Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Buscuits


Occasionally I make biscuits.  It is clear that the "Grands!" style biscuits, which Walmart has their own cheaper brand of "Jumbo" biscuits, are the best tasting, and I do like them, but it is no wonder they taste good since they have 5 grams of sugar per biscuit.  This might not be an issue for most people, but I want to avoid too much sugar.  So I looked for alternatives.  The smaller biscuits are cheaper overall, not that cost is an issue, and they have 40% less sugar.  It takes 3 small biscuits to equal the weight of one large one, and the label confirms this by listing 3 biscuits as one serving, which has 40% less sugar.

It is the smaller size that is the problem.  The instructions say to "cook until golden brown", but if you do that then the entire biscuit wants to turn golden brown and they can come out too dry.  You can undercook them, in which case they come out white and soft and pretty edible, but I don't like the small size for putting jam or peanut butter on them.  

So this got me thinking.  Since it is just dough, I can make whatever size biscuit I want with them.  I tried combining pairs of biscuits into balls and these turned out like little dinner rolls.  The first batch I overcooked and they were slightly crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and this was interesting.  In the second batch, I cooked them less and they came out like soft dinner rolls and these were pretty good.

On my third batch, I didn't want to go to the trouble of combining pairs of biscuits into balls, so I just baked the biscuits with one on top of another.  I combined two cans of ten biscuits to get ten double-height biscuits.  Not only was this easier, but I felt like this was my best result yet.  I had to cook them for 20 minutes, but they came out like slightly smaller versions of the Grands biscuits, and they were pretty good.  They aren't quite as good as the high sugar biscuits, but it is a tradeoff.

Even though the instructions tell you to use an ungreased cooking pan, I find it better to use cooking spray to keep them from sticking.  I also tried smearing a small amount of olive oil on the bottom of the pan and this works too.

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Saturday, August 21, 2021

Ludwig van Beethoven: Ode an die Freude/Ode to Joy 1

I heard this song the other day. I had no idea what the name was. It bothered me that I didn't know. So today, it came to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcOpyM9cBg&t=157s

Beethoven had been almost completely deaf for a decade when he wrote this. It is the final movement to his ninth symphony. At the premiere, he was not aware of the thunderous applause until he turned around and saw the audience.

The European Anthem is based on "Ode to Joy".

Ludwig van Beethoven: Ode an die Freude/Ode to Joy 1

I heard this song the other day. I had no idea what the name was. It bugged me that I didn't know. So today, it came to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcOpyM9cBg&t=157s