Spoon-Drop Biscuits

In southern cooking, there is nothing more important than biscuits. They are a staple in the southern diet, paired with gravy, butter and jam, or layered on top of a chicken pot pie. So naturally, within the first week of arriving at my new home in Denver, I mixed up my usual biscuit batter to go with my hearty beef stew for dinner and...and was horrified at the hard, dry, crumbly things that came out of the oven. After I finished screaming OH MY GOD HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!!!! I got to work figuring out the why of it, and how to fix it. That night is when the idea of this blog started.
So I began researching, and baking, and OH the poor husband and dog that had to eat my failed experiments! But finally I found the magic ratios that would make my biscuits turn out light and fluffy and moist once again, and here is the recipe, both the original and the adjusted versions:
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Spoon-Drop Biscuits
The recipe at sea level:

2 1/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter-flavored crisco
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat over to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well.
Cut in the shortening until crumbs are the size of peas.
Add milk and stir with fork just until all dry particles are moistened.
Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet to make 12 biscuits.

Bake for 8 minutes until golden on top.

Optional: You can pat the dough to 1/2 thick on a floured board and cut your biscuits out with a deep cookie cutter or a small glass.

Cheesy Biscuits: Add 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon parsley flakes, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the flour. Continue the recipe as above. These cheesy biscuits are my family's favorite with lasagne and spaghetti!


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Spoon-Drop Biscuits at 5,000 feet

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter-flavored crisco
1 1/3 cups milk

Preheat over to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well.
Cut in the shortening until crumbs are the size of peas.
Add milk and stir with fork just until all dry particles are moistened.
Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet to make 12 biscuits.

Bake for 8-12 minutes until golden on top. Watch the time carefully, as the barometric pressure can make your biscuits perfect at 8 minutes one day, and 12 minutes on another day.

Optional: You can pat the dough to 1/2 thick on a floured board and cut your biscuits out with a deep cookie cutter or a small glass.

Cheesy Biscuits: Add 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon parsley flakes, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the flour. Continue the recipe as above. These cheesy biscuits are my family's favorite with lasagne and spaghetti!

Baking at 5,000 feet

I love to cook! I cook my family's dinner from scratch, I make healthy snacks at home, and I even bake and decorate my own cakes at birthday time. But when I moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to Denver, Colorado, I did not realize at first why my cookies and biscuits and cakes were failing. Here is the explanation of why:

As elevation rises, air pressure falls, which means that cooks living in Denver will see different results than cooks in Atlanta. Since most recipes in books, magazines, and blogs are designed for sea level, high-altitude recipe success requires a few mathematical adjustments.

Water boils at a lower temperature at high atlitudes, and the low air pressure makes leavening gases expand more quickly.

If you use your sea level recipe for cake in Denver (which is at about 5,000 feet), your cake could turn out coarse-textured, or could even burst and fall.

Another problem affecting your recipes is quicker evaporation at high altidude. It makes baked goods more prone to sticking. And sugar becomes more concentrated. Some cakes won't set, others become dry and crumbly.

Here are the guidelines I follow as I convert my favorite recipes for use at 5,000 feet:

Adjust the amounts of leavening, sugar, and liquid.

At 3,500-6,500 feet:
1. Decrease baking podwer by 1/8 teaspoon for every teaspoon called for in the sea-level recipe.
2. Decrease sugar by 1 tablespoon for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.
3. Increase liquid by 2 tablesoons for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.

At 6,500-8,500 feet:
1. Decrease baking podwer by somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon for every teaspoon called for in the sea-level recipe.
2. Decrease sugar by 2 tablespoons for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.
3. Increase liquid by 3 tablesoons for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.

At 8,500-10,000 feet:
1. Decrease baking podwer by 1/4 teaspoon for every teaspoon called for in the sea-level recipe.
2. Decrease sugar by 2 1/2 tablespoons for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.
3. Increase liquid by 4 tablesoons for each cup called for in the sea-level recipe.

Another thing I adjust is my baking temperature and time. Sometimes all I need to do is turn up my oven by 25 degrees. Sometimes I just need to add an extra 5-10 minutes of baking time. I will let you know with each recipe what the difference is.

I use Kitchenaid Stand-Mixer Attachment Pack - Grinder/Slicer/Strainer!

Welcome!

Welcome! My name is Beth, and I am a homemaker and mother of four. I used to live in Atlanta, Georgia, but now I live in Denver, Colorado, and I would like to share my tips, advice, and recipes with you all. The greatest challenge to managing a house at 5,000 feet is baking. I will tell you all about it in the posts to come at Mile-High House! Thanks for stopping by!