Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits

I spent a long time trying to come up with story for this recipe.  I just wasn’t feeling particularly inspired for some reason.   But as I sit here and try to come up with a story, I am reminded that sometimes the most special things in life don’t have much of a story.  For example, the times when I would just sit outside and watch the sunset, sit in silence with a friend in a time of need, or spend an afternoon in my pajamas reading a book.  Even though these isolated instances don’t have much of a story behind them, they are memorable in their own way.  So I guess that’s how I’ll look at this post: one that celebrates the simple, often overlooked things in life.  

Biscuits are kind of the same way.  They are simple, but their simplicity makes them fantastic.  There are no fancy ingredients, no tricky technical steps, nor do you need special equipment to make them.  I kind of like that about these biscuits.  They’re simple, but they’re memorable all the same.

What you need:

For the biscuits:

2 ¼ C Bisquick

2/3 C milk

½ C raisins

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

For the glaze:

1/3 C milk

5 Tbs powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla (you can omit this if you don’t have any on hand)

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 425°F.  Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.  Mix all of the biscuit ingredients together in a large bowl until a thick dough forms. 

Scoop the batter into 8 mounds and flatten slightly.  Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. 

After taking the biscuits out of the oven, prepare the glaze.  Whisk together the milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla if using and pour over the warm biscuits.

The glaze for these biscuits is optional, but I would definitely recommend it.  It adds just the right amount of sweetness to the biscuits.

Check out some more Bisquick recipes!

Recipe inspired by bettycrocker.com

Easy Peppermint Bark

 After Christmas every year I run into the same problem of having approximately 32 leftover candy canes that no one wants to eat.  I like candy canes, but I can usually only eat about 2 per Christmas season because I'm not a huge fan of peppermint.  So what do I decide to do with leftover candy?  Make even more candy!  Lindy logic right there. Traditional recipes for peppermint bark call for white chocolate with peppermint extract and crushed candy canes mixed in, but I decided to make this recipe using candy cane kisses.  This not only eliminates the need for extra ingredients, but it also eliminates the step of crushing the candy canes!  Let’s get started.

What you need:

About 40 candy cane kisses

6 oz dark or semi sweet chocolate chips

What you do:

Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.  Pour the melted chocolate into the prepared tray and spread evenly.  It is okay if the chocolate does not reach the edges of the cookie sheet-the pieces will just be broken anyways. 

Place the tray in the fridge until the chocolate hardens slightly.  Meanwhile, unwrap the kisses and melt them in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.  Take the tray out of the fridge and spread the melted kisses on top of the chocolate layer.  Top with crushed candy canes or chopped candy cane kisses, if desired.  

Place the tray back in the fridge until the chocolate hardens completely.  Remove from the fridge and break the peppermint bark into 2 inch pieces.  

Using the candy cane kisses ensures that this bark isn't too pepperminty, which I love!  That, and they make this bark a really pretty shade of pink.

Peanut Butter Kettle Corn

I discovered something really exciting in August that I neglected to tell you about.  I’m sorry.    The reason I didn’t tell you about it was because I never really had a reason to…until now.  What is this really exciting but slightly irrelevant thing?  Dehydrated peanut butter.

Ok that was unnecessarily dramatic.  Anyways, my mom bought this for me in August before I went off to school because 1) it is really lightweight, which makes it good for travelling and 2) have you ever heard of dehydrated peanut butter? I certainly hadn’t.  It was intriguing, to say the least.  It’s like normal peanut butter, but all of the oil is sucked out of it, leaving you with a powder.  All you do is add water, and voila!  You have peanut butter. 

For this recipe, I used only the powder.  If you wanted more of a peanut butter taste, you could melt peanut butter chips and drizzle it on top.  And if you wanted to get even crazier, you could melt chocolate chips as well.  Chocolate peanut butter popcorn?  That’s three of my favorite foods in one snack.  Can you tell it’s almost my dinner time?

What you need:

1 bag of your favorite kettle corn

1 ½-2 Tbs dehydrated peanut butter

What you do:

Pop the popcorn according to the directions on the bag.  Pour into a large serving bowl.  While the popcorn is still warm, sprinkle the peanut butter powder on top and stir. 

If you do decide to include peanut butter chips, spread the prepared popcorn out on a cookie sheet before drizzling the chips evenly over top.  Let the chips harden before serving.

Happy New Year!

I hope you and your family had a great, relaxing holiday season, and that your 2014 is off to a great start!  I just started school again today, so I'll spend this week getting adjusted to my new schedule, waking up early (especially after a long break!), and trying to endure the cold weather.

Speaking of cold weather, here is a Frozen medley that my sister and I put together over break.  We both really enjoyed the movie and loved the music, so this was a fun little project for us.  We hope you enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucg5vfCPnZw


I don't have a recipe for you this week, but one will be on its way shortly!