It is no secret . . . my mother makes the best baking powder biscuits in the world! There is no denying it.



Light, flakey and oh so scrummy . . . with soups, with stews, and on their own . . .
Served up warm with butter and honey . . . or some preserves . . . my . . . my . . . my. You just can't beat them!



There's no surprises here. They're really quite simple, nothing too out of the ordinary, but there are a few tricks to the success of them.



First, light handling. Don't be rough with them. A light touch is the secret behind the flakiness . . . too much handiwork and you get a tough biscuit.



If you want straight sided, tall biscuits . . . pat them out fairly thick, 1/2 inch will do and then cut them with a sharp tap down with the biscuit cutter . . . carefully lift the cutter straight up again. Don't twist, or you'll get lopsided.



Oh they'll still taste delicious, but aesthetically speaking . . . straight sided look oh so much better.



Yep . . . my mom does make the best baking powder biscuits in the world . . . and now you can too!



*Mom's Baking Powder Biscuits*
Makes about 36
Printable Recipe

My mom makes the best baking powder biscuits in the world. Now you can too.

17 ounces plain flour (4 cups)
8 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TBS granulated sugar
8 ounces white shortening (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs
12 fluid ounces milk (1 1/2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. You will need several large baking sheets. No need to grease them.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Drop in the shortening and cut it in with two round bladed knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat together the milk and eggs until well combined. Add to the dry mixture and stir with a fork until you have a soft dough. You may not need all the liquid. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times. Pat out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out with a sharp 2 inch round cutter, giving the cutter a sharp tap straight down and up without twisting. (Twisting will give you lop sided biscuits.) Place onto the baking sheets, leaving some space in between the biscuits for crispy all around biscuits, or close together for soft sided biscuits.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until well risen and browned. Serve warm. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and reheated in the microwave for a few seconds. These also freeze really well.

 

 

Growing up I never thought of myself much as a baker. My sister was the baker. I was more of a cook.  Through the years however, I came to appreciate that I was a baker and a pretty good one at that.  I learned as I went along.  Trial and error are really great teachers.

I did do Home Economics in High School and learned a lot about baking from those classes.  They started me on my journey. Getting married young and raising a large family also helped me to gain valuable experience.

Going to Culinary College further cemented my skills, and then working in the industry was another great teacher. One of my very first jobs in the field was as a Pastry Chef at a local hotel here in the Valley.  

I have learned so much through the years, professionally and from friends and family.  What good is knowledge if you can't share it. I thought today I would share with you my ABC's of baking and then some of my favorite recipes at the end.

Baking is a science as well as an art, a basket filled with skills and techniques that build a foundation upon which you can build your baking artistry.  It is precise and not something you can fiddle with a great dependance upon the chemical reactions of ingredients used.  Baking is not a very forgiving art, not like cooking.  Add too much liquid to a stew and you will still have an edible dish, add too much to a cake and you are more likely to produce a cake that cannot be saved.

Baking for the most part requires very simple and basic ingredients - flour mixed with a combination of salt, eggs, sweetener, leavening agent and fat, things such as butter, oil or shortening - how these things are combined and in what proportions is especially important.

To achieve success, home bakers really only need four basic things:

BAKING TOOLS

YOUR OVEN

PANS

OTHER EQUIPMENT

INGREDIENTS

 

It's still not too late to rustle up a few treats for your family for Easter.  Here are some of my favourites which I have shared with you in past years.

 

Easter Bark

 

Easter Bunny Cupcakes  Sooo cute!

 

Hot Cross Scones  (Soooo good!) 

 

Easter Chocolate Crispy Nests   Easy to make and kids love em!

 

A Simnel Tart    Very easy and oh so delish!

 

Bun and Butter Pudding   A great way to use up some of those extra Hot Cross Buns!

 

Hot Cross Muffins   Perfect for breakfast.   Tastily fruity too!

 

Hot Cross Buns with a Spiced Fruited Butter for spreading.   

You could be quite spoiled for choice!

 

I've been thinking a lot lately about all the things that I miss from the UK foodwise.  I lived there for over 20 years and I think its fair to say that their culture and food became firmly entrenched in my being. 

I can remember being told before I moved over there that it rained all the time and that the food was awful.  I thought to myself, what the heck am I letting myself in for!

Contrary to popular opinion it doesn't rain all the time, although it does rain a lot.  The rain is a part of what makes this such a beautiful green and lush country.  I soon learned that you don't melt in the rain and I came to embrace it.  There is nothing you can't do in the rain with a good brolly and a pair of Wellingtons.  There is naught so bracing as a walk in the countryside in a gentle rain, culminating in a pub trip at the end of the walk and a lovely Pub lunch.

Which brings me to the food. I think it is a fair statement to say that you can come across horrible food anywhere. I have to say my experience eating in the UK was, to be honest, simply wonderful.  Admittedly they don't really do salads very well, those are always hit and miss, but living back here in Canada my heart yearns for the meats, cheese, dairy and fresh produce of the UK.  

It really was some of the best in the world in my opinion. A fresh British strawberry during Strawberry season is a little taste of heaven. The UK is filled with wonderful producers of meats, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, poultry, etc. and most of them deliver all over the country, usually overnight.

I know it is a much smaller country, and that is a lot easier to do in a smaller country, but I find myself really missing good home food delivery, amongst other things.

There are some foods that the British do better than anyone else. Today I am sharing my top ten list of what they do really well. (Of course this is just my opinion and you are free to add your own in the comments below!)

SANDWICHES

Nobody does sandwiches better than the British.  They invented them. They love their sandwiches and the country is filled with lovely sandwich shops selling some of the best sandwiches you could ever buy. Most Brits will happily chow down on a sandwich from one of these shops for their lunch and what Tea Party is complete without an assortment of finger sandwiches.

When I first got there I was astonished by the variety of sandwiches on offer.  Cheese and Tomato, Cheese and Onion, Tuna and Sweet Corn, Tuna and Cucumber, Roast Beef,Rocket and Horseradish, etc. That is just tip of the ice berg. 

One of my favorites was the cheese and pickle sandwich.  Buttered white bread sandwiched together with a nice layer of Branston's Pickle and a good cheddar cheese.  I love LOVE Cheese and Pickle sandwiches. Thankfully I can get Branston's here in Canada.  Good British Cheddar too.  So I am still well able to enjoy them. 

Other favorites were Egg and Cress (egg mayonnaise with layer of mustard cress sprinkled over the egg filling), a Chip Buttie ( hot fresh chips (French fries) sandwiched between slices of buttered white bread.) I always loved having a slice of buttered bread with my fish and chips just for that purpose. A bit of salt some vinegar, a few hot chips and that buttered bread and I was in sandwich heaven.

TOAST

Nobody does toast better than the British.  Always lovely and crisp.  I used to love stopping in coffee shops and having a hot drink and a slice or two of hot toast.  They have the nicest thick white bread called Toastie. It has to be about an inch thick.  

I worked in a Care Home in the kitchen when I first moved over to the UK and all the staff would enjoy a hot slice of toast on their morning break time.  It would pass through this toasting machine which would toast it slowly on both sides so that it came out lovely and crisp.

Toast in the cafe's always arrived at the table un-buttered with butter on the side ready for you to spread onto it yourself. This actually allowed the toast to cool down a bit so that it didn't become soggy once buttered. I think that is one of the secrets to good toast!

They eat a lot of toast and love to top their toast with a variety of things. Beans on Toast are a real favorite. Often, when you can't think of anything to make for supper, Beans on Toast makes a delicious and quick supper that most people enjoy.  Cheese on Toast is another favorite.  

The British actually love eating things on toast. You will often see them eating tomatoes on toast, mushrooms on toast and scrambled egg on toast. All  make fabulous simple suppers for those nights when you can't be asked to cook.

MEAT PIES

The British love their pies and they do them really well. Of course there are cheap and nasty ones (aren't there everywhere!), but if you were willing to fork out a tiny bit more dosh you could always get a really beautiful meat pie.  Steak and Mushroom, Steak and Kidney, Chicken and Mushroom, Lamb and Mint, even vegetable pies, etc. Beautiful pastries, ample rich fillings. All a delight served warm with mash and gravy.

Pork Pies were also a lovely British specialty. Made with hot water pastry, they were lovely served cold at picnics with a bit of pickle on the side.

I used to love ordering the pies from Piper's Farm.  They had a lovely assortment. I never had one that I didn't enjoy.  Thankfully I can make myself my own homemade pies.  A favorite is this Steak and Potato Pie.  I also make a really good Chicken and Mushroom Pie.  

THE BRITISH TAKEAWAY

When referring to a British Takeaway you are not just referring to food that you take away to eat in the comfort of your own home, but an actual shop that specializes in this type of food. Every community/village has at least one or two of these and most people have their favorite establishment that they love to buy their takeaway from.

You cannot eat a meal in most Takeaways. You can only purchase food to bring away to eat elsewhere.  Popular options include:

• Kebabs - Meat or chicken grilled and cut into slices and then folded into hot pita bread with salad, tomatoes and sauce.
• Sausage rolls and meat pies.
• Fried chicken.
• Burgers
• Fish and chips
• Chinese and Indian food

FISH AND CHIPS

This should come as no surprise.  Nobody does Fish and Chips better than the British. Most people do not cook this at home. They will pick up a frozen version or they will get some at their local Chippie.  It is a dish that most wouldn't make at home and really, when you can buy really good fish and chips ready made and hot, why would you want to.

I can remember the first Fish and Chips I had in the UK.  Bought at the my local Parade of shops in Blacon, Chester. The piece of fish so large it was hanging off the sides of my plate. The chips thick and crisp. Both  came sprinkled liberally with salt and malt vinegar and then wrapped in plain newsprint.  So delicious.

Most Friday nights the line up at Fish and Chip shops will go out onto the street, filled with people waiting to pick up their Friday night supper and yes, a slice of buttered white bread goes very nicely as does mushy peas.

It is also impossible to go to the Seaside without treating yourself to fish and chips. They always, always have really good fish and chips there. Nothing tastes better, eaten on a bench on the boardwalk, looking out over the water with the smell of salt water and the sound of gulls in the air.

Failing that, I do have a lovely recipe for Homemade Beer Battered Fish and Chips, which is delicious. 

SAUSAGES

Oh how I miss the great British Sausage.  They make the best sausages in the world and almost every area in the UK has a sausage that they are well known for. I was never enamored with sausage prior to moving to the UK. I just didn't find them very exciting, but I fell in love with the British Sausage, also lovingly called Bangers. Of course there are cheap and nasty ones, but nothing is more delicious than a quality British Banger in my opinion.  Plump and meaty and full of flavor.

My favorites are Cumberland and I do love a good Pork and Apple sausage. My sister and I have made our own from scratch back here in Canada and they were really good. There is a shop around the corner from me that sells the casings, etc. and I have a sausage making attachment for my Kitchen aid. I did post a great Tutorial here on how to make your own.

Classic Bangers and Mash is a favorite British Supper as is Toad in the Hole, which is sausages baked in a Yorkshire Pudding batter and served with gravy and mash. Sometimes I wrap the sausages in bacon before making that dish.

Bacon is something else they do really well and it comes in two types, smoked and unsmoked. You can get it with the rind still on, or the rind removed. Streaky (which is like North American Bacon, but meatier) and Back, which is lovely whole medallions.  Or you can get middle bacon with is like the one in the photograph above which has a piece of the back with some streaky still attached.  Dry or wet cured.  

See, no end to the options. I preferred Dry cured myself.

Perfect for a Bacon Sandwich, stuck between two slices of white bread and slathered with brown sauce.  I worked at a service station for a time and we sold bacon and sausage baguettes, and bacon & sausage baguettes.  The lineup used to be out the door every morning of working class men wanting their morning Butty and hot coffee.  Never underestimate the deliciousness of a good Bacon Sandwich.

THE FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST

I fell in love with what is lovingly referred to as The Full English. Every decent B&B in the UK has on offer one of these lovely breakfasts.  When I first moved to the UK, on Saturday mornings we would treat ourselves to a Full English in town at the BHS store.  You paid by the item.  Baked beans, grilled tomatoes, bacon, sausage, grilled mushrooms, black pudding, hash browns, fried bread.

Only the heartiest eater could  manage to eat all of that. I usually just had bacon, sausage, egg, beans, mushrooms and tomatoes. Sometimes I would treat myself to a slice of fried bread. You can get my take on the Traditional English Fry Up here.   Bring your appetite!  I also have a recipe for Fried Bread here.  So good.

THE CREAM TEACream Tea actually refers to scones served with clotted cream and jam, and enjoyed with copious amounts of hot tea.  In the UK you will find  the Cream Tea available on most café menus, especially those situated near popular tourist spots like cathedrals, castles and stately homes. 

Usually at the weekend I like to bake us something that we can enjoy for breakfast or with a hot drink.  I do bake sweet things too.

I am not sure why I always bake at the weekend. I suppose it is a habit that started when I was working full time. I did not really have much time during the week to bake us anything special. We were lucky I managed to get dinner done!


The recipe I am sharing with you today for Sugar-Free Banana Nut Muffins has been adapted  from a cookbook of mine entitled Bread for Breakfast by Beth Hensperger.

It is filled with lots of baked Breakfast options, including muffins, loaves (both sweet and savoury, quick and yeasted), Scones, Biscuits, cornbreads, etc.

There are also a sections on coffee cakes and holiday bakes, pancakes and waffles, as well as butters, jams and fruit and cheese spreads.





Bananas are quite  sweet fruit and the longer you allow them to ripen the sweeter they get. The best bananas for baking are ones which are heavily speckled with brown, maybe even to the point where you think they are past it.

But they are not past it.  They are perfect and sweet and ready to be baked into muffins and loaves, cookies, cakes, etc.


These are lovely and moist.  There is buttermilk in the batter.  I love bakes with buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a special lightness and tenderness to bakes such as this.

It is an acid as well, so it helps to create a nice lift.  You always need to add bicarbonate of soda to a bake using something acidic like buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, etc.


When baking soda is combined with the lactic acids of buttermilk, the acid neutralizes the metallic taste of sodium carbonate, and the batter will bubble and expand.


This is why when you are baking something with buttermilk and soda in it you need to get your bake into the oven as quickly as possible. This is to help take advantage of that chemical reaction. 

The heat of the oven will immediately increase the effects of that action giving you a nice tall and light bake. If you wait too long to put your bakes into the oven you will risk losing that effect, and in fact you will decrease the action of the buttermilk and the soda as well.


So speed is the key factor here.  Make sure you have your pan greased and everything ready to go as soon as you mix the wet and dry ingredients together!

So, no sugar.  These muffins have no sugar whatsoever.  I didn't mind.  The end result was not sweet at all actually. It was just right.  Just what I would expect a true muffin to taste like.

If you want sweet, you will have to add a bit of sugar into the mix.  I wouldn't think you would need a lot actually, maybe only 1 or 2 TBS of either caster sugar or soft light brown sugar.



We enjoyed them just as they were, served warm with some butter for spreading on top.  Look at the texture of these beauties.  I call that perfection.

The recipe only makes 9 muffins. That's another thing I liked about the recipe.  Nine muffins is a perfectly reasonable amount.  They also freeze really well according to the recipe.  Up to three months in an airtight container.



Baking things like this at the weekend means I also get to use my roll cover. My good friend Monique sent this sweet embroidered roll cover to me last year, or possibly even the year before, for my Birthday.

Every time I use it I cannot help but think of her, and her many kindnesses to me through the years.  Meeting good and kind people is one of the blessings you gain from being a member of the blogging community. 

Like is attracted to like. These sweet friendships are one of the things I love most about blogging. That sense of community. Oh sure there is the odd nasty person, or troll as they are called, but the good ones far outweigh them.



There are some pecans in these muffins.  Chopped pecans. I always like to toast my nuts before baking with them.  It doesn't take much of an effort.  It only takes a few minutes on a dry baking sheet in a hot oven.

They are done when they start to smell all nice and nutty. Do watch them however, as they can go from toasty to burnt in milliseconds.  Five to eight minutes at 200*C/400*F will do the trick.


You could also use walnuts if you prefer, or even leave the nuts out all together if you cannot abide nuts or are allergic.

You could add chocolate chips. Just saying.  I like semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips.  Both are quite nice in banana muffins. You could even add some berries.  Blueberries would be nice.





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