Tuesdays with Dorie: Tender Biscuits from Baking with Dorie

For the first post of January, I chose Tender Biscuits.  I really enjoy biscuits, but I've probably only made them once.  They are so decadent; I try to limit eating them at restaurants that really do them well so that it keeps it to an infrequent calorie splurge.

I had plans to meet a friend who grew up in the south so it seemed like a good idea to time the baking with our art museum day.  

I mixed the yogurt and milk plus the dry ingredients the night before so I could get these mixed and baked early.  I used a pastry blender to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients, as I always do with pastry crust.  When I added the wet ingredients, I was pretty sure I'd have a challenge bringing the dough together, as Dorie mentions.  I added additional milk gradually (adding a total of 3 tablespoons) so that I could mostly incorporate all of the ingredients.  I also added another teaspoon of sugar (for a total of one tablespoon) since I knew I'd be using these as sweet versus savory biscuits.  Once the dough was together, I cut four 2.5" round biscuits and put those in to bake.  I cut the rest plus the reshaped scraps into 2" round biscuits that would go into the freezer unbaked.

I suspect that I may have needed to add more liquid for one of two reasons.  Either the premixed liquids evaporated a bit in the refrigerator or that I should have cut the butter into smaller pieces than I typically do for pastry crust so the moisture in the more "flaked" butter could have helped to absorb more dry ingredients.

Regardless of the initial issue, the biscuits were really tasty.  They didn't need the additional teaspoon of sugar in order to make them seem like a sweet treat with a little bit of butter.  I'm looking forward to hearing my friend's report on how she liked the biscuits I gave her.  :-)  I told her not to hold me to her granny's standard.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Orange Spice Cake from Baking with Dorie

I've been a huge fan of Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) posts for several years.  You could say that I'm a long time reader, first time poster.

Last week, I decided to give it a go and make the Orange Spice Cake from Baking with Dorie for December.  This is a very easy recipe, perfect for the busy holiday season.  It went together quickly and easily in one bowl.  After reading others' posts (thank you all!), I decided to make a few tweaks to the recipe.  For the spices, I used 1/2 t. ginger, 1/2 t. cinnamon, plus a few pinches each of ground cloves and allspice.  As others mentioned, the spices are pleasantly subtle.  I might consider a bit more cinnamon the next time I make this.  The orange zest added a lovely flavor and fragrance.  

I realized when making this cake that I have two very different loaf pans.  I chose to use one that is wider and more shallow.  Based on my pan choice, I took the cake out of the oven at 62 minutes versus the recommended 70-75 minutes.  I probably should have taken it out even sooner because the bottom was relatively dark.

I'm not much of a marmalade fan so I followed another baker's lead and used a simple icing sugar glaze.  As with Dorie's marmalade glaze, the coating helped keep the cake fresh.  We ate the last piece six days after I baked the cake and it was still moist.  The cake has a nice, bouncy texture like a classic pound cake.  My family really enjoyed it and I will definitely make it again in the future.

I recommend that everyone pick up a copy of Dorie's book, Baking with Dorie, and make this cake.  Post your results on Tuesdays with Dorie.

Amishland Retreat January 2024

 I had a great time at the retreat in January.  It's always rejuvenating to spend time with the Divas, sewing and laughing.

I spent most of my time assembling tops from blocks that I made prior to this trip, mostly at previous retreats.

Ombre Gems by V & Co.

Bonnie Hunter's 2022 Leader and Ender Challenge from batik scraps

Modern Quilt Studio's Modern Mystery Quiltalong Summer Camp 2023

A few of us did a Jelly Roll race.  Jan was the winner, far and away.  I made one from novelty strips and scraps.  This will likely get cut into pieces for one or more charity quilts.

I also made progress on sewoffs from the Scrap Quilts Knockoff quilt I've been working on.  I hope to have those blocks ready to assemble at the next retreat.

The weather was mostly gray, foggy and rainy.  The rain had turned to snow as Jan dropped me off at the airport.  I got a quick video of the snow for Brady.  Until next time ...

In the Done Column

For the last few days, I've been binding, binding and binding.  I bound six quilts using some new, more precise methods.  That's about 1200 inches of binding but, who is counting?  I have to admit I was getting a little bored but pressed on so I can finish these.  All but one are charity quilts, mostly flannels.  I have one more pin basted, ready to quilt and bind.

I've also gotten caught up on my local Friendship Group's blocks.  Back in Ohio, it seemed that the stress of Friendship was fabric selection.  Here, all of the fabric is provided, often pre-cut.  That can be a different kind of stress--especially when paper piecing is involved (e.g. are you a measurer or a just cut off a chunk person?).

I'm also prepping things for the May retreat and planning not to overpack.  :-)  I keep feeling tempted to add some time to the trip to drive to Pittsburgh so that I can see what is happening at my mom's house.  I usually end up deciding that it is a bad idea to combine the best of things with some of the worst of things.   We haven't gotten any executor updates since she passed away in August.

I've been doing spending more time introspectively since retirement and, also, challenging myself to do things that I'm not good at.  All of that feels like work, hard work, but I'm trying to better myself.  Lately, I've been riding my bike on the nearby desert path.  I'm terrible at maneuvering, etc. so I try to pick times to ride when no one else is out there (read:  when it's HOT). So far, so good out in the desert but I definitely need a lot more experience with the streets, sidewalks, and traffic.  In due time.

Plan B and C

Well, I had good intentions but Friday was kind of a rescheduling mess.  We have been working for weeks to get a contract signed to remodel our bathroom after a destructive leak.  We ended up needing to go to the tile store once again on Friday plus the local quilt shop had to cancel the Friday night get together.  The two hand projects I intended to work on are a bit of a slog so I guess I should just look ahead.

I worked on my Bonnie Hunter leader/ender blocks.  I believe I have 50 blocks now. I'm still not sure if it will be one or more quilts since one of the goals was to use up some of the medium to large batik scraps. Here are a few blocks together to give you an idea.

I also bound the smallest community service quilt using a slightly different process.  It still resulted in a bit of a wave.  I attached the binding to another one but, unfortunately, attached the binding to the front so I'll probably hand tack that one. That won't be a great test of the new steps but it will get finished.  The next two to be bound both use the same pattern so I'm working on those as a pair.  I thought my big table that I store in the garage would be away this week for a neighbor's party but, since that was cancelled, maybe I'll set that up and see if it helps with all of the squaring and measuring.

I cracked open the BOM that will become my new retreat project.  I made a fabric swatch chart and I'm formulating a plan to break it down and do some kitting/precutting to make it more portable.  The instructions do a lot of oversizing and squaring but I plan to use triangle paper and other techniques for some of the units.

Refocusing for 2023

 Hi friends!

I can't believe it's been two years since my last post.  After retiring at the end of January, I continue to be surprised that I'm not doing more sewing each day.  I thought maybe blogging would help build some new habits.

Our usual daily routine starts with Mike and Brady going to the nearby bus stop at 6:30 a.m.  When Mike gets home, we take Sherman for a walk and then I go running and Mike takes a bike ride.  After many long years on the couch working from home, I'm making exercise a priority.  Mike also found a new life outlook in January and has lost a lot of weight. I had thought that I'd be staying up late after retirement but we are both usually pretty tired and typically in bed by 11.  We are hoping to do a Grand Canyon hike in October so we try to build in 1-2 hikes per week.  It's going to get more difficult as the summer heat creeps in.

I thought I'd work on a combination of ancient UFOs and more recent sidelined projects but, so far, I'm doing some easy things like Bonnie Hunter's leader and ender challenge and I'm keeping up with monthly commitments such as the Friendship Group I'm in with the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild.  I try to attend a twice per month sewing get together at the local library and a once a month sew in at a local quilt shop.  Not wanting to be derailed with my home sewing, I've been taking things that don't require a machine.  I often do cutting or a fused mosaic project that my former guild taught.  On deck, I also have the hand-pieced apple core that I started at Erie Street and, even more properly aged, I'm chipping away at the embroidery on the Rolfe foundation pieced animal blocks that I started in a foundation piecing intro class at Erie Street (1996?).  I'm trying to follow Mary Huey's advice to try to fit in a few minutes of sewing and see where it takes me. I'd also like to start journaling my sewing progress as a way to keep motivated and celebrate progress.

I finished the machine quilting on 6 community service quilts, mostly made from flannels that seem to find their way to me from the charity stash (most folks here avoid flannels).  I'd like to try new binding techniques that a fellow PHXMQG member taught to the guild.  I've been dissatisfied with my binding for a while now--things lie flat until I bind them then they have a wave.  I need to slow down and refocus on the basics until my results are better.

Tomorrow is a library day and the quilt shop session in the evening so maybe I'll have some progress to show this weekend!

Getting there

 I am making progress on the anniversary quilt.  I hope to finish the quilting tomorrow and that gives me 5 days to bind it.

The Golden Threads paper managed to stay put just enough.  I had a hiccup with my water soluble thread shredding but, luckily, I had purchased a new spool probably 5 years ago and opening that factory sealed spool fixed the issues.  Trimming the high loft batt from the trapunto seems to have messed up my thumb but I am limping along with that, ice packs and ibuprofen.  

I used Zoom meetings with the quilt guild to remove any of the remaining paper with tweezers.  Still hoping to meet my deadline on 9/18.

Progress photos--of course Sherman had to get in on it.