What's Cooking?



It's always nice when friends drop by.

Let me rephrase that, it's nice to have friends that are so comfortable with you and your home that they feel they can just drop by even if there are dishes in the sink and you haven't showered yet...speaking hypothetically of course...ah hem...moving on...

While my sweet friend was sitting at my breakfast bar just visiting with me this week, I made a variation of Miz Helen's Cranberry Sausage Cookies.

This was a new-to-me recipe and we liked them a lot although we thought they were decidedly more similar to drop biscuits than cookies, but that may have been because of my chosen cooking method.

Here is the basic recipe adapted from Miz Helen's Country Cottage with some variation ideas.

Basic Sausage Biscuit Recipe

2c. Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2c. (Stick of) Cold Butter (cut into cubes)
3/4c. Milk
1 lb. Sausage Meat, browned & drained
1c. Cheese, shredded
1c. Dried Fruit
3/4c. Nuts, chopped & toasted (optional)

Put all dry ingredients in your mixer's bowl and give it a whirl a time or two just to mix ingredients.

Then put the butter in the mixer with the dry ingredients and turn it on medium so that the butter gets "cut" into the mixture.

Pour in all other ingredients and mix until combined.  It doesn't take long at all.

Drop by ice cream scoopfuls onto a tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

These are tasty cold, but fantastic hot.  :)

Because I have a fiddlin' issue, I wanted to see what other variations I could come up with:

Spicy Biscuits - Use Hot (Spicy) Sausage, Sharp Cheddar, Candied Jalapenos, and Chili flavored Peanuts

Christmassy Biscuits - Use Mild Sausage, Mild Cheddar, Raisins, replace 1/4c. Milk with Apple Butter, and Pecans

Italian Biscuits - Use Italian Sausage, Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2c. Sundried Tomatoes, and Pistachios

Greek Biscuits - Mild Sausage, Feta (crumbed), 1 tsp. Oregano, Kalamata Olives, and Almonds

Sweet & Savory Biscuits - Maple Sausage, Monterrey Jack Cheese, Cherries, and Almonds

American Biscuits - Bacon (cooked, drained, & crumbled), Pepperjack, Apples, and Pecans


This is part of Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday.

Comments

  1. I have to admit that sausage in a cookie is too weird for me. But dried cranberries in a biscuit with sausage sounds brilliant to me! This is very similar to the recipe I use for cheddar garlic biscuits. I would just need to add the sausage and cranberries.

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    1. Exactly! In the original recipe, she called for rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter but the dough looked like biscuit dough to me (plus I'm a little lazy when it comes to rolling out dough) so I dropped the mixture on the cookie sheet instead. And you are right, they are fluffy and yummy just like garlic cheese biscuits. :)

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  2. mmm.. cranberry biscuit.. skip the meat ;)

    (Did I tell you I'm currently vegetarian? for like 3 years now for chicken and 10 since red meat)

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    1. I didn't know that you were vegetarian. I guess maybe if you omitted the sausage, you would need to add a tiny bit more butter since you are losing some fat from the meat. Other than that, I'm sure these would still be great! Ooh, maybe make the dough (sans sausage) then put a little chunk of brie in the center. Wouldn't that be divine! A gooey brie & cranberry biscuit? Mmmm...

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  3. Hi Pary,
    Glad you liked the recipe and it gave you new ideas, it is always fun to make a recipe your own. Thank you so much for sharing it at the table with Full Plate Thursday.
    Hope to see you again soon!
    Miz Helen

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    1. Loved it Miz Helen! Thanks for the inspiration!

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