Our Blog

Excerpted from our Making Dough cookbook by Russell van Kraayenburg.

YIELD: 6 biscuits  |  PREP TIME: 30 minutes  |  BAKE TIME: 12 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound Biscuit Dough, prepared as at left

3 ounces cold, chopped duck fat

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter

½  small white onion, sliced

1 ounce all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons fresh tarragon, diced

2 teaspoons chives, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare biscuits as described, but replace butter with duck fat. Bake as instructed.

2. While biscuits bake, make the gravy: melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes, until translucent. Reduce heat to low and add flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes so that the flour flavor cooks out.

3. Pour in milk while stirring. Increase heat to medium and bring mixture to a boil. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until thick. Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, tarragon, and chives.

4. Serve biscuits with warm gravy.

Variation

Bacon Fat Biscuits

Using a different fat can dramatically affect the flavor of a biscuit. See for yourself: Substitute bacon fat for the duck fat and omit the chives and tarragon. This variation makes a more traditional biscuits and gravy dish.

Excerpted from our Making Dough cookbook from Russell van Kraayenburg.

YIELD: 1 (9-inch) closed pie  |  PREP TIME: 30 minutes  |  BAKE TIME: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 pounds prepared Pie Dough (double the recipe on page 50)

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

6 pounds Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8 wedges each

3 ounces granulated sugar

3 ounces brown sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1 ounce (¼ cup) cornstarch

1 egg, beaten (egg wash)

Directions

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide prepared pie dough into 2 (1-inch-thick) disks, wrap tightly in parchment paper, and refrigerate. Heat butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add apples and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add sugars, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and salt. Stir until evenly mixed. Cook for another 10 minutes, until apples are soft and juices begin to thicken.

2. Mix 1/2 cup water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir into apple mixture. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until filling comes to a boil and thickens. Cook, stirring constantly, for another 30 seconds. Set aside.

3. Place one dough disk on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a circle about 14 inches in diameter. Transfer dough to a 9-inch pie dish and press into the bottom of the dish, taking care not to let dough stretch. Lightly press dough down around the edges of the dish and cut off any excess. Pour in filling, creating a mound in the center. Set aside.

4. Place second disk of dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a circle about 14 inches in diameter and place on top of pie dish. Press edges to seal pie shut. Cut 4 tear-drop holes in the center of the pie to let steam escape during cooking. Cut excess dough from edges. Create a rope edge (see page 54). Lightly brush dough with egg wash. Bake for about 30 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

We’ve all had that one class. You know the one. You drag your feet getting there because you just can’t stay awake. Maybe the teacher speaks in a monotone. Maybe the subject matter is really uninteresting. Maybe it’s a government-controlled test to determine your attention span. Who knows! But either way, if you’re looking for a way to combat sleepiness in that class, we have some tips for you, courtesy of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: College Edition.

Sarah Shotts is a blogger, vlogger, and “nerdlywed.” Recently married, she blogs about living a nerdy life as a newlywed on her blog. She also vlogs about all things geeky on the Swot Sisters Youtube channel she created with her sister Mary. When she’s not making stuff on the internet she’s busy teaching theatre classes and doing wedding photography and video.
 

(image via David Mitchell on Facebook)

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas completely floored me: the step-pyramid narrative structure, the inventiveness of each of the interwoven worlds, the neologisms and peculiarly delightful turns of phrase are all nothing short of fantastic, in every sense of the world. And while I’m as jazzed as anyone to crack open his latest novel The Bone Clocks, I’m also already dreading the day when it’s over. Feel the same way? Here are eight picks for us Mitchell fans to read next.