I hate baking. Well, I don’t hate it, but since I’m not very good at it I try and avoid doing it whenever I can.

Which is why I was surprised to find myself making Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits on Sunday night. Well, maybe not that surprised.

Well, maybe not that surprised…considering no one forced me to do it and I went to the store to buy the necessary ingredients…but you get my point.

“But why would you bake if you dislike it so much?”

That’s a great question fake person I use to further my blog posts. I’ll tell you why.

 

You see I’d spent the past few weeks fairly depressed and because of that was doing a really good job at avoiding all the things that normally make me happy. Including cooking.

Not because I didn’t want to be happy, but because when the depressive episode takes the color our of the things I enjoy. They become gray and bland and I don’t want to experience the things I love that way…so I don’t. Which makes me more depressed…a vicious cycle.

 

Thankfully, by Thursday last week, I was starting to come out of it and was ready to cook again. I wasn’t looking to cook just anything though, it needed to be impressive, challenging, and most of all…delicious.

So…biscuits…here we go.

I found a nice gluten free recipe for standard biscuits and modified them slightly to make them spicy…like their creator.

 

Whisk your flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. If you’re anti-salt (which is something a priest could help you with) you can do 1/2 a tsp as the cheese will add a bit of salt to the dish.

Take your butter from the freezer and dice it up so it can easily be combined to the flower and then cut it into your dry ingredients. The recipe I used said it should look like small pebbles which is…odd.

 

Add your eggs and milk (whisked together) to the dry ingredients.

Now this is a GF flour and so it acts differently than normal flour…don’t be scared but just know it’s a bit more “tacky” than normal flower.  You can use normal flour if you want…but some of us can’t eat gluten…so enjoy your non-allergic body.

Once your wet and dry ingredients are combined you can add your cheese and j-pops. I deseeded mine in an effort to reduce the heat, since it’s your body and your bathroom you can do whatever you want.

 

 

 

Once it’s combined…it’s time to roll.

 

But don’t actually roll…cause it’s not good for ya biscuits.

Seriously, for flaky bread nuggets, you want to manipulate the dough as little as possible.

Press it out to about an inch thickness and then fold it in half. Repeat 2 or 3 times and then you’re done….stop it…stop touching it.

I made two sizes because I was told mid-process that biscuits are “not that big” and “stop crying, it was just a suggestion”.

So, two sizes of biscuits. OH! Butter your tray. Nobody wants sticky biscuits.

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and slide those little discs of butter and cheese in for 18 minutes. (I know weird amount of time right?)

If you’ve done it right (which I’m not sure I did) you’ll get something that looks similar to this…but in your own home…preferably.

 

Depression has affected me for as long as I can remember and is a regular occurrence in my life, as it is for so many people.

I’m lucky that I have a strong support system and two wonderful therapies in writing and cooking, even if I’m not always able to see them that way. Cooking always helps to bring me out of my depression, giving a whole new meaning to “comfort food”.

The sad reality, though, is that many people don’t have any of that and are struggling in this life, alone, without hope, and that is unacceptable.

If you’re suffering, please reach out for help and know that you’re not alone.

 

Ingredient list

2.5 cups of GF flour

8 tsp butter (very cold)

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp salt

2 Jalapenos

1 cup shredded cheddar

Mess Hall Biscuits comfort food Depression foodnetwork NAMI travelchannel