Buttermilk Biscuits, Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits, and morning discussions on the Drama Couch

So this weekend is my 20 year high school reunion.  Yes, I'm that old.  I'm not old, I'm just that old, 20 years plus graduation age, you do the math.  I really don't worry about growing old that much.   I may look like my late 30's, but inside I still feel like my mid 20's.  It's all about how you feel inside.  As long as you feel young, and act young (not stupid, there's a difference), you're still young.  Seriously, even 60 isn't old anymore.   My dad is in his early 70's and he still outhikes all the kids.  He even helped me re-roof my house last year.  He's aged, but he's not old. 

 

But either way, it's this weekend.  When I first heard it was coming, I thought, "Damn, I've got to get back to the Gym!"  And yeah, that went as planned... Sure, I was doing pretty well while I was back in Stamford, but I fell back into my old habits.  So y'all will have to deal with me in my normal state. 

And really, that should be the way you attend these things; as yourself.  We worry about how some people may view us if we're not as svelte as we were at that young age.  Sure, we all have gained a few pounds, we're not as young and spry as we were way back then, but that is life.  We are ever expanding in the two of the 3-D's that we want to avoid, but would we really want to walk that thin line to become that skinny again?  It would mean 1000 calories and an hour of exercise every day.  No all-you-can-eat Brazilian meatfests, no deep dish Chicago-style pizza, no Oreo cheesecake, no lobster with clarified butter, no over-the-top chocolate caramel malts, and no peanut butter pie drenched in melted fudge.  I believe none of us want to live in that horrible, desolate world.  And do we really want to socialize with those people who would judge you for your size anyway?  Anyone who would scoff at me about gaining weight has a mind that never left high school.  So if you an issue with this former student's extra weight, tough.  I'm happy with it.

What I'm looking forward to is seeing a number of the old friends that I haven't seen for years.   I had a close knit group of friends that never fit easily into any specific group.  We weren't athletic, we weren't the bad kids, we weren't the nerds (much), we were just... well, us.  The group organically fluctuated between 12 and 14 people, because people were free to hang out anytime you want.  As long as you were nice to everyone, you could stay.  But the core group was me and five other ladies.  The running joke was it was me and my harem. And at any time, there were rumors that I was dating any of them at any given moment.  I never dated a one of them while we were in high school.  (I did date one starting immediately after graduation and eventually married her, but that's another story for another day).  Now we did attend dances, like the one Halloween dance where we all dressed up as characters from Twin Peaks.  And there was a plan that I would take all of them out to final Senior Prom, but that never materialized. 

We had some great times, but it's funny how a lot of our moments involved food.  As we reviewed for the AP tests, the Study Group from Hell would down a pizza or two.  Every lunch, we'd congregate in the inner courtyard and bask in the sun as we'd chow down on bad lunchroom pizza, an occasional hamburger, and a basket of french fries.  Anytime there was a Chaparral, team sport, or student election assembly (which was frequently), we'd leave the campus immediately and head to JB's down in Fort Union by the creek for either the breakfast buffet or a basket or two of fried mushrooms. 

But the one I probably remember most is the morning congregation in the drama room.  There were large couches in the back of the room, almost set up in conversation pit fashion.  On my way in, I'd stop at Hardee's for a box of cinnamon raisin biscuits.  They were always hot with that sugar glaze slowly trickling over the sides, creating sweet stalagmites on the bottom of the box.  We'd all slowly roll into school, gather in the back of the drama room, joke about the day to come an consume enough sugar to get us through the first two periods. 

So in honor of Brandy, Nita, Candice, Augusta, Danielle (Amanda), Sylvia, Danny, Tanya, and all the rest who used to partake of those frosting covered sugar bombs back in the day, I'm making a batch of the Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits.  There are two keys to making them flaky.  First, make sure you use cold butter and shortening.  Just like pie crust, if it's too warm and melts in the bowl, it'll become pasty instead of pastry.  Second, don't overmix it.  Overmixing will force the fats into the dry ingredients and become pasty as well.  Use a fork, a pastry cutter, or your hands to break up the butter and shortening.  Just pinch the chopped fats between your fingers until they're little bits no bigger than a piece of couscous.  From there, it's pretty easy.

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter, cold and diced into small bits
2 tablespoons shortening, cold and diced into small bits
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, chilled
1 cup raisins

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl and mix profusely. Add the butter and shortening and mix into the flour with a pastry cutter, fork or even with your bare hands until the fats crumble into small bits and it starts looking like lumpy cornmeal. Don't overmix or they will turn into rolls instead of flaky biscuits. Add the raisins and slightly stir them in so they are interspersed into the dough, no more. Add the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Dump the dough out onto a floured counter top. Add some more flour on the top of the dough, so it isn't sticky anymore. Using your hands, spread the dough out to about a 8" by 4 " square and then fold it in half.  Repeat this about 5 times to create those flaky layers.  Roll out to a large oval and so the dough is about an inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter, or drinking glass, cut out biscuit rounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. take the scraps, combine them, spread out the dough again until an inch thick and cut a few more. Bake the biscuits in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes until they rise and turn a golden brown.

While they are cooking, mix the ingredients for the glaze, adding the milk until it's the proper consistency. After the biscuits have been pulled out of the oven and have cooled for 5 minutes, spread the glaze over the top and allow it to melt all over.

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Now if you don't want all the sweetness, you can make a batch of buttermilk biscuits instead.  I can understand why you may want to avoid the sweetness once in a while. Just leave out the cinnamon, the sugar, and don't make the glaze.  Then slather them in butter right after they come out of the oven... yummm...



Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter diced into small bits
2 tablespoons shortening diced into small bits
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, chilled

Add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl .  Add the butter and shortening and mix into the flour with a pastry cutter, fork or even with your bare hands until the fats crumble into small bits and it starts looking like cornmeal. Don't overmix or they will turn into rolls instead of flaky biscuits.   Add the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Dump the dough out onto a floured counter top.  Add some more flour on the top of the dough and start to knead for about one minute to incorporate enough flour so the dough isn't sticky anymore.  Using your hands, spread the dough out to about a 8" by 4 " square and then fold it in half.  Repeat this about 5 times to create those flaky layers.  Roll out to a large oval and so the dough is about an inch thick.  Using a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter, or drinking glass, cut out biscuit rounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  take the scraps, combine them, spread out the dough until and inch thick and cut a few more.  Bake the biscuits in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes until they rise and turn a golden brown

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So make a batch of these biscuits one Sunday morning, look at your old High School yearbook, reminisce about the good times, but be ecstatic that it wasn't the high point of your life.