Sourdough and Buttermilk biscuits.

We have a lot of sourdough starter here at the birdhouse. So we have to find ways to use the "discard" that which is poured off the starter before a feeding. If we didn't pour it off, the starter would grow uncontrollably.
Looking at the discard, it is about the texture of buttermilk. And it has some tanginess to it too. So, why not try a little substitution. We did, and it got the "we can serve this to people: accolade from Madame, so I knew we were onto something here.

Ingredients

2 Cups All Purpose Four, sifted (I sift all flour out of habit)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, straight from the fridge, cut into 12 or so small pieces. (if salted, reduce the salt in the recipe a little)

3/4 cup "discard"

1/4 cup buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F. I am using a fan assist in mine. You *may* need to adjust the temperature up a little if you do not have a fan in yours. Place the rack in the upper middle.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture. It doesn't have to be like fine breadcrumbs, it is OK to have some bigger pieces of butter. It's like making flaky pastry.

Add the buttermilk and discard, and mix by hand to make a stiff dough.. Don't rinse the measurement container - you will use the remains to brush on the biscuits before cooking.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Especially if it is warm (like it is here in Texas today).

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Using some kind of cutter (a cup, a circular cutter, etc.) cut out the rounds. Don't twist the cutter as that pinches the edges and prevents that nice craggy rise. Since there will be some left over, you can recombine it (and if you feel the butter is beginning to melt, refrigerate again). These will hold their shape less well, but will still be delicious.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with some of the liquid scraped out of the measurement cup you used earlier.

Bake on a parchment covered sheet pan for 9 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, rotate and bake for a further 6 minutes (even if using a fan) - until they are golden brown. 

Butter Rosemary Almond Biscuits and coffee flavored vodka

These biscuits (cookies) are a variant on a recipe from my grandmother, handed down to me by my mother. So when I was last in England talking to her, I asked whether she made them by the "creaming method" or whether she made them like pastry. She also told me to use "proper butter" not the unsalted stuff! I ignored that admonition, but added salt anyway!
In the first post on the subject, I had assumed the creaming method, but 2 weeks ago, she corrected me and said that she always makes them like pastry. So for a Day in Dinner I made them like pastry. I also increased the rosemary slightly to get a bit more flavor.
Ingredients - Biscuits
4 oz powdered (icing) sugar
6 oz all purpose flour
4 oz slivered almonds, toasted
a pinch of salt
2 T rosemary leaves
8 oz cold unsalted butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
Method - Biscuits
Place the flour, almonds, salt, sugar, rosemary into the food processor. Pulse several times until the almonds are ground finely and well incorporated. Add the cubed butter and pulse to incorporate. Continue to pulse until the dough comes together into a single piece. Don't overmix as you will end up with too much gluten.
Turn the dough out, form into a disk, wrap in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to a couple of hours.
Heat oven to 350F
Roll dough out into about 1/8in to 1/4 in thickness. Cut into 1in rounds.
Bake on a lined cookie sheet for 7 minutes, turn the temp down to 325 and bake until brown (another 7 mins or so). Rotate the pan when you change the temp.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Ingredients - Coffee Infused Vodka
2 Cups good quality vodka - we use Tito's because it is the nearest we can find to locally made.
2T Roasted coffee beans ( medium/dark roast works best).
Method
Pour the vodka over the coffee beans in a glass bottle. Leave to steep at room temperature for at least 2 weeks, turning occasionally. When the vodka is the color of  Scotch whisky, place the bottle in the freezer. It will keep almost indefinitely. You do however want to drink it very cold.
Serving
Serve the vodka in chilled vodka glasses (1 oz per person) with three coffee beans in each glass, accompanied by 2 or 3 of the biscuits.