Buttermilk Recipes

Last week, in the shopping rush before the blizzard, I bought buttermilk instead of regular milk. So, rather than let it go to waste, I figured I'd make a couple of recipes that called for buttermilk. Here's what I made!

 Drop Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

1. Heat oven to 475 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a 2-cup liquid measure, stir together the chilled buttermilk and melted butter until the butter forms small clumps. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula just until the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture slightly pulls away from the edges of the bowl.
3. Using a greased ¼-cup measure, scoop out mounds of the dough and drop them onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake the biscuits until the tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush with additional melted butter. Serve warm.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted and slightly cooled
• Optional: blueberries, chocolate chips
• Butter and maple syrup, for serving

Directions

1. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk until evenly combined.
2. Place the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter in a medium bowl and whisk until evenly combined.
3. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until the flour is just incorporated and no streaks remain, about 20 strokes. (The batter will be lumpy.) Let rest for 5 minutes.
4. Heat a large frying pan, seasoned cast iron skillet, or griddle over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Test to see if the pan is hot enough by sprinkling a few drops of water in it: If the water bounces and sputters, the pan is ready to use; if it evaporates instantly, the pan is too hot.
5. Ladle the batter into the pan. Evenly sprinkle each pancake with blueberries or chocolate chips to your liking. Cook until little bubbles appear on the pancakes’ surface and the bottoms are golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and cook the second side until the bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Note: Originally this recipe said to prepare the skillet with vegetable oil. But because there is so much butter in these pancakes, I don't think you need to do that! The batter didn't stick to the pan at all!

Muffins

Ingredients (Yields 12 muffins)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Optional: blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips

 Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.
3. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed (the batter will not be smooth). Gently stir in fruit/nuts/chocolate chips, if desired.
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins; fill the cups almost to the top. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 18 minutes. 

Note: I don't like to mix the blueberries in the batter for fear of breaking them, so I just put a few on top of the batter once it's already in the muffin tins.

 Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients (Yields one loaf)

• 3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Optional: nuts

Note: I did not have whole wheat pastry flour (Who does?), so I just used 2 1/4 cup regular flour. I also didn't have light brown sugar, so I used dark brown, and kind of measured it, but I didn't really pack it; I just sort of threw ~1 cup in there. The original recipe also calls for blueberries, but since I already made blueberry pancakes AND blueberry muffins, I was kind of over blueberries. So I added walnuts and craisins instead.

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk buttermilk, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in mashed bananas.
3. Whisk whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Add nuts (optional). Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
5. Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool for about 2 hours before slicing.

Note: I think 50 minutes was too long; the top of the loaf I made was slightly too brown. I'd try 45 minutes and then check on it!