The ham we had for Thanksgiving was so tasty there wasn’t much left – just enough for 1 night of leftovers and then just a tad. I almost threw it out but I decided to throw it in the food processor and mince it up for 2 different recipes. I was inspired to make this one when, as I was going through my grandmother’s recipes in search of her pumpkin pie I came across a handwritten sheet of paper with these two recipes on it. It had been so long since I had eaten either, I had completely forgotten about them both.
But first, I have some very exciting news to share! I am a finalist in the 12 Days of Cookies contest put on by our newspaper The Daily Oklahoman. I need your vote please! All you have to do is to click on the picture below this paragraph (the gingerbread man cookie picture) then click on the link “A Gentler Gingerbread Man” then on the next screen scroll down to the bottom to vote. You can vote every day for the next 12 days but I really would appreciate it if you could vote even once. You don’t have to join or put in your email or address or anything – just click on vote for me under the picture of my Gingerbread Men cookies. If I am one of the 12 finalists, my recipe will be featured in the newspaper and I will win a year’s work of milk from Hiland Dairy. Please vote. Thank you in advance.
12 Days of Cookies: Vote for me!
If you are Southern, you have had plenty of pimento cheese and ham biscuits, that’s for sure! I never cared for pimentos and there’s no way Mr. Picky Eater was going to let that cross his lips so I modified this old-fashioned recipe to suit our needs.
First you make the pimento cheese.
Ingredients:
1 eight ounce block of extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 eight ounce block of white Vermont cheddar cheese
1 eight ounce tub of cream cheese and chives (okay, the real recipe called for 1 block of cream cheese)
3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1/4 Cup of chopped pickled Jalapenos
1/3 Cup cooked and crumbled bacon
1 tsp. Dill
½ Cup Mayonnaise
Directions:
The most important thing I can tell you is treat this dough like it is pie crust dough……everything cold!
The second most important thing is that you should handle the dough as little as possible.
Grate both cheddar cheeses with box grater or in food processor.
Mix everything in one bowl and place in fridge for an hour or so then enjoy with crackers or in a sandwich or better yet, with ham biscuits!
Now make the ham biscuits.
Ingredients:
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Cup Cake flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 Stick frozen butter
1 Cup Buttermilk (very cold)
1 Cups minced cooked ham but cold
Directions:
Mix together flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Using box grater, grate butter – or put dry ingredients and ¼ inch pats of all butter into food processor and pulse until incorporated.
Set bowl back into fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Take bowl out of fridge and stir in buttermilk and ham but just until mixed. Don’t overwork.
Dump bowl on very lightly floured board and pat into a square.
Using a sharp knife (I used a pizza cutter) and cut into 12 biscuits.
Place in an iron skillet or baking pan with biscuit sides barely touching.
Set in a pre-heated 450F oven and bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Then you can allow them to cool and spread liberally with pimento cheese. Enjoy!
