What do you do with leftovers?
I hate waste, and I adore shy, unassuming, aromatic bacon grease. What have you done with leftover bacon grease? Or leftover noodles? Or stale GF bread? Leftover egg whites when all you needed was the yolks – or yolks when you needed the whites? Toss out some ideas in the comments. Let’s connect.
Here’s my journey from bacon to biscuits. With all the gory details.
There I was, sitting at my kitchen counter, staring blankly at my little bowl of room temperature bacon grease, with its little bitty bits of bacon on top. What should I make with you, sweet boy? I have made White Sandwich Bread with bacon grease in place of butter. Marvelous. I could make bacon chocolate chip cookies. But I was a little tired of all the cookie recipes. *yawn*
I had just bought some good sharp cheddar. I had a brand spankin’ new virginal order of Better Batter AP GF flour, and I wasn’t afraid to use it. I had me some ice cold unsalted butter in the ice box, and some fresh baking powder.
Yes ….. please.
Have you ever cooked bacon and then drained the rendered fat into a little dish-ey-poo? Before the first time I did it, I hadn’t ever done it before, either. So don’t feel bad. Feel good.
In fact, whatever your culinary choices — long ago and yet to be — I’m sure you had your reasons. I respect those reasons, because I respect your autonomy. Your right to make your own mistakes, your own choices. You.
I’m not exactly sure when it became okay to start a food blog, and tell people what to do all bossypants and stuff. But it gets me all fired up, if you want to know the truth. It really makes me angry, to think of someone preying upon someone else’s vulnerabilities. And for my own part, I really, really don’t enjoy telling other people what to do. I have 3 kids I can boss around, and even that loses its shine significantly quicker than I would have thought (who knew?).
So if you don’t like bacon grease, then you shouldn’t use it (and you won’t mind if I just skim a little off the top). Just replace tablespoon for tablespoon with whatever fat you like (all butter works just fine). If you prefer another type of cheese, then that’s your cheese. Use it. And let’s make biscuits and love … not war.
| Bacon Cheddar Biscuits |
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (I use Better Batter)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if using Better Batter)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever hard cheese you prefer)
- 2 tablespoons bacon grease, chilled and roughly chopped
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced and chilled
- 1 extra-large egg, kept cold
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, shaken)
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk to combine. Set it aside.
- In a small bowl, place the grated cheese, remove a tablespoon or so of the dry ingredients, and toss it in with the cheese. This will keep the cheese from clumping together in the dough. Set this small bowl aside.
- To the large bowl of dry ingredients, add the bacon grease and diced butter. Using a hand held pastry blender, cut the fats into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles small peas. Add the grated cheese and reserved flour, and mix to combine.
- Add the egg and buttermilk, and first whisk with a fork to break up and distribute the egg and buttermilk, then mix with a spoon until the mixture begins to come together. Turn out the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, close the wrap, squeeze the dough a bit to press it together, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 15 to 20 minutes (or up to overnight). If I’m in a real hurry, I will even put it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a proper disk that is approximately 1 inch thick. The dough should be mostly smooth and mostly round. A round shape will make easier work of cutting rounds of dough with a biscuit cutter.
- Peel back the plastic wrap. If the dough seems too sticky, dust it with flour or stick it back in the refrig to chill a bit more. When ready, peel the plastic back, and cut out rounds of dough with a floured 2 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter. Gather up the scraps, chill and re-roll until you can re-roll no more. Bake off the last little bits as is. In bits.
- Transfer the rounds (and assorted scraps) to the baking sheet, spaced about 1 inch apart or less (they won’t spread when baking). If you have the time, and the inclination, stick the baking sheet in the freezer to chill for a few minutes. Cold dough = flaky biscuits.
- Place the sheets in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until they are puffy and have begun to brown, rotating the sheets halfway through baking.
I love you.
It is in this spirit of love that I tell you that bean flour blends are different. They behave differently than other all-purpose gluten-free flour blends. If you are using one of these blends, you will need to play with the amount of flour a bit to coax it into dough that matches these descriptions. Please keep that in mind as you bake.
I love you.
So what do you do with your leftover ingredients?
xoxo xo
Nicole
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Your blog looks great…and I finally just ordered my very first 25lb bag of Better Batter flour!!!!! Life is good!
Hi, Kerry! That’s awesome all around. Better Batter is like a life raft for me. I hope you find it useful too. :)
These look amazing! I’m waiting for my first bag of BB too and this may be my first recipe. Yummo!
Mmmm…this sounds really good. I’m going to jump on the BB bandwagon soon. Right after I blow through this GF flour I currently have an abundance of (shipping problems….got an extra 11lbs free)! I’m not a huge fan of the flavor for bread, but it makes decent pizza crust.
Shoestring, u are back on my newsfeed! Hooooorray! And what better to discover than this yummy recipie! :)
These are so getting made tomorrow for dinner! Even if hubby has to wait for donuts lol. I keep a ball canning jar that I save all my drippings in & i keep it in the fridge so that it keeps longer.. not that it needs to keep longer lol.
Hi, Heather,
I hope you enjoy these biscuits! I made them into Egg McMuffins for my kids, but I first had to explain to them what that was!
xo
Nicole
You are pure, demented evil. I <3 YOU!!! Bacon grease improved nearly anything it touches. :)
OH YUMM!!!
I see these in my near future. Making the potato bacon gratin tonight — I was too lazy the other night :)
This is printed and if time allows I will be making these (in private and then eating them all :)
Wow. A bit more than this ‘freezer/microwave’ man is going to do, but some interesting bits in there that I can use and quite an impressive creation!
Wow.
Can’t wait to try these! I also use leftover bacon grease for making popcorn in my electric popper — SO tasty!
Can’t wait to try these! I also use leftover bacon grease for making popcorn in my electric popper — SO tasty!
We made these last night & they were delicious! Worked fine with the bean flour with the measurments you gave too
We made these last night & they were delicious! Worked fine with the bean flour with the measurments you gave too
I just bought your cookbook and love it! My family is newly gf and I’m wondering if I can make your white sandwich bread in my bread machine on the expressbake setting (kneaded once, rise 13 min, baked 35 min). The Express cycle recommends quick rise yeast rather than active dry yeast as well. Any advice/recommendations about your recipe in a bread machine? Thanks so much in advance for any help you can offer. So grateful for your work!
Hi, Sheryl,
Welcome to the site! I’m glad you’re enjoying the cookbook.
The general rule of thumb when it comes to quick rise yeast versus active dry yeast is that, when converting from active dry to quick rise, you use about 75% of the amount of quick rise yeast. So 1 tsp active dry would be roughly equivalent to 3/4 teaspoon quick rise yeast. I have not tested my recipe using the quick rise, so I can’t say for sure but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
About using the bread machine in general, I have to admit that I have heard of people having somewhat mixed results. A 13 minute rise sounds very short for gluten-free bread. Is it a gluten-free setting? If you are not too afraid of having a failed experiment, I would give it a try…. But if results the first time are very important to you, I’m not sure it’s the best idea. I hope that’s helpful!
xo
Nicole
I just made these for brunch for my husband and me. Amazing! They were so tender and flaky and perfect. Nothing like any gluten free biscuits I’ve made before. Plus, my hubby is a big biscuit fan, and he didn’t even notice the difference.
Hi, Annie,
So glad you and your biscuit-loving husband weren’t disappointed. Baking with bacon grease, though, is just … a slam dunk. :)
xoxo Nicole
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