Hi, all! I’m back with another great recipe. This time, we’re making biscuits, but it’s really better than that. We get two baked treats out of this: flaky, buttery, crispy biscuits, and sweet, soft, cinnamon rolls.

It all starts with a basic dough recipe. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup milk

First, mix the dry ingredients together.

Then, cut in your shortening with a pastry cutter. What is a pastry cutter, you ask? It is a super handy tool that allows you to cut fat, like butter or shortening, into dry ingredients so that you end up with pea-sized bits of fat in your mixture (that’s what we’re going for here).

Now, gradually add your milk (I add it in about 3 doses), stirring with a fork after each addition until just mixed. It should look something like this:

Knead the dough with your hands very briefly, until the dough is mixed. You don’t want to over-knead it, or else you’ll activate the gluten in the flour, which will create a chewy, dense biscuit instead of a flaky, crisp biscuit. When you’ve finished kneading, lightly flour a pastry board and roll out the dough until it’s about 1/2″ thick.

Using a biscuit cutter (or circular cookie cutter), cut out biscuits and lay them on a baking sheet. Since it was just my husband and I for dinner, I only cut out 6 biscuits and used the rest of the dough to make the cinnamon rolls.

Bake at 450°F for 10-12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.

Since I only made 6 biscuits, I had quite a bit of leftover dough to make cinnamon rolls with! The only additional ingredients you need for these are butter, cinnamon, and granulated sugar. Tip: ADJUST YOUR OVEN TEMPERATURE! The cinnamon rolls require a 400°F oven, not 450°F like the plain biscuits. Nobody likes burnt cinnamon rolls.

To start, re-roll the leftover dough into a rectangular shape (or as close as you can get it).

Next, butter the up-facing side of the dough. This helps the cinnamon and sugar stick. Sprinkle the buttered dough with cinnamon and sugar to taste. You can also put things like nuts or raisins in these rolls.

Roll the dough up into a tube, and cut into approximately 1″ slices. Arrange on a baking sheet.

Bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes.

And then finally, because we had to have something to go with our biscuits, here is the recipe for crock pot chicken pot pie filling that I made up!

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup chicken broth

Chicken Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups frozen veggies

Arrange chicken, 1/2 cup broth, veggies, and onion in crockpot. Cook on high for four hours until chicken is fully cooked. Using two forks, shred chicken.

Now, we make the sauce to add to this. Combine the margarine and flour over heat and stir until they form a paste (called a roux). Add the milk, and stir until the sauce is thickened. Finally, add the 1 1/2 chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until fully combined. Pour the sauce into the crockpot and stir.

And now, eat your chicken pot pie filling with biscuits on top and be happy. And then have cinnamon rolls for dessert and be even happier! Enjoy!