More Tea Buns.

I made three batches of tea buns on Monday and yummmmmmmmm.  I'm not sure if I'm just good at baking or if I'm finding good recipes.  Maybe a combination of both.  I've been baking and cooking since I was a little girl so I must be pretty good at it by now.

Anyway, tea buns.  The recipe is from the Purity/Cream of the West cookbook.  I say both because I'm pretty sure the only thing that is different is the cover.  I've seen both and that's the only thing I can find.

I also want to credit 'campy' for the recipe since they posted it on 50Plus Discussion Forums. and that's where I got it the other day.

TEA BISCUITS

Preheat oven to 425 F

Sift together
2 cups Purity Flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

With a pastry blender or two knives cut in finely.
1/2 cup shortening.

Add 1 cup milk.

Stir with a fork to make a soft dough.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 8 to 10 times
Roll or pat to desired thickness (biscuits will double in height when baked)
Cut with a floured 1 3/4 inch cookie cutter
Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet, close together for soft sided biscuits or about 1 inch apart for crusty biscuits.

Bake in preheated 425 F oven for 12 to 15 minutes.  Makes 20 biscuits.

A tea biscuit dough should be soft and slightly sticky. A little kneading improves the quality of the biscuits but should be done with a gentle touch as too much handling tends to make them tough.

I made ham and cheese biscuits again and just added 1C of sharp cheddar cheese and 1C diced ham right before I added the milk so that it would all be mixed in evenly. 

I also made apple cinnamon raisin tea biscuits.  And wouldn't you know it, they were all gone yesterday.  I had to guess at amounts but I must have guessed right.  With the dry ingredients I added 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  Then after the butter was cut in I added two apples (peeled, cored and diced), and I didn't measure but it was around 3/4C of raisins that I rehydrated in some boiling water for a few minutes.  It just makes them softer and nicer in the biscuit. 

Both kinds are baked the same as a regular biscuit so additions are the only changes.  I think if you add something fairly wet, like pineapple, you might have to add some more flour or decrease the milk amount but I'll experiment some more as soon as I get to the store to replenish my baking powder supply. Maybe I'll do raisins dates and walnuts next, or chocolate chip, or cornmeal cheddar and jalapeno, or.......