Homemade Biscuits

I made this on November 22, 2019.  The one on the right is from the website https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/08/the-food-lab-buttermilk-biscuits-recipe.html
The "Serious Eats" website failed me this time :(  











Ingredients
3 C flour
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 C COLD butter
1 egg
1 C whole milk I used almond milk.  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  
3. The secret to excellent biscuits is COLD butter.  Really cold!  I grated the butter directly from the freezer into the dry ingredients bowl.
4. Mix the butter with the flour but be minimal.  Don't go crazy.  
5. Add in the milk and egg and mix just until the ingredients are combined.  The dough will be sticky but don't keep working it.  You should be able to see the butter pieces in the dough.
6. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface.  Sprinkle some flour on to the top of the dough so it won't stick to your fingers and knead 10 to 15 times.  If the dough is super sticky, just sprinkle on some additional flour.  
7. Pat the dough out to 3/4" to 1" thickness (this is why my biscuits rose so well)!  Cut with a biscuit cutter or glass.  
8. Place the biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.  
9. Can brush tops with melted butter.  

Chinese Chicken Salad Wonton Cups

Ingredients

• 24 wonton wrappers

Salad Dressing

• 1/4 C rice vinegar
• 1/4 C shoyu
• 2 T honey
• 2 T sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Chinese Chicken Salad

• Cooked chicken, diced (I had leftover turkey so used that)
• 4 C roughly chopped romaine lettuce
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 C shredded carrots
• 2 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 C cilantro, chopped
• 1 C salted roasted peanuts, chopped
• salt to taste
• Sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg. and grease a muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Take two wonton wrappers in your hand.  Lay them directly on top of each other.  Take the top wonton wrapper and turn it 90 degrees, so the corners are all facing opposite directions.
3. Place in one muffin tin and press down gently.  Repeat with remaining wontons.  
4. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from muffin tins and set aside to cool.

Salad dressing

1. Place vinegar, shoyu, honey, sesame oil, garlic powder, and ginger into a small bow.  Whisk until fully combined.  Set aside.

Chinese Chicken Salad

1. Place romaine, celery, carrots, green onion, cilantro, and peanuts into a large bowl.
2. Toss with desired amount of dressing (you'll have leftover dressing)
3. Taste and season with salt, if necessary.

Chinese Chicken Salad Wonton Cups

1. Fill each of the cooled wonton cups with 12 - 1 T chicken.
2. Top with salad and garnish with sesame seeds.

NOTE:  Can make the wonton wrappers in advance and store them at room temperature in a sealed container.  Make dressing earlier and store in the fridge.  Make the salad and store in a separate container into the fridge.  

Assemble right before serving so wonton cups don't get soggy.

Carnitas Enchiladas Cups

Ingredients

• pulled or shredded pork (use your favorite recipe)
• tortillas
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (4 oz) can green chiles, drained
• 1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce
• 2 1/4 C shredded hceese

Optional toppings:

• cilantro 
• green onions
• sour cream
• lime juice
• japapenos

Instructions

1. Grease 3 (12 slot) non-stick muffin tins with cooking spray.  Set aside.
2. Stack tortillas on a clean work surface.  Using a 4.5" round cookie cutter, cut 4 rounds out of each tortilla.  Makes 36 rounds.
3. Gently press one round into one slot of the muffin tins to make a cup (be sure to keep a big opening, since you'll be stuffing these with filling).
4. Repeat with remaining tortilla rounds.
5. Bake in preheated oven until the tortillas are lightly crispy and golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.

Carnitas Enchilada Cups

1. Drain shredded pork and place into a large bowl with black beans, green chiles, enchilada sauce, and salt, to taste.  Stir until well combined.
2. Fill each tortilla cup with shredded carnitas mixture and top each cup with 1 T cheese.
3. Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted.
4. Serve with optional toppings.