My favorite things, List #1

As may be obvious from our occasional forays into recipes, TodaysFrase loves to cook.  In fact, if I ever achieve the true entrepreneurial success that I dream of, I plan to knock down a wall of my kitchen and, among other things, add an entire wall of bookshelves to hold the cookbook collection that I plan to buy, if I only had enough room to house it.

In the meantime, though, these are two of my current favorite cookbooks.  Think of this as a mini-list: Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" (which I love because it's good at prompting general ideas, and never leaves you feeling that you need to stick to the letter of his law); and Dorie Greenspan's "Baking" (the exact opposite - one must adhere exactly to the recipes, but they're really terrific).    

I'm especially fond of Greenspan's sweet cream biscuit recipe, which I will quote while urging all TF-ers to immediately go out and buy this book (that is, after they go out and buy The Vanishing Child, which you will recall is my favorite mystery of all time).  A great thing about this recipe is -- it is incredibly quick to make.  You can decide you want biscuits and pull this together fast, impressing all those people who think that biscuits are hard to make.

Ingredients:  2 cups all purpose flour (there's also a flour variation, but I've never tried it); 1 tbsp baking powder; 2 tsp sugar; 1/2 tsp salt (Todaysfrase always uses sea salt when baking); and 1 to 1-1/4 cups cold heavy cream (I always use the larger amount).

Center rack in the oven; preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Greenspan suggests lining a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon mat but I use a nonstick cookie sheet (heavy duty) that I really like.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.  Pour the cream over the dry ingredients, then stir (lightly) to mix.  Don't overdo it.  Aim for a nice, soft dough but get there fast.  Then knead it very very briefly (3 or 4 turns).

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough.  Roll it with a pin until it's about 1/2 inch thick.  Don't make it too thin - this is important.  Greenspan suggests using a biscuit cutter to cut as many biscuits as you can.  I use a glass because I don't have a biscuit cutter.  (Since I make a lot of different kind of biscuits and have never had a biscuit cutter, I suspect that this is an unnecessary implement and I will put off buying one until I break down the wall of my kitchen and have lots of extra room.)  Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes.  

Anyone, favorite biscuit recipes to share?  Thanks.