My Secret Recipe Club assignment this month was Katrina’s fabulous blog, Baking and Boys! As I say every month, I love being part of the SRC. It’s a fun way to try new blogs and recipes and be part of a great community. If you’ve missed my past SRC posts, the premise is this: you’re assigned a different member’s blog every month. You visit their blog, choose any recipe you want, then make it and share it on your blog… all while keeping your assignment a secret! Everyone else posts about their secret blog the same day. It’s fabulously fun to try out new blogs. If you have a blog, definitely check it out and consider joining! I highly recommend it.
Katrina is a devoted wife and mom, always involved with the lives and activities of her husband and their four[!!!!] sons. I can’t imagine how she finds time to bake and blog so many goodies all the time, but she does. I guess it’s because you always make time for what’s important to you. And feeding your family with delicious food is typically a high priority for many, including Katrina.
When I was perusing Katrina’s blog for something to serve with some potato soup I was making for a dinner with friends, I came across this story on her blog about how she made these fabulous maple cornmeal drop biscuits only to have them meet a tragic ending in her oven. You should check out the story, it’s really sad and totally something I would do. So in honor of that event, I thought I would recreate these maple cornmeal drop biscuits. The recipe technically wasn’t on Katrina’s blog since it was made as part of the Tuesdays with Dorie blog group. I thought long and hard whether this was something that I should make for a SRC post in that case, but decided the story was just too good to not share. So I hope that is alright with the SRC-powers-that-be… because these maple cornmeal drop biscuits should definitely get some attention.
They are flaky, sweet, and so easy to make. Instead of regular yellow cornmeal, I used a stoneground local blue cornmeal that I got at our farmer’s market recently. It tastes really good, but I suspect that’s why my biscuits don’t look quite so pretty–browned blue turns a bit of a funny color. Maybe it’s my oven. Anyone have any tips for baking with blue cornmeal? Regardless of their appearance, these maple cornmeal drop biscuits will definitely be added to my rotation of quick breads to serve with soup. We ate them plain, dipped in soup [butternut squash apple and potato], and think they would have been great with pumpkin butter, but I forgot that at home so it wasn’t an option. Sad day.
Thankfully, these biscuits are a snap to make, so I can taste test them with pumpkin butter very, very soon. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did! And Katrina… thanks for the recipe. Hope you make them again soon!
Maple Cornmeal Drop Biscuits
from Baking with Boys! via A Little Something…..Sweet!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground [I used blue]
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
- 1/2 cup milk [I used skim]
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda. Add butter and toss to coat using your fingers or a pastry blender until butter is mixed in well in pieces no bigger than a pea. Pour in milk and maple syrup and stir together gently until a very soft dough forms.
Spoon dough into 12 mounds on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes [mine were done in about 13, but original recipe said 15] or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Be sure to check out the other fabulous recipes posted today (click below) for this week’s SRC reveal. Have a great day!
The Pajama Chef 
Yay for SRC! Those look fabulous, and the blue cornmeal is quite fascinating. I kind of want to buy some, like, today.
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thanks jenna! this is the first time i’ve purchased it, and it’s so earthy & fresh.. love it!!
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Your biscuits sound delicious.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC entry Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings.
Lisa~~
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I think I need these biscuits…right now! I also love that you used blue cornmeal. Maybe just because I like the color blue 😉
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thanks jaida! i like cooking with unexpected colors. 🙂
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This looks phenomenal. I have some blue cornmeal in the pantry that needs to be used up. Might have to give this a whirl.
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let me know what you think if you give it a try 🙂
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These sound absolutely wonderful – great pick for the SRC!
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thanks amy!
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These looks great, and I have all the ingredients so might need to whip these up to go with the broccoli soup I’m planning for this week!
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thanks amanda! hope you try ’em out. yumm!
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Thanks for the fun post and nice things you said about me and my blog. And I for sure have to make these biscuits again soon after seeing this. But the blue cornmeal, that reminds me of these delicious blue corn muffins we had at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in NYC a few years ago. They were so good. I searched the web for the recipe and then had to search for blue cornmeal. I now have some and the homemade copycat muffins were almost as good as Bobby Flays. Now that you have blue cornmeal you should try that recipe. 😉 http://www.bakingandboys.com/2009/05/twd-cake-and-couple-cinco-de-mayo.html
Thanks so much for baking from my blog this month!
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i’ll definitely have to check it out. thanks again katrina 🙂
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You’ve got me wanting to try these biscuits. (Sweet as Sugar Cookies)
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I am SO glad you decided to make these because, since it’s chili season, I’ve been on the lookout for new biscuit recipes! Mmm.
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I LOVE LOVE making biscuits and these maple ones look amazing! I’d love to enjoy with a hot cup of coffee 🙂
Sues
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that would be fabulous too 🙂 i mean, if something is good with soup & coffee, it has to be good, right?
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Maple syrup in a biscuit dough, I am going to love this one.
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These sound delicious. And with the maple syrup already IN the biscuit – even better. Great pick.
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thanks!
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Oooh, these do sound good! I’ve also been tempted in the past to do a recipe that someone does as part of a group but have always nixed it. I think you made the right choice though since Katerina’s didn’t turn out. You gave her story a happy ending!
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yes, SRC can be tricky like that! i usually don’t do group recipes, or recipes that someone else has done as part of the SRC before. but i made an exception this time and am so glad i did 🙂
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I have to tell you I made these and you wouldn’t believe how bad I messed them up! Apparently me and Katrina are related! haha! I added too much flour and then forgot the baking powder. Can you say brick biscuits? But they were still so good that we ate almost the whole batch in one sitting! So I’m going to have to try this one again, I’m sure it’s really good if even the brick versions were this tasty-haha.
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I forgot to tell you I made these again soon after the catastrophe and we loved them! So tender and soft!
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yayyyy!
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