This morning my small group of friends who meet for a post-workout coffee every Monday, Wednesday and Friday gathered at my place instead, it being teacher’s convention and the kids out of school. Since there were 5 children of varying ages, the 4 of us and Mike, I made a whole sheetful of tuna melts, using a loaf of good crusty no-knead bread. Lay slices on a cookie sheet and toast at about 400F while you mix tuna, chopped celery and light mayo; divide among the toast and scatter with grated white cheddar (if you have it, or really any cheese you think would go well with tuna) and return to the oven until the cheese melts. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how to make a tuna melt.

But then only one of the kids wanted one, and all of my friends were full of the cinnamon sticky biscuits I had made to go with the coffee.

So Mike and I munched on tuna melts throughout the afternoon, and then kind of cruised through dinnertime without really being hungry. Which works out well, actually – my friend Sue is arriving from Vernon at any minute, so I roasted some peppers, tomatoes, garlic and chilies for a goat cheese gratin, which is waiting to be popped into the oven to heat through and get all bubbly around the edges when she walks in the door – a perfect late-night snack-slash-dinner, curled up on the couch with a bottle of wine. My only regret is that all the good bread was used up for the tuna melts.

The cinnamon sticky biscuits is a good recipe to have though, so here it is:

Cinnamon Sticky Biscuits

Try laying thin slices of these biscuits on top of a dish of peaches or apples tossed with sugar, then bake at 350° F for 20-30 minutes for a phenomenal fruit cobbler.

Stickiness:
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. honey or corn syrup

Biscuits:
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil

Filling:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins and/or chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Combine butter, brown sugar and honey in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl and heat until melted and smooth. Pour over the bottom of an 8”x8” baking pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the milk and canola oil and stir by hand just until you have a soft dough. Do not overmix!

On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough into a 9” x 14” rectangle. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins or nuts. Starting from a long side, roll tightly jelly-roll style into a log. Cut into 9 biscuits using dental floss or a serrated knife, and place cut side down in the pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Invert onto a platter while still warm.

Makes 9 sticky biscuits.

Per biscuit: 270 calories, 9 g total fat (2.2 g saturated fat, 4.4 g monounsaturated fat, 2 g polyunsaturated fat), 3.6 g protein, 44 g carbohydrate, 7.7 mg cholesterol, 0.9 g fiber. 30% calories from fat.

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