Dear Folks, I've been hankering for home baked bisquits for the past couple of days but instead of giving into the temptation of buying a tube of them in the dairy case, I decided to make my own out of Bisquick (actully the much cheaper Spiffy mix). I read the directions on the box and they were certainly simple enough. Just mix 2 cups of Spiffy with 2/3 cup milk, stir it into a dough and roll the dough out to 1/2 inch and use a round cookie cutter to cut it into proper bisquits. However, the easier way (without rolling pin, dusted board and cookie cutter) were the dropped bisquits. I decided on the latter. I heated up my over to 450 degrees, got out my bowl and measuring cups, poured the Jiffy mix into the measuring cup and found I had only 1 cup of it left in the box. No problem, I'd just cut the amount of milk in half to 1/3 cup instead of 2/3. I greased a cookie sheet as directed, mixed up the mix and milk and then measured out each dropped spoonful carefully since I didn't want them to be thicker than 1/2 inch. I plopped them onto the cookie sheet and shoved them into the hot oven. The box said to bake them from 10 to 12 minutes but since my oven thermostat is a bit temperamental I set the timer to 8 minutes to check how they were getting along by then. No problem after 8 minutes so I set the timer for another 2 minutes. Still looking good and so I shut off the oven and let them bake for about another minute. I could then see that they were done. However, during the whole time I was concerned that they would end up as hard as hockey pucks due to their rather small size. But even so, I knew they wouldn't go to waste inasmuch as I could put one of them into a sauce dish, soften it up with milk, maybe add a bit of sugar or a dollop of jam on top and still enjoy them. How did they turn out? Well they certainly wouldn't have been the pride of a southern houswife but they do have their merit. They're a bit crunchy around the edges and a bit "skinny" but considering the small batch made 10 bisquits and I only have 7.5 left, I think they're keepers. I guess the next time when I make a full batch soon and not be so stingy with the dough, they'll turn out fluffier. Poor little bisquits, they tried their very best! vee

I just LOVE this list, it is what I wish all the lists I'm on were like. A list where one can write about any subject that pops into one's head. The Vermont lists I'm on the list adminstrator would rip a poster up one side and down the other if they DARED post anything that is not STRICTLY genealogy. I am absolutely enjoying this list. BTW: I have finally completed transcribing all 64 (actually 65, 2 #33s) Civil War letters. I am not going to post them at this time as I think I should have them looked at by someone who knows more about such things than I do. I don't know if it is practical to think in terms of a published book or not. There is much material here, some of these letters are 8 or 9 pages in length, and they're not small pages either. Ruth At 9:47 PM -0500 3/13/04, Vee L. Housman wrote: >Dear Folks, > >I've been hankering for home baked bisquits for the past couple of days >but instead of giving into the temptation of buying a tube of them in the >dairy case, I decided to make my own out of Bisquick (actully the much >cheaper Spiffy mix). I read the directions on the box and they were >certainly simple enough. Just mix 2 cups of Spiffy with 2/3 cup milk, >stir it into a dough and roll the dough out to 1/2 inch and use a round >cookie cutter to cut it into proper bisquits. However, the easier way >(without rolling pin, dusted board and cookie cutter) were the dropped >bisquits. I decided on the latter. > >I heated up my over to 450 degrees, got out my bowl and measuring cups, >poured the Jiffy mix into the measuring cup and found I had only 1 cup of >it left in the box. No problem, I'd just cut the amount of milk in half >to 1/3 cup instead of 2/3. I greased a cookie sheet as directed, mixed up >the mix and milk and then measured out each dropped spoonful carefully >since I didn't want them to be thicker than 1/2 inch. I plopped them onto >the cookie sheet and shoved them into the hot oven. > >The box said to bake them from 10 to 12 minutes but since my oven >thermostat is a bit temperamental I set the timer to 8 minutes to check >how they were getting along by then. No problem after 8 minutes so I set >the timer for another 2 minutes. Still looking good and so I shut off the >oven and let them bake for about another minute. I could then see that >they were done. > >However, during the whole time I was concerned that they would end up as >hard as hockey pucks due to their rather small size. But even so, I knew >they wouldn't go to waste inasmuch as I could put one of them into a sauce >dish, soften it up with milk, maybe add a bit of sugar or a dollop of jam >on top and still enjoy them. > >How did they turn out? Well they certainly wouldn't have been the pride >of a southern houswife but they do have their merit. They're a bit >crunchy around the edges and a bit "skinny" but considering the small >batch made 10 bisquits and I only have 7.5 left, I think they're keepers. >I guess the next time when I make a full batch soon and not be so stingy >with the dough, they'll turn out fluffier. > >Poor little bisquits, they tried their very best! >vee -- Ruth Barton [email protected] Dummerston, VT