LetsLunch Guilty Pleasures: Homemade Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

And we're back! After two months away from LetsLunch, I finally decided to get back in the game this month for guilty pleasures.

It was tough choosing my favorite guilty pleasure. I pretty much love all food that can be considered a guilty pleasure. Cake? I love it. Potato chips? I can't even keep them in my house anymore. Pizza? My favorite food since age 4. Large quantities of ice cream? Keep me away.

In the end, I chose the ultimate breakfast food: biscuits and gravy. Biscuits are one of those amazing foods that are so perfect and versatile, yet hold zero nutritional value.

Every so often, I make a big double batch of biscuits (I'm partial to this very simple Amateur Gourmet recipe) and freeze them. I'll pretty much eat anything on a biscuit: jam, honey, cheese, chicken, and of course, sausage gravy.

These aren't exactly your perfect, round biscuits (you don't have to roll them out), but they are tender and fluffy. I think they also hold up really nicely through freezing and defrosting.

For the gravy, you can use any gravy recipe you like. I usually more or less follow this one from Pioneer Woman. One of my favorites is to substitute breakfast sausage for a nice andouille or even a chicken sausage (you need to add a little more butter for that, since it doesn't produce as much rendered fat).

Keep it hot until you're ready to serve, then break open the biscuits and pile on the gravy.
--
LetsLunch is a monthly meet-up of bloggers from around the world. Check out everyone else's guilty pleasures below, or by searching the Twitter hashtag #letslunch. Want to join us? Send a tweet introducing yourself and use the hashtag.
--

Cheryl's Japanese Crisp Choco Bites at A Tiger In The Kitchen
Lisa's Mars Bar Slice at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy's Cheesy Apple Casserole at A Cook and Her Books
Tammi's Pulled Pork Shoulder with Crackling Chips, Sauce and Slaw at Insatiable Munchies
Grace's School Cafeteria Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars at HapaMama
Ann Marie's Breakfast Club Sammy at Sandwich Surprise!
Lisa's Nutella Cookies at The Little Good Ride
Elizabeth's Purple Yam Jam at Asian In America Mag
Linda's Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Raspberries at Spicebox Travels
Annabelle's Fresh Figs and Ricotta at Glass of Fancy

Kitchenaid has arrived!

My life is complete. I officially own a stand mixer!! I hadn't expected to be investing in something this large so soon, but I had $40 in Amazon gift cards, it was on sale AND Kitchenaid is currently running a rebate promotion. It seemed too good of a deal to pass up.

Sadly, it's been HOT in St Paul this week, so I haven't gotten to use it yet!

It finally cooled off a little tonight, and I used some tomatoes from Jake's dad to make a great marinara sauce.

I also popped a batch of cheese and herb biscuits into the oven. They weren't a stand mixer project, but they are pretty damn tasty!

Generally, I followed the Amateur Gourmet recipe I've used in the past except for a few steps:
* I found I needed closer to 3 cups of flour. 2 cups gave me more of a thick pancake like batter.
* I added 1/3 c shredded gouda to the dough just before the buttermilk.
* Sprinkled the tops with chopped thyme and oregano from Jake's dad's garden. Also about 1 tsp kosher salt
* After the initial 5 min bake, I took them out, brushed them again with a little butter and sprinkled a little more gouda.