Did Someone Say Biscuits? ~ D.K. Deters

When I wrote The Texan’s Favor, one of the main characters, Kat, a farm girl with plenty of cooking experience, relied heavily on tried and true classic recipes.

Have you ever wondered what some of those old-time recipes taste like? Well, I decided to try one out. Full disclosure: I’m not a cook. I also used a conventional oven.

Recipe for baking biscuits (from the Tallahassee Museum, Tallahassee, Florida):

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening (Shortening could be substituted with butter, lard, bacon grease, or chicken grease. The latter two will give the biscuits a different flavor.)

¾ cup milk

Preheat oven to 450F degrees.

Sift the flour in a medium bowl. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through the ingredients) until it looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves the side of the bowl. Place on a floured surface. Knead 10 times. Roll or pat ¾ inch thick. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

In the 1800s, pioneers typically used a wood-burning stove on the farm and a small Dutch oven (a cast iron pot with a lid) on the trail.

Some cooks would gauge the stove’s temperature by placing a water kettle on the front burner. When the water boils, the stove is around 450F degrees.

Interestingly enough, the idiom “on the back burner” stems from placing a pan on the back burner of a stove where it’s not as hot.

       

LOL, as you can see, I used the pat method rather than a roller. These aren’t too pretty, but they were flaky, and the consistency was what I expected. 😊 My husband used them for sliders and thought they were good. So, there you have it.

On the trail, Kat would often make Soda Biscuits. I think of these as a no-frills biscuit. She’d cook the biscuits in a Dutch oven surrounded by hot coals.

Another method, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with, is to wrap a biscuit around a large stick and hold it over the campfire.

Have you ever tried an old-time recipe? How did it turn out?

Zeppole Recipe

by Shanna Hatfield

The mother-in-law of one of my favorite cousins recently gifted me with a bunch of vintage recipes. She knows how much I enjoy them and those she shared were so fun. Some were taken from 25-pound bag of flour. Others were promotional booklets that came with product purchases. A few were clippings taken from newspapers, yellowed with age. 

It was definitely a treasure trove! 

When I write sweet historical romances, it's nearly as fun to research recipes to go with the stories right along with the historical details. 

One of my favorites (because I love Italian food) was when I was working on Caterina, book 2 in the Pendleton Petticoats series. Caterina is Italian and loves to cook, so I had to look up a bunch of recipes appropriate to 1900 that she might have created. And then I decided to try a few of them! 

Here's one little gem that is so, so good!

Zeppole

2/3 cup sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 pkg. instant yeast

1 cup warm water

3 eggs

Mix flour, sugar and salt then set aside.

Empty yeast into a large bowl with warm water. Stir until dissolved then let rest about five minutes.

Add in eggs and whip lightly then add flour and stir until well mixed.

Cover bowl with a dish towel and set in a warm place for 20 minutes. Stir down the dough and let rise again before frying.

Heat a heavy-duty pan of oil on medium-high heat until a drop of dough sizzles in the pan.

Drop a tablespoon full of the dough (think in terms of the size of a plum) into the oil, being carefully not to burn yourself on any splatters and cook until golden brown. The zeppole turn themselves over when they are cooking, which is fun to watch.

Drain on paper towels or paper bags (to soak up the grease) then drench in sugar. I liked powdered sugar best and CC preferred cinnamon and sugar. Either is delicious.

You can also serve these with fruit or whipped cream, if you so desire. (Or stand over the bag with powdered sugar devouring these like a ravenous beast.)

If you haven't yet read Caterina or the other Pendleton Petticoats stories, the first two books are on sale today! 

Aundy is free for Kindle downloads, Caterina is just 99 cents, and Evie is a brand new release in the series! 

Here's a little excerpt from Caterina:

Nothing in her past prepared her for the heat flaming through her entire being when Kade claimed her lips with his. Although she expected him to be harsh or rough, he was tender, unhurried, and oh, so thorough.

Not giving a thought to the possible consequences of her actions, both of her hands wrapped behind his neck and she pressed against his brawny chest, incapable of doing anything beyond wanting another kiss.

“Cat…” His husky whisper caused her to raise her bedazzled gaze to meet his. “Oh, darlin’.”  He wrapped her more closely in his arms and lifted her off her feet as he melded his mouth to hers again.

Completely lost in the sensations rushing through her, Caterina was helpless to move, to think, to do anything but return what Kade offered.

Happy Reading!

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

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