Robertson County is a small county with few employment opportunities, therefore many families have at least one family member working outside the county.  At the end of the day many find there is scant time for anything but fast food, let alone a home cooked meal with family traditions.  As I began this semester's after school "4-H Cooking Class" held at the Robertson County School, I considered this and discussed the situation with my volunteers as we chose the lessons we would teach during our sessions.  While we wanted to choose recipes the participants could later make for competition at the local and State Fair, we wanted to relate them to what had also been made in their homes.  This is why the "Rolled Biscuits" from  "4-H Cooking 101-401"  became the feature in the first after school cooking class.

It was evident that while a few participants had some past experience making biscuits, most of them did not.  We spent time explaining the principles involved and I wondered if the end results would be anything like what some of these kids were familiar with.  I knew some of them likely had no opportunities to make anything like this at all. They did seem to like the process though, especially the boys in the group who always view their work as a science project.

In the end, all outcomes were met with varying degrees of satisfaction (and varying toppings as well).  All participating said they felt confident that they could make this recipe again, and over half of those involved were made very sure they took a recipe home with them!  While I hope to fill my ranks of State Fair entries with more participants, I can tell that there will also be a new generation of young cooks that will carry on the southern tradition of making a fine biscuit.