Sage Cornmeal Biscuits

Last night we had a rather scary experience with our youngest, who fell off a chair and whacked her head hard enough to frighten me (which is actually pretty difficult). We called our doctor's office and they gave us the usual instructions to postpone bedtime for a while, watch for concussion signs and then wake her after about an hour of sleeping.

Unfortunately, the accident happened right before bed (of course) so the girls were up pretty late and Rob stayed up even later to wake our youngest at the proposed time. To make matters worse, she did not fall asleep right away but spent an hour after we put her to bed talking. Clearly, she was not hurt as badly as we thought (thank goodness!) but we were all pretty exhausted this morning.

So, we slept in really late and enjoyed a fun wake-up hour with the kids giggling and playing before breakfast. When we finally made our way downstairs to eat, I realized we were out of our favorite Ezekiel bread (sprouted wheat, protein rich), so I decided to make biscuits. They were so good, I knew I had to post the recipe. Then, I laughed because I realized one of the few recipes I've posted here is another biscuit recipe. So, just to clarify...we don't eat biscuits very often (unlike at my mom's house where we ate them weekly! Boy, were they good!). But, every once in a while, a good biscuit is just the ticket! These are awesome with eggs but they'd be just as good with soup.

I started with a recipe by Mary Kincaid that I found over at www.allrecipes.com. You can see it here. But, I made some adjustments to fit the way we eat, including switching to whole wheat flour and replacing the milk with yogurt. They were simply amazing - tender and full of flavor.

So, add these to your list of healthi-er, fast things you can make during the holiday season.

Sage Cornmeal Biscuits

Original Recipe Yield 10 servings

Time to prep - 10 minutes, cooking time 8-12
Preheat oven to 450 F

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage*
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk 

Tools
Food processor - you know I'm going to suggest the food processor for recipes like this because it's so fast! But, you can use a bowl and pastry cutters (or forks/knives) instead. It'll just take longer. And I don't have time for that!

Directions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor or bowl. Pulse till ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Nothing is worse than biting into a biscuit and getting a mouthful of salt or baking powder!
2. Add 1/3 c butter, cut into 1 inch cubes. Pulse until the texture contains coarse crumbs
3. Add yogurt and milk and use a fork to just until moistened. If you use the food processor, just pulse lightly till the mixture barely holds together. This is one of those things you don't want to overmix. You're going to knead it anyway.
4. Knead 5-6 times on a lightly floured surface. 
5. Gently pat to desired thickness (we made big biscuits - 1" thick) and into a rectangle. This makes about 6 biscuits. If you want more, simply pat the dough thinner - 1/2-3/4" thickness and cut into more pieces.
6. Cut the biscuits into squares (I don't have time for biscuit cutters and this way I don't have to re-roll dough, making it tough).
7. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet
8. If you make the larger biscuits, they'll take longer to cook - 12-15 minutes. Smaller biscuits take 8-12. They're done when the tops are golden brown and the middle looks baked.

* This recipe includes sage, which gives it a lovely, warming flavor. If you don't have sage, other flavors that would be nice include savory, rosemary, thyme or maybe even oregano. You could also throw in 1/2 cup of dry cheese, like parmesan - into the dry ingredients - for a cheesy flavor that would work great with soup.