Bride's Biscuits, A Name to Savor
AKA Apple Cinnamon Rolls
This article is part of the Recipe Box Roulette series, an innovative "card game" crafted to pay homage to the curators of long-forgotten or overlooked recipe boxes and breathe new life into their treasured dishes.
THE NAME OF A RECIPE
When discussing recipes, I often hear, “Oh, my mom used to make that, but she always called it…”
The naming of a thing often has both a social and emotional significance. As social beings, we crave connection and in naming something we give that thing a reason or purpose to which we can connect.
I think that this need-to-name also holds true when it comes to recipes, especially family recipes. By assigning a name that has a significance to our family or a specific event, we imprint the recipe with our heritage and culture.
I imagine that someone in Diane’s family gave this treasured family recipe as a gift to a new bride to demonstrate acceptance into the family. And from that moment on, the recipe became known as Bride’s Biscuits.
BRIDE'S BISCUITS, A SWEET APPLE CINNAMON ROLL
As I researched this recipe card, I typed in so many search phrases - Bisquick apple rolls, apple cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls with Bisquick and apples. I thumbed through cookbook upon cookbook. I looked for recipes in Bisquick booklets. I wasn’t able to find anything that resembled this recipe with any of those searches.
Then I typed “apple cinnamon rolls with hot water syrup” and found this recipe for Heirloom Apple Rolls from Oh, Sweet Basil. It had so many similarities to the Bride’s Biscuits with the exception of the fact that the dough was made from scratch rather than Bisquick and the apples were grated rather than chopped but the hot water syrup was the same. And the recipe’s claim to be a 100-year-old recipe somehow validated Diane’s inscription of “an old family recipe.”
FROM SCRATCH TO BISQUICK
I would venture to guess that Diane’s Bride’s Biscuits recipe actually started out being made completely from scratch. But somewhere along the line, a busy homemaker in Diane’s family took advantage of an innovative new product on the market called Bisquick that promised both convenience and a homemade taste.
And who can blame her, everything you need for baking biscuits - or cinnamon rolls - including flour, fat, salt, and leavening right there in that happy-looking box with its promise of “All Ready!”
A BISCUIT BY ANY OTHER NAME
Whether you call these Bride’s Biscuits or Apple Cinnamon Rolls, the result is gooey, appley deliciousness. Diane suggests that you “Serve warm or cold, topped with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.” She goes on to say, they’re “also good without topping and with a glass of cold milk.”
Cheers!
Bride’s Biscuits
This recipe for biscuits is actually more like an apple cinnamon roll recipe than a biscuit. But whatever they’re called, they are sweet, appley, bites of deliciousness.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup cold water
3 tbsp shortening
2 cup chopped apples
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, cut into small cubes
Method
In a medium sauce pan, combine water and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
Heat oven to 400˚F.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the Bisquick.
Cut the shortening into the Bisquick with a fork, pastry cutter or your fingers until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add the water and stir until the dough comes together.
Gather the dough and place on lightly floured surface and roll out to a 15” x 9” rectangle that is 1/4” thick.
Spread the apples over the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon and dot with butter.
Roll up from the long edge. Place the seam side down and cut into 1 1/2” slices.
Arrange in an ungreased baking dish, cut sides down.
Pour syrup over biscuits and bake for 45 minutes.
Turn the Page…
Let’s Stay Connected
Follow us on Instagram @asweeat,
Join our Family Recipes, Traditions, and Food Lore community on Facebook
Subscribe to the As We Eat Journal
Listen to the As We Eat Podcast
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Looking for a unique gift idea for a birthday, anniversary, holiday, host or hostess, or just because? Consider giving a subscription to the As We Eat Journal.