Biscochitos

   Well, I do need to start putting some recipes on here from New Mexico, as well.  I do a good bit of New Mexican cooking, too. Recipes have been given to me, since I moved here, or sometimes I research and try to make them myself.  I was given this recipe by a friend I used to work with  a few years ago.  He said it was a recipe that his wife made all the time, and they ate them up around his house. I had tried biscochitos store bought, and a few homemade, so I had an idea of different tastes that they had. I tried the recipe and I loved it, and have been making them for a snack for some time, now.  They are really easy to make, too.
   Biscochitos, it is said, was introduced to Mexico around the 16th century by Spanish explorers. Biscochitos, also known as biscochos, have become a New Mexican tradition, as well. Everywhere you look over here, you can find biscochitos in every shape, form, and flavor, for sale. Lots of family owned New Mexican food restaurants sell them.  I go into Garcia's New Mexican restaurants and buy them all the time! They are everywhere! They taste so good, too!  They are considered a Christmas treat but traditionally they were also enjoyed at celebrations such as weddings, baptisms, and quinceaneras. In 1989 the bizcochito was declared as New Mexico’s state cookie,  making it the first state to have an official cookie. They have their own unique taste to them, but the closest I can describe them is something similar to a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie~only Hispanic, and can come in different flavors.

Biscochitos
1 cup sugar
2 cups lard, or butter
3 tsp anisse seed, crushed
2 eggs
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup milk
  * Topping:
           1/2 tsp cinnamon & 1 cup sugar

Mix sugar, lard and anisse, until creamed.  Fold in eggs.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients,  sifted flour, salt, sugar.  Pour into the sugar and
eggs mix. Add orange juice and milk to make the dough. Should be moist, after mixing,
and not sticky or dry.  If mix is sticky, add more flour. If mix is dry, add more orange
juice.  Refrigerate in a bowl covered with plastic wrap until mix hardens.

Take a small chunk of the mix out of the bowl, at a time and roll out on to a floured
surface.  With a rolling pin, roll into 1/4 to 1/2 thickness.  Cut into fancy shapes.

In another bowl, mix the topping with sugar and cinnamon, and dip one side of the
cookie shapes into it. Place on cookie sheet lined with ungreased parchment paper,
sugar side up
.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes between 3 & 4  dozen cookies.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

  Another thing that I enjoyed growing up was fried chicken.  Fried chicken is just basic food in the South! Everyone eats it, or most everyone, and everyone cooks it slightly different. One of the variations that was popular growing up was to fry chicken that had been soaked in buttermilk overnight. I don't know what it does, but something about soaking the chicken pieces overnight just adds a zing to fried chicken! Everyone adds slightly different spices to the mix, and you can experiment and add different ones, too. This is just the barebones basic recipe that I cook, when I decide to cook the recipe. Most use just this basic recipe, and it tastes just fine! If you wanted, you could even coat the fried pieces with some homemade barbeque sauce, afterwards, for an added zing to barbeque fried chicken.  This is my favorite way to eat fried chicken, and the buttermilk just holds the juices inside, and it makes your mouth water from the first bite!  If you've never tried this recipe, give it a try, and see why so many people in the south cook their chicken this way!  :-)

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

1 whole chicken fryer, cut into pieces
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups Crisco oil, or vegetable oil~ or enough to fill a couple of inches in the frying pan
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 cups all purpose flour
buttermilk ~ enough to cover pieces in a large bowl, to soak

Cut up one large, whole chicken fryer, separating breasts, wings, thighs, etc.  Salt and
pepper chicken pieces to taste, and place in a large bowl.

Pour buttermilk over chicken, in a large bowl, until all pieces are covered.  Cover bowl
with plastic wrap. Let soak for a minimum of 2 hours in the refrigerator, but will taste
better if you let pieces soak overnight and cook later the next day.
 
Add the salt, pepper and flour to a big bag. Shake buttermilk coated chicken pieces in
bag until pieces are coated with flour mixture.

Add the shortening or vegetable oil to a skillet and heat it. When the shortening is very
hot, and a dash of flour bubbles in the grease, put the coated chicken in the skillet and
lower the heat to medium, cooking several pieces at a time.

Let it cook for about 15 minutes or so, until it is golden brown on one side. Turn the chicken over and let the other side cook until golden brown.

Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook for 10 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through with no pink in the center.  After trying this recipe, you may find that one making of the chicken isn't enough, and you have to cook more next time!

(Serves 4 people)

Sausage-Cheese Biscuit

Here's a quick breakfast food or snack for anytime!

Sausage-Cheese Biscuit

1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lb. Jimmy Dean sausage, hot
3 cups of Bisquick
1 cup of water

  Mix all ingredients with a mixer in a bowl.  Roll into balls with hands, after mixed, or scoop with a spoon, and place on baking sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven until golden brown.

  *Usually, when I cook these, I like to use sharp or extra sharp cheddar and hot sausage. You can use mild cheddar and mild sausage, if you like.  Also, I usually add 1-1/2 lbs. of cheddar instead of just one, but I love more cheese in mine. If you like more sausage, you can add more of that instead.  Also, I will make two makings at a time, when I cook this~sometimes three, and store them in a plastic cake serving pan, turned upside-down to hold them. Any large container will do to hold them, though. These are really good for breakfast, and are quick to cook in the morning, at the last minute, if needed. Also, after they cool, they make a great snack for anytime, while watching television or a game. You can also take homemade or store-bought jelly and eat them with jelly in each bite. Hope you enjoy these! I've eaten these most of my life, ever since my mom first made them, and still love them! :-)

Lemon Meringue Pie

  I'm trying to fill up my blog with alot of recipes to get a good start. I'm actually craving lemon meringue pie right now. I got this recipe from my mom, and have cooked it several times, and it's always so good! :-)  I always enjoy anything my mom cooks, but my favorite desserts by her are the chocolate and lemon meringue pies, and thin layer chocolate cake!  Well, here's another recipe, I've been asked alot to post. When I cook it around here, everyone always wants more.  Doesn't matter if I cook 4 pies at a time, they are gone before I know it, which is a good thing!  Hope you enjoy the lemon meringue pie, too! :-)

Lemon Meringue Pie
3 eggs, separated (may omit eggs)
14 oz. can of condensed milk
1/2 cup of lemon juice (fresh)
1/3 cup of sugar
Graham cracker pie crust

Beat egg yolks. Add condensed milk and lemon juice. Mix well. Pour into crust. Beat egg
whites with sugar to form meringue.  Top pie with meringue.
Bake at 400 degrees until meringue is golden brown.

Basic Red Sauce

  Here is my basic Italian red sauce, that I cook. You can use it for pizzas, lasagna, etc. It makes a good bit of sauce, and you can usually use it on a few different things, and even refrigerate it. I decided to go ahead an post it, since it goes so well with the homemade pizza dough that I just posted earlier this morning.


Basic Italian Red Sauce

2 (28oz) cans of whole peeled tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium onion)
1 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/2 tsp of basil
1/2 tsp of black pepper
2 (15oz) cans of tomato sauce
3 Tbsp of tomato paste
2 cups of water
1 tsp of sugar

  Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Squeeze the tomatoes, breaking them into pieces.
 
  In a 5 quart pot, heat the olive oil. Add onions, garlic, salt, basil, oregano and black pepper. Cook, stirring until soft, about 5 minutes.

  Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, sugar and crushed tomatoes.  Stir and bring to a simmer.

  Lower the temperature to medium heat, and let cook until it comes to a boil. After it comes to a boil, lower the heat to low, and let simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Use to pour over pizza crust, a layer in making lasagna, or a base for anything Italian.

(Yield: 10 cups, or 2-1/2 quarts of sauce.)

Basic Pizza Dough

  Another thing I get asked alot by my friends is how I make my pizzas.  Well, I don't have my own recipe for the dough, and pretty much all pizza dough recipes seem to be alike or very similar, to me, so far.  Maybe I just don't have any Italian in my blood to tell the difference. Still, I usually use this recipe from The Food Network Magazine for my pizza dough. This is a basic dough, and can be used for all kinds of Italian foods, other than pizza.  Typically, once the dough is stretched and put on a baking sheet, or pizza cooking stone, it only takes 5 to 10 minutes to cook, in a 500 degree oven, even with all the other pizza toppings added. With this basic dough, you can make your own pizza with the toppings that you like.  I do have a lasagna sauce that I make homemade for most everything I cook Italian, and I use it for a pizza sauce, as well.  I'll post the lasagna sauce later, too, so you can use it for lasagna, pizza, or any other Italian recipes. Even with it, I'm changing up how I make the sauce slightly, every time.  Hope this basic pizza dough recipe helps. It's best to make it homemade, instead of buying the store-bought doughs. It tastes so much better, and the dough is able to fall into place where you want it, compared to the store-bought pre-made. Enjoy! :-)


Basic Pizza Dough

Active: 30 mins./ Total: 2 hrs., 10 mins./ Makes Two 1-pound dough balls.
1 Tbsp Sugar
1  1/4-oz packet (2-1/2 tsp)  active dry yeast
3 Tbsp  extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1-1/2 tsp of salt

  Whisk  1-1/3 cups of warm water (105 degrees) and the sugar in a bowl; sprinkle the
yeast on top. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the olive oil.

  Whisk the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center of the flour and pour
in the yeast mixture.  Gradually stir with a wooden spoon to make a rough dough.

  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic,
about 5 minutes, dusting with more flour if necessary.  Form into 2 balls.  Brush 2 large
bowls with olive oil, add a ball of dough to each and turn to coat with the oil.  Cover
tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room termperature until doubled in size, about
1 hour, 30 minutes.  Roll out and top as desired, or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze up to
a month.  If you are making only one pizza, freeze the second pound of dough for later.

Flower Pot Pudding

  Well, it is April Fools Day, and I wanted to post something that would be fitting for the day.  We used to have these little individual puddings at birthday parties, sometimes, growing up. They taste really good and are quick to make. You can make the pudding all one flavor, if you want. To me, it's more realistic to have a dark chocolate or butterscotch pudding, and cover the tops of each pudding with lots of crumbled Oreos. Either way you make it it's good! :-)  One dinner party I went to even had these as the desserts.  The way they had it done, it looked like a real plant, and they announced you could take your spoon and eat the sand out of the clay pots for the dessert! Everyone laughed and loved it! :-)  There are some more complicated "fake" foods that I wanted to post, but they are a little bit harder to make. I'll post them at a later time.  Hope you enjoy the pudding! :-)

Flower Pot Pudding

•2 cups cold milk
•1 package each (4-serving size)  of Vanilla & Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
•1 tub (8 ounces) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
•15 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely crushed, divided

  Prepare 1 package each (4-serving size) Vanilla Instant Pudding and Chocolate Instant Pudding separately, with 2 cups each cold milk, as directed on packages. Let stand 5 minutes.
  Gently stir 1/2 cup of Cool Whip Whipped Topping into each bowl of pudding. Finely crush 20 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, then sprinkle 1 tablespoon into bottom of 8 (6-ounce) dessert cups, or aluminum foil lined small clay pots.  Top each with 1/4 cup vanilla pudding, 1 tablespoon cookie crumbs and 1/4 cup chocolate pudding. Sprinkle evenly with remaining cookie crumbs. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve. Insert plastic flower and your flower pot pudding is ready to serve.  (Note: You can hide gummy worms in the layers of the pudding if you like, but to me it tastes good the way it is, without them.)