Cookie biscuits! (see and you thought I was kiding)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone. Today's post is about our ongoing saga with sourdough. I found a recipe for sourdough drop biscuits which don't need a lot of kneading or rise time so they are quick to make and a pretty good little biscuit. Of course being me and being in 'research mode' I sort of pushed the limits of the recipe a bit  (with more to come!) one direction I went (with Lisa's encouragement) was toward cinnamon sugar type biscuits.

The first recipe variant I tried crashed and burned (for once not literally!) so we will ignore that one for today. Lisa came up with the idea of using cinnamon chips (which works!) this combined with my decision to experiment with a couple other new ingredients resulted in the three recipes included in today's post: cinnamon apple biscuits, cinnamon chocolate biscuits, and peanut butter chocolate biscuits. Note: Lisa said she really liked the cinnamon chocolate ones but kept eating my peanut butter ones...

So, lets get started!
Cinnamon Apple Biscuits:

Preheat oven to 350

Part 1 (wet ingredients)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sourdough starter
mix well.

Since these are sweet biscuits a reasonably mild starter is appropriate. I frequently use the 'discard' from when I'm feeding my sour dough for these (I prefer to pour off the liquid that is generated if the starter stays in the refrigerator but if you prefer to mix it back in do so).

Part 2 (dry ingredients)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons of brown sugar (pack it up when you measure but break it up/sprinkle it into the bowl before you mix)
1/4 cup cinnamon chips
1 tablespoon dried apple (I used dehydrated applesauce which we get from Thrive, but there are other apple possibilities (Dad sent us some dried apples that would work well)

Mix well, then mix in the wet ingredients.

Drop by appropriate sized spoon (For these Lisa prefers smaller, that would be a table spoon or heaping half table spoon. I prefer a heaping tablespoon) onto an ungreased baking sheet. Note that these do rise/puff pretty well in the oven (unofficially I will say double in size) so give them plenty of space.

Bake for 12-17 minutes (remember ovens differ so your time may differ; also size can change the baking time (for heaping tablespoon in my oven 15 minutes is about right) so know your set up and adjust accordingly)

When they come out loosen them up with a spatula. I can't say how long they keep because none have lasted that long!

Cinnamon Chocolate Biscuits

This one is a goof that worked out...
Follow the same recipe above except omit the sugar and the apples and add 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.

The mini chips started with Lisa's fascination for all things mini but they distribute chocolate through the whole mix better than full size chips.

The dropping of the sugar was initially me rushing and forgetting, but it works out. Chocolate plays well with a bit more tart environment (dark chocolate anyone?) and these are a nice treat with less sugar (and calories) than the other versions.

Chocolate Peanut  Butter Biscuits
Start with the cinnamon apple recipe again, but this time instead of 1 tablespoon apples add 1/4 cup peanut butter chips. I just finished some for the pictures below, they might or might not make it to tomorrow.

The pictures:

 Before

After (see I told you they'd puff)


So there you have it three easy treats off one base recipe (I have others too but those aren't cookie biscuits)

Looking into the future, now that the work bench is up and I have my snack maybe we get onto that stamping thing, the rocket stove gets used, no specific promise of what exactly, but the next post should be about fire and bent metal.

For any one looking for a reunion teaser...sorry no rock pictures today (better luck next time), but in the mean time ponder an tool I'm working of for the reunion: the ballistic paint brush! (Lisa: Yep, he's crazy. Patrick: Just be glad I was kidding about the fire arrows!)