Breads,  Breakfast / Brunch

Warm Orange Honey Biscuits with Orange Mascarpone Spread

January 20, 2012

Whenever my daughter comes home for a visit, cooking and baking doubles!  Not that she eats that much but rather I like to send her off with lots of love, and in my world that means, food!  And along with that, I also like to make special meals we can share together.  

We had these biscuits for breakfast over last weekend.  A late breakfast; in fact, we can call it brunch as Gina pretty much gets up close to the noon hour when she comes home.  I really don’t mind, it actually works out perfectly.  She comes home, we spend time together, I go to bed and she goes out with her friends!  I wake up early; take a bike ride, start playing in the kitchen and she wakes to the aromas of freshly baked goodies! 

She and I got the idea for these biscuits from a cookbook she gave me for Christmas.  It’s a visual cookbook, Quick and Easy – Frame by Frame.  She obviously was sold on the pics as page by page are gorgeous, tempting food photos, from start to finish rather than a written recipe.   The “recipe” was actually for a honey muffin which caught our attention but decided to tweak it to be more like a biscuit or scone. 

For an extra creamy sweetness, I love to make flavored spreads, either using mascarpone or butter as the base and adding in ingredients to compliment what I’m serving.  Cream cheese could be used as well but I prefer mascarpone as its flavor is gentler and lighter than cream cheese and is easily spreadable.  It’s almost always in my fridge. I’ll use it to add a bit of thickness and creaminess to some of my dishes.  It’s a triple creamy cheese, sold in small containers; it is more expensive than cream cheese and cannot always be substituted for cream cheese as its delicateness will not be as firm, i.e., as in a frosting.

Warm Orange Honey Biscuits with Orange Mascarpone Spread

1 1/2 cup self rising flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon turbinado (raw) sugar

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled

¼ cup orange blossom honey

2/3 cup yogurt

1 egg, beaten well

Orange zest from one orange

2 tablespoons orange blossom honey mixed with 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier or orange juice for glazing tops after baking

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease six ramekins with butter or a baking sheet.  In a mixer with the paddle attachment, or large bowl with a pastry cutter, or your finger tips in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, spice and salt and mix to combine.  Add in the chilled butter pieces and quickly mix until the butter is thoroughly cut into the flour, resembling coarse meal.  In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, honey, egg and zest and mix well.  Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.  The batter will be thick.  Spoon batter into greased ramekins or drop the biscuits on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and brush on honey/orange juice mix.   Serve warm.

For the Orange Mascarpone Spread, I simply took about ¼ cup of room temperature mascarpone cheese and mix with chopped oranges, splash of Grand Marnier and orange blossom honey to taste.  Adjust amounts to your preference; substitute unsalted butter for an Orange Butter Spread.

I love being in the kitchen. Early mornings, soft music, a hot espresso. Easing into the preparation of delicious meals. Glancing through cookbooks, gathering inspiration and planning my day. I look forward to the cycles of the seasons, the pleasures of tasting and savoring and sharing this with those dear to me. Weekends are special to me as my week days are often rushed, but still I create the ambiance, light the candles, set the table and uncork the wine.

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