Biscuits And Bellinis

This morning I made biscuits from scratch. I can't remember the last time I attempted this, though I'm pretty sure I must have tried twenty or thirty years ago with little to no success.

Despite the fact that I've been baking like crazy since the quarantine, my basic nature hasn't changed. I'm not a fan of fussy or complicated recipes.

To this end, I searched easy biscuit recipes. Literally the recipes that populated required you to use frozen butter that you would then grate on a box grater.

Laminating the dough, that is folding it over multiple times to create flaky layers, was also part of the process.

Then you would shape the dough by hand - no rolling pin allowed.

Now I don't know about you guys, but laminating and box graters are words that I don't want to see in my biscuit recipe.

Next, I searched food processor biscuits, and found this one:

https://www.food.com/recipe/quick-food-processor-biscuits-362018

It had five reviews with an average of five out of five stars. Perfect.

I realized I didn't have an actual biscuit cutter, so made due with the top of a Ball jelly jar. By the time the oven was preheated, my biscuits were in the oven.

Twelve minutes later, they were done.

These biscuits looked exactly like the canned kind my grandma used to buy at the grocery store when I was a kid.

I can picture these biscuits so clearly. They were sold in skinny tubes for the grand price of ten tubes for a dollar.

Almost impossible to open, the biscuits didn't rise very much and most definitely didn't have the flaky layers one would achieve by grating the butter and then laminating the dough.

Nevertheless, they came out of the oven hot and crumbly, melted butter beautifully, and were an acceptable vehicle for scrambled eggs. Exactly like the biscuits I just made.

Sam and I had our biscuits with our newest sausage find: Aidell's chicken sausage with pineapple and bacon. Sounds strange, but we really like it.

Cut into tiny pieces, I sauted the sausage until crispy, then scrambled eggs right into the pan.

Since there was half a bottle of Champagne left over from yesterday's cocktail, we enjoyed our breakfast with bellinis - peach juice spiked Champagne.

Yesterday we had an old school cocktail made with rainbow sherbert and Champagne. It was a fun Saturday evening treat, and set us up for a bubbly Sunday morning. Win/win.

After breakfast, I kept wondering what the name of those little biscuits from childhood was.

I searched Jiffy, thinking maybe this iconic brand had produced canned biscuits at one time.

There was no evidence of that, but a very interesting story about Jiffy's history.

Mabel Holmes created the first ever biscuit mix, after feeling sorry for a neighborhood child who had rock hard biscuits for lunch.

Because the boy had lost his mother, it was his father who cooked. Mrs. Holmes wanted to create a product that was so easy "that even a man could do it."

Mabel's grandson, Howdy S. Holmes, brought the company into the 21st century with updates that have kept them the leader in the boxed muffin mix category, with a market share of 55.3 %.

According to the article, the company's prices are so low because they have never advertised.

Though every Southerner I know is familiar with their cornbread mix, I never noticed that they sold a biscuit mix, too.

Bet you a bottle of Champagne it doesn't call for box graters or laminating.

Easy Peach Bellinis

1 ounce peach nectar

1/2 ounce Peach Schnapps

3 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine

Add peach nectar and Schnapps to a chilled Champagne flute or coupe.

Pour Champagne on top. Garnish with a fresh peach slice, if desired.

Serves one.

*No worries if you don't have peach Schnapps on hand. The drink will still be good without it.

Rainbow Sparkler

3 small scoops rainbow sherbert*

3 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine

Scoop sherbert into a chilled Champagne coupe. Add Champagne.

Serves one.

*Any flavor sherbert or sorbet works well here. A chunky fruit popsicle is also a wonderful Champagne mix-in, especially outdoors on a hot day. Just use a large enough glass.