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 