New Technique

Thanks to one of my favorite cookbooks, The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, I just found a new use for my cheese grater. It has now become my new pastry cutter. This works great for anything you would use a pastry cutter for - from pie crust to biscuits.

The method is simple... just freeze your butter until it is pretty firm. Then grate it with your cheese grater. I usually leave part of the butter wrapped in it's paper so I don't melt it with my fingers while grating. If the butter gets too soft, stick it back into the freezer for a few minutes until it hardens up again. Once it's grated, it's ready to use in your favorite recipe that calls for cutting butter in to the dry ingredients. For example, here is how you would use it in biscuits (which I made this week - they were delicious):

Buttermilk Biscuits

1 c. flour

1 c. cake flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. sugar

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

8 T. (1 stick) butter, frozen

3/4 c. cold buttermilk

Heat oven to 450F. Sift dry ingredients. Grate frozen butter into the flour mixture and incorporate until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk until the mixture forms a soft, slightly sticky ball. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a rough ball. Do not over mix. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a rough ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until the tops are light brown, 10 - 12 minutes.