Another frosty Louisiana morning (29 degrees) calls for easy, hot breakfast treats.  Dorie Greenspan’s maple cornmeal biscuits (p 24, Baking From My Home to Yours) fit the bill:  I whizzed the dough together, using a food processor, in less time than it took the oven to preheat.  (The original recipe blends the dough by hand.) These little butter biscuits’ cornmeal crunch complements the maple sweetness; I found them perfectly tasty without any additonal butter, syrup, or jam.  The crumbly texture is closer to scone than biscuit (perhaps due to my food-processing technique?)  I think I’ll make another batch soon, swapping the maple syrup for Steen’s and tossing in  a handful of toasted, finely chopped pecans.

Dorie Greenspan’s maple cornmeal biscuits, in the food processor

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 stick (6 T) cold salted butter, cut into 10-12 pieces
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp demerara or other coarse sugar

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a half sheet pan with parchment or  a Silpat.  Place flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl of a food processor; pulse until the mixture is blended.  Add in the cold butter, pulsing until the butter forms pea-sized lumps.  Stir together the milk and maple syrup, and pour into the food processor.  Process until a rough dough forms (don’t over-process).  Using a spoon, scoop out about 12 mounds of dough, evenly spacing the biscuits on the sheet pan (about 1/3 cup dough per biscuit).  Sprinkle biscuit tops with coarse sugar.  Bake 15 minutes until puffed and golden brown.