Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 22

While I am not a biscuit connoisseur, these biscuits are simply divine. Served at the Magnolia Table Restaurant in Waco, JoJo’s biscuits are soft, fluffy, perfectly buttery, and absolutely delicious. While they definitely are best when first taken out of the oven, they do reheat very nicely and are especially tasty when slathered in Pop’s Strawberry Jam (see below!). Do be aware however that the recipe makes approximately 20 biscuits (I got 17), so it is best to either fix them for a crowd or prepare to eat them for several days. Following creating the recipe, I realized that Joanna mentions you can place them on parchment and freeze them for up to 2 weeks before cooking, so certainly you could split the batch if you wanted to cook them overtime. Either way, these biscuits are worth trying!

Crowd Average Rating:

Ranking among the winners of the Magnolia Table cookbook, JoJo’s Biscuits gained an average rating of a 9! As Joanna mentions her fine tuning experience over months in her kitchen with family testers, I truly believe these biscuits (especially hot and fresh) should not be tweaked and are delicious exactly as the recipe stands!

Following on the heels of the divine biscuits was the recipe for Pop’s Strawberry Jam. This jam is wonderfully sweet, not too tart and has the ever so subtle undertone of the dallop of butter added during the cooking. Despite not having a canner or canning kit, I was able to make do with a large pot, canning tongs (normal tongs are too slippery), funnel, and dish towels. Typically, a canner has a rack placed in the bottom which can be substituted with a round cake rack or canning lids, if need be (to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot), but as I did not have any of those items at my disposal, I researched and found that dish towels can work also. Certainly, the boiling water around the dishtowels splashed a bit of a watery mess on my stove top, but overall it worked quite well as a makeshift canner, as all the jam jars gained tight seals to protect their delicious contents.

Crowd Average Rating:

For the first time since this challenge began, we had TWO recipes gain an average of a 9 in one week as Pop’s Strawberry Jam also gained an average rating of a 9! Much like the recipe for the biscuits, there is not anything I can think of to change this recipe. If you do not have a canner but are interested in trying your hand at making this homemade jam, go for it, as many of your household materials can be used to create a makeshift canner. I promise, if you try it, you will not be disappointed. This jam is simply delicious on everything we tried and honestly would even be a great dessert topping.

Much like Pop’s Strawberry Jam, Bobo’s Classic Gravy goes wonderfully with Joanna’s biscuits. Creamy with great sausage flavor, this gravy is easy to whip up and a wonderful breakfast option. While biscuits with gravy are not my go to breakfast, this recipe made the best gravy I have ever had for sure. If gravy is a favorite of yours, you most certainly should try out Bobo’s Classic Gravy recipe.

Crowd Average Rating:

Coming in strong, Bobo’s Classic Gravy gained an average rating of a 7.5. While this may not seem as high as the biscuits or strawberry jam, I do not believe it is a reflection of the gravy recipe itself. This recipe was very straightforward throughout the cooking process and had delicious results, but just didn’t fall in a “favorite” category for either Charlie or I. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed this meal and would recommend testing it for yourself.

• Bacon
• Mayonnaise
• White country bread
• Butter lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Chives
• Parsley

• Dill
• Lemon
• Paprika
• White pepper
• Black pepper
• Kosher salt
• Cake flour
• Egg whites

• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Cream of tartar
• Lemon extract
• Blueberry preserves
• Fresh blueberries
• Whipping cream