Buttery Honey Beer Bread

I found this on cookiemonstercooking.com a couple years ago, and I have been very impressed by it. The reason I like it so much is that it's a quick-bread (no rising, kneading, proofing, waiting) with the texture of a yeast bread. It's also really forgiving: you don't have to have cake flour (I never have cake flour), and you don't have to use expensive beer. I almost always have the ingredients to make this bread. It takes a few minutes to mix up, and then 50-60 minutes to make, it doesn't have to cool completely before cutting it (though that's certainly easier), and it tastes delicious. This recipe makes 1 loaf, around one pound in weight.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour *
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1 bottle (12 oz) of your favorite beer
• 4 Tablespoons butter (the original recipe specifies unsalted, but I generally use all my unsalted butter in scones and shortbread, and I like the salt in this bread) melted and slightly cooled

* As I said, I never have cake flour on hand, so I always use 3 cups of regular flour. I also almost always use self-rising flour, which means I can omit the baking powder and salt. However, if you use all-purpose flour, make sure you put those leavening agents in there.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter or shortening.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together both kinds of flour, the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the honey and beer, and mix until just combined. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. (It says batter, but it's more of a stick dough, it's very thick.) Pour the melted butter over the top of the batter. (Occasionally I screw up and melt a whole stick of butter instead of half, but this has only ever made the bread yummier.)
3. Transfer the pan to the oven and place a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any butter that may drip. (This has never happened to me, maybe because the baking powder native to self-rising flour is less than what is called for here, and if you follow the recipe exactly you may get more rise than I usually do. However, I do not neglect to place that cookie sheet there, just in case.)
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a cake-tester inserted into the middle comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
5. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack for cooling. This will give it a harder, crunchier crust.  You can serve it warm, but be advised it's more difficult to slice.

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

These are LIKE those biscuits you get at Red Lobster, but they are not copy-cat. They go great with soup, with fried ham, with breakfast….

• 2 cups Bisquick (regular or reduced fat)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1.5 teaspoons garlic salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Yes really. Do it now, because once you mix these babies up, you won’t want to wait for your oven.

Mix Bisquick, cheese, and milk in a bowl until well-combined. No dry spots. Let it rest 5 minutes.

Spray a cookie sheet with Pam, or if you’re owner of a seasoned pizza stone you can use that and you don’t even have to spray it.  

Now here you have a choice: I use a small cookie-scoop and make 3 dozen (or more) bite-size biscuits, or I use a fork and make the biscuits about twice that size. This takes some practice to make them round rather than oblong, and you’re going to get dough on your finger. If you have a normal ice cream scoop with a lever, you can use that. I don’t have one of those anymore. (I don’t miss it.)

Bake 8-10 minutes. You might need to go longer if you use a bigger scoop. You want them to get brown on the edges and the rough parts.

While it’s baking, mix your butter and garlic salt. If you want to be REALLY fancy, you can use fresh crushed garlic and sea salt. In my opinion, it’s BISQUICK. Fresh garlic might be a little over the top. Sea salt is just wrong.

As soon as the biscuits are out of the oven, start brushing on the garlic butter. You want to baptize every single one of those golden-brown lumps of Fabulousness. I use my pastry brush. I have a silicone one, and it’s perfect. (The old bristle-one that I had and wore out worked perfectly well, too.) I usually have enough butter to thoroughly coat every biscuit.

You’ll have to use a spatula or pancake turner to get them off your baking sheet. Serve hot or warm or cold. You will be a hero.

And if you make a batch and eat them all yourself, I won't judge you.