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Oct 21 2011

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Posted by A Cozy Kitchen in Step-by-Step Recipes

Broccoli cheddar soup will forever make me think of those cold college nights when my friends and I would head to Panera to eat copious amounts of soup in bread bowls. It was one of those college activities we did since Panera was super inexpensive, pretty delicious and one of the only restaurants open past 8pm in our teeny-tiny college town. I’ve been wanting to recreate one of my favorite college memories for as long as I can remember, so when I came across this Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe from TK member Crystal, I knew it was mine for the taking.

Let’s get started, shall we?

You’ll need to steam some broccoli (I’ll admit I totally forgot this step and it turned out great!), finely dice some onions, and shred two different types of cheeses: extra sharp white cheddar and extra sharp yellow cheddar.

Next you’re going to add the broccoli to a food processor and pulse until it’s the consistency of a meal.

In a large stock pot, melt the butter and add the onion. You’ll want to cook them until they’re translucent. Mine took 5 minutes or so.

Then add the 2 tablespoons of flour and mix with the butter and onion mixture. You’ll create a bit of a roux.

Next up, add the cream and milk, being sure to stir constantly.

Then the beef stock.

I had some vegetarian friends coming over so I opted for vegetarian stock; it worked wonderfully.

After you’re done mixing in the milks and broth, gently stir in the pulsed broccoli

And then the yellow cheddar …

And then the white cheddar …

Are you getting excited yet?

Mix it all together and then do a little taste test. I actually ended up adding about a handful extra of each of the cheese. I was going for extra cheesy!

Add some salt and pepper if you feel like it needs it. Mine needed about a teaspoon of salt and pepper.

If you don’t feel like doing the bread bowl thing, then your soup is totally ready to be served.

If you do, grab the bread. I used a whole wheat sourdough.

Cut a circle in the top of the bread.

And take out the center, creating a bowl.

Ladle the soup into the center of the bread bowl until it’s full.

Top with a small handful of cheese … and dinner!

This soup was everything broccoli cheddar should be: it’s rich, thick, savory, and cheesy beyond belief, which makes it perfect for those cold nights we have in our near future.

Thanks again to TK member Crystal, for this delicious tasting soup.

Printable Recipe

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

by uumom2many on February 1, 2010 in Creamy Soups, Soups

See post on uumom2many’s site!

3.25 Mitt(s) 8 Rating(s) 8 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5

Description

Soup so thick it sticks to a spoon. Tastes like liquified Broccoli and Cheese. This recipe makes 2 liters of soup. Enough for a big hungry family.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Salted Butter
2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Onion
2 Tablespoons Flour
2 cups Beef Broth Or Bouillon
3 cups Whole Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
1-½ cup Extra Sharp White Cheddar Shredded
1-½ cup Extra Sharp Yellow Cheddar Shredded
4 cups Steamed Broccoli Pulsed Into A Meal

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter in a large stock pot. Add onion and cook slowly until limp. Stir in flour and cook for 3 minutues, stirring. Slowly add the stock, milk and cream, alternating until all are combined. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Stir in the cheese and broccoli (see note below). Keep stirring until the cheese is completely melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The longer this soup sits, the thicker it gets, until you end up with a soup that won’t fall off a spoon.

Note: to prepare the broccoli, steam until tender and pulse in a food processor until you get a meal-like consistency.

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Adrianna is the lovely lady behind the scrumptious blog A Cozy Kitchen. It’s filled with all kinds of mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous photography. Whether you’re in the mood for something vegetarian or meaty, fancy or pure comfort, light or decadent, there’s sure to be something there for everyone.

Oct 19 2011

Easy Flaky Buttery Biscuits

Posted by callimakesdo in Baking, Step-by-Step Recipes

A warm biscuit is comfort food, plain and simple.

Being from the Mountain West, biscuits aren’t exactly a staple at our dinner table. (My mom did make homemade buttermilk biscuits occasionally, to accompany cabbage rolls—one of my favorite childhood dinners.)

But my husband is half Southern; his mother’s family is from Tennessee, and some things must be in the blood. He loves a good biscuit.

Happy to oblige his craving, I was supremely confident the first time I ever attempted biscuits. I loved mixing and rolling them and especially cutting them out with my brand new biscuit cutter.

But when my biscuits came out of the oven, they looked alarmingly flat. To my dismay (and shock), my biscuits tasted more like hockey pucks than the light, buttery biscuits I’d expected.

I’m not the sort to give up easily, so I tried several different recipes … and got varying degrees of the same result.

Biscuits are my nemesis, I decided, and I’d be better off with biscuits from a pop can, if I ever made them again.

But my failure niggled at me. It’s just a biscuit after all, made from simple ingredients and simple tools. So when I spotted the recipe for Easy, Flaky, Buttery Biscuits from ranchinmom2five on Tasty Kitchen, I thought I’d attempt to make my husband happy and conquer my biscuit challenge.

The “easy” in the recipe sounded encouraging. So did the great reviews.

Here’s how I finally made a biscuit worthy of serving to my family instead of the garbage pail.

Start with all-purpose flour. The recipe does not specify sifting, but sifted flour is lighter, and I was aiming to avoid my infamous hockey pucks.

Add baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar and salt.

Give the mixture a good stir to make sure the ingredients are well incorporated.

The recipe calls for cold butter. I like to cube it to make the cutting in easier. I’ve made this recipe several times and the last time, I substituted half of the butter for lard. It made a great recipe even better. They were my lightest, tallest, flakiest biscuits ever. If you have lard on hand, give it a try.

Using a pastry cutter or your hand, cut the butter into the flour until pea-sized pieces of butter remain. Don’t overwork the cutting in. Just like with pie dough, this is the key to a flaky biscuit.

The recipe calls for milk, but I love the flavor of buttermilk. So, I substituted 1-1/4 cup buttermilk (since buttermilk is thicker than milk) for the milk.

In a small separate bowl, whisk the egg into the milk.

Pour the milk into the flour mixture.

Stir together with a fork just until the mixture forms a loose ball. Again, don’t over stir here. It’s okay if all the flour isn’t incorporated, it’s going to be messy.

Turn your dough onto a floured counter. I’m using my favorite pastry frame instead of the counter. Knead lightly just a couple of times to form a round.

Pat down till the dough is 3/4″ thick. The recipe advises against using a rolling pin, since the biscuits will be less flaky.

Using a biscuit cutter, cut rounds out. Here’s a tip: As hard as it is to resist, don’t twist the cutter when cutting your rounds. Pressing straight down without twisting helps your biscuit rise easier in the oven and keeps them light.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. The other trick I’ve found, after making this recipe a few times, is to crowd them a bit when placing them on the pan. They spread more when they are spaced out and are taller when more crowded.

Bake at 450ºF. The recipe says for 10 -14 minutes. I cooked them for 15 -16 minutes in my oven, until they were golden brown. Rub the tops with a little butter if you are feeling sassy.

Finally I have a recipe for biscuits that I can be proud to serve! They are everything the name promises: light, buttery, flaky, EASY and good.

Biscuits are so quick and easy, you can whip them up in no time. They are perfect for breakfast with gravy or with butter and homemade jam. They are so fast, you can even whip them up on a weeknight.

Thank you ranchinmom2five for rescuing my baking reputation and sharing this wonderful recipe with us.

Printable Recipe