Tea Biscuits

Yesterday, I was in the mood to bake something. I also wanted to use up some leftover green onions that I had on hand. I started thinking about savoury biscuits as an option and searched for a few different quick bread recipes online. Nothing really captured my attention. So, I went to my cupboard and pulled out one of the few recipe books that I own -- the Cream of the West Cook Book.

Several years ago, I was searching used book stores for a copy of this cook book because my mother's famous brownie recipe is in it. I felt that I needed a copy, and I knew there was no chance that my mother would ever relinquish hers. I told my friend Lisa about my search during one of our conversations and one day she presented me with my own copy -- it had belonged to her mother. I was thrilled.

So yesterday afternoon, in search of a biscuit recipe, I thumbed through the well-worn pages. Sure enough, I found a recipe that was simple and required few ingredients. It also listed several variations, including cheese. I decided to test it out.


Now, one of the criticisms I have of this cook book is that so many recipes call for shortening instead of butter. I decided it was fair game to update the recipe and made it as described, with the exception that I grated cold butter into the mixture instead of using shortening.

I made the cheese biscuits and chopped up my green onions to add to the mixture (obviously, that was a second variation on the recipe after the butter substitution). It formed a nice dough that was easy to work with. Thinking back to how we often cut out cookies and biscuits when I was a kid, I decided the right way to do it was once again with a small glass instead of a biscuit cutter. When I was finished, I had 15 biscuits ready for the oven (mine were thicker and wider than the recipe called for). Twenty-five minutes later, I had delicious savoury biscuits (and I had to freeze them immediately to avoid eating them all). I give them a 9/10.

While I had the cook book out, I noticed that it had a recipe for panettone. We've had panettone the past few Christmases, a new tradition following our vacation to Italy. I was surprised by the recipe; it wasn't at all what I'd expected it to be. It was certainly involved in terms of a process and it had far less butter than I would have expected. I called my mother.



"Did you know there's a recipe for panettone in your Cream of the West Cook Book?"

"No?" she replied.

I laughed. My mother's response didn't surprise me. I was certain that she only used the cook book for three recipes: brownies, muffins, and dumplings.

I suggested that perhaps we should try making panettone next Christmas. That's when my mother said I should make it my mission to try all of the recipes in the Cream of the West Cook Book and blog about it. And so this blog was born.

I'm sure that I won't test every recipe in the book, either due to time constraints or because the recipe looks weird (none come to mind, but I'm sure any cook book published in the 70s has a few wayward dishes in it). And as I journey through the cook book, you'll be able to follow along with me through this blog.

But before we get rolling, tell me: How many of you own this Cream of the West Cook Book? Is it just a Newfoundland thing?