A Hungry Texans Easter Brunch

Happy Easter, y’all!

It’s been too long since I’ve posted here. 2014 has been a year of new adventures- new jobs and a new apartment in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn! Our kitchen is big and bright, so expect a few more recipes on Hungry Texans!

Welp, nobody told me that Easter is the one holiday that can clear Brooklyn out- it seemed like all of our friends were home with their families. Luckily, my darling friend Therese also missed the memo, so we enjoyed the day together! Gin cocktails + biscuits + apple pancakes + sun? I’ll take it.

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So what did we make? Click through for links to the full recipes!

Rose Lemonade Gin Cocktails

Gin-Cocktail

Buttermilk Biscuits & Salted Molasses Butter

Thinly Sliced Maple-Glazed Ham (not homemade, thanks Boars Head!)

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Arugula Lemon Salad with Shaved Parmesan

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Naturally Dyed Purple Cabbage Eggs

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German Apple Pancakes

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Try this menu at home for your next brunch and let us know how it turns out!

Love,

Liz

Hungry Texans

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Buttermilk Biscuits & Salted Molasses Butter

Sam and I celebrated my birthday at Seersucker in Carroll Gardens this year. Robert Newton, Seersucker’s chef/owner, is from Arkansas, so he makes incredible southern food. We ate fried oysters and red eye gravy and grits. It was heaven. Dinner started with these delicious biscuits and MOLASSES BUTTER. We gobbled them up and I knew I had to recreate them soon!

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We topped these biscuits with thinly sliced maple ham for an Easter feast. You can see our whole Easter brunch spread here.

Buttermilk Biscuits

You’ll need:
7 cups cake flour
3 tbs baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups vegetable shortening (or lard if you’re into it)
3 cups cold buttermilk
4 tbsp melted butter
To make the biscuits:

Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a sheet pan with foil and brush that with butter (or spray!).

In your stand mixer, add the dry ingredients and mix. If you’re worried about cake flour, here’s a tip: Cake flour is just all-purpose flour with cornstarch. Replace 2 Tbs per each cup of flour with cornstarch and voila! Once the dry ingredients are mixed, add the shortening, mixing until the flour looks like pebbles. Add the cold buttermilk and mix well.

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Turn your dough out onto a well-floured surface. The dough will be wet, but I didn’t even need to use a rolling pin to get these to the right thickness. You want your dough to be about half-inch thick.

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Use a biscuit cutter (or a cup if you’re a simple girl like me) to cut out ~12 biscuits.

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Place the biscuits on your foil-lined sheet pan, allowing them to touch just slightly. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt.

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Bake at 425˚F for 12 to 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and yummy.

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Salted Molasses Butter

You’ll need:

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 tsp robust molasses (I would love to make this with sorghum if I could get my hands on the stuff!)

1 tsp sea salt

 

To make the butter:

Ok y’all, this is easy. Soften the butter, put it in your stand mixer, and mix it until it’s whipped. Add the molasses and salt and mix until combined.

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Spread the butter onto wax paper and shape into a cylinder. Wrap it up and twist on both sides, then pop this in the fridge to harden!

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Happy eating!

Liz

Hungry Texans

herbed honey biscuits

I arrived home in Houston to a mountain of Saveur magazines (really! look how many there are!), and immediately started paging through them. The first recipe that screamed, “make me! make me!” was for these herbed honey biscuits. I knew they’d be the perfect addition to our Thanksgiving menu and their ease was an attractive alternative to more time-consuming yeast rolls. They’re ideal for any holiday bread basket, sopping up soup, or a savory twist to your breakfast (my egg, gruyere, herb biscuit breakfast sandwich this morning was preeeetttty tasty!).

For ~15 biscuits, gather these ingredients:

3 3/4 self-rising flour

1 heaping tbl chopped rosemary

1 heaping tbl thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

6 tbls chilled, cubed butter

1 c buttermilk

3 tbl 1/2 & 1/2

1 heaping tbl honey

This is a roll-up-your-sleeves, play-with-your-food, get-your-hands-dirty type of recipe. Start by mixing your dry ingredients in a big bowl and then add all your cubed butter and start mixing it with your flour mixture. Keep playing until your mixture is a crumbly consistency and all the butter is worked into the flour in ittty bitty balls. Wash your hands & then mix in your dairy & your honey. Mix, mix, mix until your dough is a sticky, cohesive ball.

Dump your ball out onto a very well floured surface and roll it out so it’s about an inch think. Cut ’em out and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 20 to 30 minutes until they’re golden brown!