Dinosaurs Bake Biscuits for #Dinovember

T-Rex explains that setting up the ingredients beforehand makes it faster to get the biscuits done

Sometime last year, I bumped into the Facebook page for Dinovember. It might have been around Christmastime, when I was looking for a present for my dinosaur-obsessed nephew. It was right after Dinovember had passed, and I was captivated by the creativity of the originators of this month-long activity as well as by the responses of their ardent followers.

Velociraptor and Dilophosaurus pour in the flour

This year, I said that I was going to take part in the adventure. It reminds me so much of what my mother used to do with us kids: give us whatever materials were lying around and let us be as creative as we wanted to be. Inevitably, with brothers, this turned into sword fighting with craft paper tubes (well, until they snapped in half) and turning wiffle bats into lightsabres.

Ankylosaurus measures out a bit too much salt

Blankets became capes, worn while running around the house singing the Batman and Robin theme song (reruns were a snow day tv treat). Almost anything, including leaves from the magnolia tree in the front yard, could be a Star Trek communicator or a phaser, depending upon the mood and the storyline that we would have made up.

Velociraptor figures the easiest way to open the new tin of baking powder is just to rip the foil with his teeth

When I visit my nephews and nieces, they have tons of toys and games to choose from. They also seem equally adept at organizing the vast collection of Fisher Price people, animals, and gear that my parents accumulated over the decades and in creating their own worlds with them. For me, Dinovember is a chance to re-capture some of that whimsy which which I grew up, and to share it with the little (and not-so-little) ones in my life.

Brachiosaurus is the only one tall enough to measure the baking soda

This year, after way too much Halloween candy, it seems like the dinosaurs in my home wanted to get off on the right foot (paw?) by making buttermilk biscuits from scratch from a recipe I’d posted on this website a few years ago. They seemed to have learned something from when I was in culinary school because they not only prepared a mise en place before getting started, they also cleaned up after themselves.

Velociraptor and Dilophosaurus mix together the dry ingredients

The biscuit recipe is one that I’ve used before from Thibeault’s Table.  I’ve made these biscuits dozens of times.  They are also perfect to bake up a big batch and to freeze to keep on hand.  As I had leftover buttermilk from a pie that I’d made from The Up South Cookbook for #PiePartyICE hanging out in the fridge, I’m really glad that the dinosaurs saw fit to use it up making biscuits for Sunday brunch.

Stegosaurus decides to help out mixing the butter into the flour

This biscuit recipe in a slightly different format, adding chives, sharp cheddar cheese, a bit of dry mustard, and a kick of cayenne pepper, are the ideal appetizer to bring to holiday party, which I’ve done several times.  They are the basis for my Ham Biscuits that I’ve made for many gatherings and which are always a huge hit.  I’m wondering if I can convince the dinosaurs to make another batch!

Ankylosaurus makes a well for the liquid

Brachiosaurus wonders if it would be rude to bathe in the buttermilk

If we all work together, this will go much faster!

T-Rex asks if they should each mark their biscuits before they are baked

Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus confer on how to clean up the biscuit-making mess

Everyone chips in to lend a hand with washing the dishes

It’s almost too much to have to wait for the biscuits to cool

Butter, jam, honey or everything?  The dinosaurs are divided on what to put on the biscuits

Post

Finally, a decision is reached to put honey on one half and jam on the other

Buon appetito!

#Dinovember