My grill could replace my oven at this point. I love the smokey char, the quick cooking time, and the way that food just tastes transformed. This is a really quick and easy recipe that’s perfect for weeknights, but fit for weekend parties.
I would absolutely recommend chicken thighs for this. The flavor is so much bigger and the high heat of the grill is really drying on chicken breasts. If you’ve never cooked with chicken thighs, give them a try, I really think it’ll be your new go-to cut of chicken. Most stores sell boneless, skinless, chicken thigh filets, making it a really easy cut to use. I switched over about two years ago and haven’t even thought about going back, the flavor is just so much better, plus they are often much cheaper than chicken breasts. More flavor, less money, that’s just a big win all the way around.
Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
8 slices bacon
Instructions
Whisk together the honey, vinegar and smoked paprika in a pot over medium high heat. Allow to simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes.
Preheat the grill to medium high.
Cut each slice of bacon into thirds.
Cut chicken thighs into cubes.
One at a time place a chicken cube onto a small slice of bacon. Wrap the bacon around the chicken cube and skewer onto a grill skewer.
Brush all sides of the chicken with honey glaze.
Place on a hot grill. Turn every two minutes, re-brushing with glaze, until cooked through about 8 minutes.
Notes
If using wooden skewers, place them on a rimmed baking sheet, cover with water, place a heavy plate on top to submerge for 30 minutes.
If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen my announcement that I shot a TV show for Lifetime back in January. The premise of the show was to take people with interesting ideas for food products and develop those ideas into product lines that end up on grocery store shelves. There is a hole in the market when it comes to beer infused foods. Clearly this is something that people want that currently isn’t being offered on a large scale. The show airs June 22nd on Lifetime, my episode airs on August 22nd at 10:30pm on Lifetime, you’ll have to watch to see how it all turns out for me. Beyond my story, the show was well cast with incredible people, all with stories to tell and passion for what they make.
These biscuits, which would be a fantastic addition to a beer infused food line, are the best biscuits I’ve made so far. The technique creates these beautifully flakey layers, the beer lightly leavens the dough, leaving behind soft notes of beer on the finish. For both the sauce and the biscuits I used Mischief from The Bruery.
There are two types of breweries that I respect, those that offer accessible beer that’s consistent and well done. Solid beer that can be held up as excellent examples of their represented styles. The Bruery is the other type. They aren’t afraid to break a few rules, they make that clear with the spelling of their name. There is nothing traditional about the beer that comes out of this place, it’s innovative, experimental and exciting. It’s a place that you take a true beer lover, not someones who "like some beer, sometimes." It’s not among the beer I recommend for those who want an easy introduction to craft beer, it’s beer for beer lovers. It’s were you go when you want to see the limits of beer being challenged.
To be honest, I don’t always fall in love with what The Bruery makes, but I’m always intrigued, I always want to try what they’ve come up with because it’s clear how thoughtfully made every batch is. Mischief is one of my favorites. It’s beautifully well rounded with notes of bread, yeast, citrus, grass, with a bit of spice and apricot. It also comes in a bottle that’s a perfect fit for a champagne recorker which comes in handy when you want to open a large 750ML bottle in the morning to make biscuits and want to save the rest for later in the day. It also well distributed, I’ve even heard rumors of it making it past the Booze Guards to the North to earn spots on shelves in Canada.
Another amazing Bruery creation is Black Tuesday, available in October. If you’re near Orange County in late October, it’s worth a drive to the tasting room just for that beer.
If you can’t get your hands on Mischief (although you should try, it’s a great beer) looks for a hoppy Belgian ale or Hefeweizen for this recipe.
Honey Beer Biscuits with Strawberry Belgian Ale Sauce
Add the strawberries, sugar and beer to a saucepan over medium high heat.
Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened, about 20 minutes.
Add to a food processor or blender, blend until smooth.
To Make the Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 425.
In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Pulse to combine. Add the butter and 1 tbs honey, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
Add the milk and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin (preferably marble) gently roll into a large rectangle, about 1 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
Fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter about to go into an envelope. Roll lightly, once in each direction to about 1 inch thickness, fold in thirds again. Gently roll into about 1 1/2 inch thickness (this will give you the flakey layers).
Using a biscuit cutter cut out 6 to 8 biscuits. Place in a baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Add the remaining 2 tbs honey to a microwave safe dish. Microwave for about 15 seconds or until thinned.
Brush biscuits with honey and sprinkle with salt.
Bake at 425 for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
I have wandered into a complete obsession with making bread. It started slowly, and really, rather timidly. When I first started, I was afraid of yeast, and a wee bit convinced that it hated me.
I threw several mounds of fail dough in the trash after it refused to rise. I learned a few things long the way that I am more than happy to share with you and save you from the "What the EFF is wrong with this damn bread!" frustrations that I suffered.
First, check the expiration date. Yeast expires in a biblical sense, it actually dies. Yeast is a bit of a living beast, and once it reaches it’s expiration date, don’t even think about it. It’s not like that bottle of Ibuprofen in your cabinet that expired last year but is probably still going to cure your headache. If the yeast has been in your cabinet a while, throw it out.
Salt kills yeast too. Don’t let inactive yeast come in contact with salt. I learned this the hard way when adding salt to the cream before microwaving it.
Yeast will rise between 40 and 120 degrees. Any higher than 120 and it will be killed by the heat (unless you use rapid-rise which will work until about 130), stay away from the high end of the scale in case your thermometer is a bit off. If the yeast is colder than around 90, it will take a long time to rise. At 40 degrees, it will still rise, but it will take days. 110 seems to be a bit of a sweet spot, but I live in LA, and even when the East Coast is being ravaged by Frankenstrom, it was still 85 degrees yesterday. Bread rises faster when it’s warm, slower when it’s cold. Yeast types are not interchangeable without major recipe modifications. Use the yeast the recipe calls for.
Dry milk powder is a bit of a secret weapon when it comes to bread making. I discovered this in the Secret Ingredient section of King Arthur Flour, it may be to blame for my bread making fixation. Your bread will be softer, taller and more tender. Buy a bag just to keep on hand for Thanksgiving and Christmas rolls, because if you are going to all of the trouble to make homemade rolls, you should really pull out all the tricks in your bag.
Beer. Of course, the beer. Bread is my favorite thing to make with beer. Even if you aren’t a beer kind of girl, it gives your bread a lighter, slightly more leavened quality that makes it a perfect baking liquid. And because it’s bread, a wheat beer is a natural choice.
Add the cream to a microwave safe dish. Heat for 20 seconds, test temperature and repeat until cream is about 110 degrees. Add the yeast, set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. If the yeast does not foam, it isn't good. Discard it and try again.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, salt and dry milk powder, mix until well combined.
Add the cream and the beer, mix until combined. It will look dry and shaggy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between additions.
Add the honey and butter and allow to mix until the dough forms a smooth and shiny ball that isn't sticky, about 8-10 minutes.
Coat the inside of large bowl with oil. Form the dough into a ball and add to prepared bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm room until doubled in size. This will take between 1 and 2 hours depending on the temperature of the room.
Punch the dough down, and knead lightly for about 1 minute.
Cut the dough in half, then cut each half in half. You will now have 4 equal size pieces. Cut each piece in half to create 8 equal sized pieces. Cut each of those in half to give you 16.
Roll each piece of dough into balls, place into a baking dish with a bit of space between each roll (you might need two baking pans to accommodate 16 rolls).
Cover and allow to rise until about doubled in size.
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the melted butter and honey. Brush the top of the rolls with honey butter mixture, sprinkle with salt.
