White Lily Buttermilk Biscuits with Strawberry Rerigerator Jam

Last month I found myself in Florida with the primary purpose of going to Universal Orlando.  I'm a Harry Potter fan and had been wanting to check out the two HP themed attractions there.  I was especially excited about Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride since the California location didn't have it.  You would think that as an enthusiast I would have brought back a wand or similar as a memento, right?  Wrong!

What was my Floridian souvenir you may ask?  Flour!  Yes, way, flour.  More specifically, White Lily flour.  [Don't be too surprised though, I am a baker after all.]  I'd heard a lot about how amazing White Lily flour was, especially for biscuits, but unfortunately it's accessibility was mainly limited to the South.  [Yes, I know you can find it online, but I'm too cheap to pay shipping fees for flour!]   

 

During some down time in Orlando I made a beeline to the closest supermarket I could find which happened to be Publix.  Call me strange, but checking out local grocery stores is one of my favorite things to do whenever I travel.  The store was your typical market, but as I was strolling the baking aisle I suddenly remembered about the White Lily flour.  I can't tell you excited I was to see it on the shelf!  I promptly bought four 5 lb bags to bring back to San Francisco with me.  Three of the bags were self-rising flour and the remaining one was all-purpose.  Luckily I managed to fit this haul in to my carry on suitcase.

I finally got around to making the buttermilk biscuits today and I have to say I am blown away by how light, fluffy and utterly delicious they are.  All the hype around White Lily flour is most well deserved in my opinion.  Who would have thought that just three ingredients (self-rising flour, shortening and buttermilk) could create something so delicious?  I give it the highest compliment I know by saying they are just as good, or even better, than KFC's buttermilk biscuits, which until now were my benchmark.

To accompany the biscuits I made a quick strawberry refrigerator jam using a recipe from Cook's Illustrated and local organic strawberries I bought at the farmer's market.  The jam is super easy to make and tastes fantastic with the buttermilk biscuits.  Pure heaven I tell you!

Lemon-Ginger Icebox Cake & a Giveaway

When BelGioioso asked me if I wanted to create a recipe for a traditional dessert "with a twist" using their mascarpone cheese I was more than happy to accept the challenge.   The first thing that came to mind was an icebox cake made with lemon and ginger.  This dessert is not only easy to assemble but also really light and refreshing.  I highly recommend you give it a try.  You can find the recipe on culture's website.  

As an added bonus BelGioioso was generous enough to host a giveaway to my blog readers.   One lucky person will win a gift package with an assortment of their cheeses.  I speak from experience when I say they all taste delicious!

Here are the giveaway rules:

1) Only open to residents with a mailing address in the continental US (i.e., no Alaska or Hawaii addresses.)

2) Leave a comment to this blog post.  You must include your email address in the comment in order to be entered.   Sorry, but that's the only way I'll be able to contact the winner. 

3) Only one entry per email address.  

4) Giveaway ends on Thursday December 11 at 11:59PM PST.  Winner will be selected from all eligible entries on Friday December 12.

UPDATE: The randomly selected winner from the eligible entries was Comment #1.  I'll be emailing you directly for your information.  Thanks again everyone for participating! 

Chocolate Eclair Cake

I live in constant fear that my gas oven will die on me.  It's happened before and for a baking fanatic like me it was my worst nightmare realized.  If you saw my oven for yourself you'd sympathize.  So can you blame me for always being on the lookout for no-bake desserts? 

My sister sent me this recipe for a chocolate eclair cake from Cook's Country a while back.   I'd never heard of it before but apparently it was quite well-known.   The no-fuss version is to layer a mixture of instant vanilla pudding and Cool-Whip between graham crackers, top the whole thing with ready-made chocolate frosting and refrigerate for a few hours.  Cook's Country amped it up big time by making everything, but the graham crackers, from scratch.

The flavors of the cake were great but I wish the graham crackers had held up their shape more, especially when it came time to slice.  Not sure how the folks at Cook's Country were able to get such nice, clean cuts because my crackers were kind of mushy.  Maybe next time I won't let the cake chill overnight; perhaps a few hours will suffice.