would be a fabulous addition to any brunch.

midnight muffins

2 cups ap flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 large eggs
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup crystalized ginger
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2-1 vanilla bean, scraped)
4-6 tablespoons lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 400. Line (do not try to grease instead, results will be sticky and bad) muffin pans.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and ground ginger together in a large bowl. In a second bowl, beat up the eggs. Add the half and half, butter and vanilla and whisk until thoroughly combined. Using a food processor or blender (I used my magic bullet again), pulse the crystalized ginger and sugar together until a uniform powder develops. Whisk into wet ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, using two additions, and stirring only until combined (do not over beat!). Fill twelve muffin cups halfway. Add a heaping teaspoon of lemon curd to each muffin cup. Top cups with remaining batter. Bake for approximately fifteen minutes, or until an inserted toothpick emerges cleanly.

Yields twelve muffins.

lemon cake

After my midterm on Thursday, with a sack of lemons in my fist, I decided to finally make a lemony pound cake. I'll admit I only at about three bites of it (I left the rest out for the sorority sisters to sample), but since it went, I'll assume the first few bites were a decent indicator. The only thing I wasn't in love with about this cake was the crust, which felt a bit cornbread-like to me, but since I've made this before in a glass loaf pan (I used the glaze suggested by the original recipe that time) with superior results, I'll blame the silicone loaf pan. I am really not a big fan of silicone.

I think a ginger-vanilla glaze on top would be fantastic. I also think this would be delicious toasted and spread with a great strawberry jam.

This cake is ever so slightly adapted from David Herbert's Simply Perfect Every Time, a book I took home on a whim during an internship at a publishing house. I've tried some of the other recipes with mixed results. I used the juice from the meyer lemons I'd zested to make his lemon curd, and it came out quite nicely.

lemon cake

1 1/2 cups ap flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (I used meyer lemons)
3 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven the 325. Butter and flour a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine thoroughly. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the eggs, in three additions, alternating with one tablespoon of the flour mixture. Beat the rest of the flour mixture in on low speed. Spread the batter (it will be thick) in the pan. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer inserted into the center emerges cleanly. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Yields about eight delicious slices.

i swear i'm still alive: weekend preview

Just as soon as I pass my last midterm (the cruel person who decided one class needed two midterms in one semester is beyond me and deserves none of this weekend's bounty), I have a long list of treats I plan to prepare. I even missed Top Chef last night.

Today will finally be the day of the meyer lemons.

Saturday will feature sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies, whipped up for an event I'm holding.

Sunday, chocolate croissant bread pudding, from a Gale Gand recipe, for the brunch being hosted at my house.

Monday will be the day of the pear crisp, as I imagine some of you poll takers expected I was lying about actually making it.

Get excited.

procrastination cauliflower

What to do when I have hours of writing and work ahead of me?

Decide to roast a head of cauliflower and two heads of garlic, of course.

This didn't come out how I planned (I wanted something somewhat firm and slightly caramelized), partially because I left the pan covered with foil too long in the oven, and partially because my housemates shut the oven off in the middle of cooking, probably because no one expects the oven to be on at midnight. The resulting cauliflower was still delicious but soft, and to exploit this, I'm eating some of the leftovers lightly mashed with a fork for lunch. This tastes nothing like mashed potatoes but is much more flavorful and little healthier. I could envision different herbs, spices or cheeses incorporated, but I like the simplicity of this preparation. This recipe is ridiculously easy and makes an often hated vegetable incredibly palatable. Plus, garlic is really good for you and this recipe has around fifteen cloves of it.

procrastination cauliflower

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets and rinsed
2 heads of garlic
olive oil
sea salt
(freshly ground) black pepper
pecorino, or some other hard grating cheese

Preheat the oven to 375. In a large baking dish (I used 13x9 Pyrex, I do wonder whether metal would improve caramelization) Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of the pan and spread it around. Toss the florets of cauliflower in the oil so that most have a light coating (do the oil to taste, I like to air on the side of caution with only a couple of tablespoons). Cut off the tops of the garlic heads so that all of the cloves inside are exposed. Don't be too precious about losing garlic--there will be plenty. In fact, if you don't love garlic as much as I do, you might want to use just one head. Put the exposed heads in the pan, nestling them in with the florets. Add a little more olive oil right into the open heads of garlic to prevent burning, and then salt and pepper the whole pan, and don't be shy. Cover with foil and bake for about 35 to 45 minutes, until the cauliflower is the texture you prefer. Now pluck those open heads of garlic out of the pan, they are full of one of the most delicious substances known to man: roasted garlic. Pop the cloves out by squeezing the head. If you are smarter than me you will let them cool slightly first. Mash the cloves with fork and toss thoroughly with the roasted cauliflower. Top the whole mess with grated pecorino and pop back into the over for a few minutes, uncovered, to melt the cheese. Eat.

success: pistachio shortbread

If you life with me--and at least a few of you do--you might have noticed my obsession with pistachios this week. It started mostly out of forgetfulness, as in, I forgot how much I liked pistachios and then I ate some and promptly remembered. Pistachios are delicious, work really well in many desserts (they complement cherries, and chocolate, although the three together are kind of gross).

I had a lot of fun making shortbread last week, and decided to play around with the proportions and the flavors. These cookies are super decadent and tasty, although I wouldn't make them if you're not fond of pistachios, since they're loaded with that flavor. If I ever invest in an ice cream maker, I think an extra rich chocolate ice cream would be amazing with either some of these crumbled into it, or frozen chunks of the (conveniently eggless) dough mixed into it. For a gift, each heart (or square, flower, or star) could be dipped into dark chocolate. The done cookies are nice, pale pistachio green. You could dye them a deeper green, but I'd respect you less.

If I made these again, I would consider toasting the nuts first. Does anyone have any experience with toasting pistachios?

pistachio shortbread

12 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar or confectioner's sugar (I pulsed the regular sugar with the vanilla in my magic bullet)
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1/2 cup raw, unsalted pistachios, divided
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 325. Beat the butter until nice and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and vanilla thoroughly; you definitely want "light and fluffy". Pulse 1/4 cup of the pistachios in a magic bullet, blender or food processor until it's a nice, even, fine consistency, something like bread crumbs. Add the pistachio meal and almond extract to the butter and sugar and beat until uniform. Add the flour, one quarter cup at a time, until the dough almost forms a ball. Chop the last 1/4 cup of pistachios roughly and stir into the dough. Press into a square or similar shape of uniform thickness, I went for less than 1/2 inch. Pierce the dough throughout with a fork to prevent bubbling. Bake for twenty to thirty minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Cut with a knife or cookie cutters while the shortbread is still warm. Cool before storing.

For me, this recipe yielded 12 2-inch-ish hearts and a ton of "trimmings".

ginger vanilla bean shortbread cookies

I made these after reading this post over at Brownie Points. It's an old post but I happen to love ginger and I'd never made shortbread, so I decided to give it a whirl. I made some smallish modifications to the original recipe, so I've written up my version below. I used the vanilla beans largely because I was out of vanilla extract, but I like the speckled appearance of vanilla-bean baked goods. I didn't do the lemon curd, since I was just looking for a simple procrastination project. I think if I made these again I would try and pump up the ginger by adding some ground ginger to the ginger-sugar mixture. I'd also cut down the salt.

ginger vanilla bean shortbread cookies

1/3 cup crystallized ginger
1/3 cup white sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor or similar (I used my magic bullet because I don't keep a food processor at school), whir up the crystallized ginger and white sugar until you have a fluffy powder. In a small or medium mixing bowl, beat the butter with a mixer until it is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla bean scrapings and ginger-sugar mixture to the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Now add the flour and salt and mix until dough forms. Since I used a hand mixer, the dough never really formed a ball, but it worked out fine anyway. Put the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet or other shallow pan and press into a rectangle of even thickness, about 1/2 inch (or your desired thickness). Use a fork to pierce holes all over to avoid bubbling. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until light brown around the edges and set. If you'd like shapes, cut them out while the shortbread is still warm. I cut mine into 1-1 1/2-inch bars while it was still nice and warm. Cool before packaging.

Yields about 20 1-1 1/2-inch bars.

100% whole wheat bread

The addition of vital wheat gluten was excellent. Seriously, I now regret every other time I have made whole wheat bread without it, because the texture is that much better. As I sat in the dining room reading about Animal Behavior, I couldn't stop lightly squeezing the cooling loaves because they were almost pillowy. I've frozen the bread already (made three loaves, heading into that "hibernation" period of the semester where I act like a chicken with no head), but even the toast yesterday was a bit chewier and lighter than my past loaves have been. This is a super simple bread that wasn't too demanding to make. I usually like to fuss with different flours and grains and so on but since this was an experimental loaf (or three) I went with basic. If you decide to try it, pump up the amount of sugar by a little bit if you use regular or brown sugar, or try agave sweetener if you're in on that trend.

whole wheat bread

1/4 cup warm water (warmer than your body!)
1 packet active dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups lukewarm water (a little cooler than your body!)
2-2 1/2 teaspoons salt (use a little more if you don't plan on buttering your bread/using spreads)
1/4 cup honey
5 1/2-8 cups whole wheat flour
12 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (or so)

Put the warm water and yeast in a pretty large bowl, mix up a bit and let sit for five minutes or so until the yeast granules are nice and dissolved. This is a good time to beat up the egg and melt the butter if you haven't done so already. Add the egg, melted butter (I let it cool a bit first), lukewarm water, salt and honey to the yeast mixture and stir until well combined. Now, start adding the flour and vital wheat gluten a bit at a time, it'll be easier if you mix in a cup or two and then add more, rather than pouring it all in at once. Also, since the weather, the price of tea in china, and how exhausted you are might affect how much flour the bread needs on any given day (hence the wide measures), you'll have to pay careful attention to how the dough is looking. I used about 6 cups of flour and 2 tablespoons of gluten per cup, arriving at about 12 tablespoons vital wheat gluten. That'll change depending on how much flour you end up needing. Once the dough is neither dry nor sticky, knead for ten minutes or so (I usually spend about 7 minutes kneading and 3 minutes complaining about how kneading is such an arm workout) and when the dough is nice and satiny, make sure it's a ball and set it to rise in an oiled bowl for an hour, or until doubled. Make sure you oil the surface so it doesn't dry out (I usually cheat and spritz on some Pam Canola) and cover the bowl. I favor a clean, dry kitchen towel but plastic wrap does the job. When the dough has doubled, punch it down firmly but not violently, and cut it into three pieces. Roll the pieces into logs, tuck the ends under, and set them in greased/Pam-d loaf pans to double again, covered. While the logs of dough don't need to touch the sides of the loaf pans, you'll want to make sure the dough is touching both short ends of each pan, which helps it rise. This is especially hard with silicone loaf pans, which is one of the myriad reasons I hate silicone loaf pans. You might want to get the oven going at 400 degrees now, so it's nice and toasty when the bread has risen. The loaves should take about 45 minutes to double (but again, that depends on the temperature, the price of tea, and so on) so use your eyes. Now pop them in the oven for ten minutes, then drop the temperature down to 350 degrees to finish baking. I'm going to say that the bread is done when it sounds hollow on the bottom, but if that isn't clear enough for you, Nicole over at Baking Bites has superb advice.

Yields three yummy loaves.

love for breakfast

NH spent most of the weekend here with me. On Saturday, while trying to decide what to have for breakfast NH suggested we scramble some eggs and purchase some instant biscuits from the store, which I immediately took as a challenge. I make biscuits from scratch all the time, but usually not in the morning, and since once you've had delicious homemade biscuits canned biscuits are far from ideal, I don't have biscuits in the AM too much. But since it was Saturday, I decided it was time to try out some morning baking. NH made the few blocks trek down to the further away, but far better, grocery store to pick up some last minute supplies (like eggs), and I got these started. I went with drop biscuits (faster, more tender) but you could cut down the liquid (by about a quarter) and roll these instead, if you prefer more uniform biscuits, which might be better for spreading with preserves. Cheese and/or herbs would be a nice addition, especially if you wanted to serve these with dinner. You could also change the liquids if you'd prefer a less rich biscuit.

dropped biscuits
roughly adapted from Joy of Cooking

about 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
about 1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons very very cold butter (I just took the chill off of some frozen butter), cut into small cubes
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream (light, heavy or whipping will do)

Preheat the oven to 450. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter. Many people do this with knives or that funny looking pastry blending tool, but I prefer to do it with my hands, which is why I used extra cold butter, which can withstand the heat of my hands a bit longer than merely cold butter. Put the cubes in flour, mix it up, and use the tips of your fingers to break the cubes into smaller and smaller pieces, constantly incorporating the pieces with the dry ingredients. Do not let the butter melt! This will destroy your biscuits' texture. The goal is to incorporate the butter as discrete bits mixed in with the flour. When you're done, the flour/butter mixture should resemble coarse bread crumbs. Make a well in the flour/butter mixture, and pour in the cream and milk. Stir the mixture until just combined. Drop lumps onto an ungreased baking sheet (mine were about a scant 1/4 cup sized, but size is to your taste and intentions), and bake for about fifteen minutes or until a light golden brown. Serve warm. These will keep nicely for the next day, and can be reheated in a 250 oven for a few minutes.