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I decided to be adventurous this morning and attempt to bake something.  When I was watching Giada make these Pancetta Biscuits, I wanted to try them.  Since the television set isn’t a vending machine, I had to make them myself.  I hate baking.  I always make a mess.  A big, floury mess.  I decided that since Giada took a shortcut and used ready made biscuit mix (which I already had collecting dust in my pantry) I decided that if there ever was a day to attempt to bake, today would be that day. 

Weekly recipe – Pancetta Biscuits:

The recipe called for pancetta, a meat that I wasn’t used to using.  When I was in the supermarket, I found pancetta, but it was a bit too pricy for me to justify using it.  I almost opted for ham, but decided to try Trader Joe’s to see what they had in the way of this Italian meat.  Lo and behold, it was half the price at Trader Joe’s, so I stuck to the original recipe.  The fontina cheese was cheaper, too.  If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s by you, you’re missing out because Trader Joe’s is a ton of fun, but you can find this stuff fairly easily at any mega mart, just be prepared to pay a little more or use substitutions. 

For the butter, I didn’t have a vanilla bean, nor did I have vanilla extract.  I thought I did, but I didn’t.  So, I used a dash of maple syrup and it turned out to be pretty tasty.  I also didn’t have actual sugar, so I used Splenda, which was great, too.

The recipe was easy to follow, easy to put together, and baked quickly.  It’s also pretty fool proof.  No salt was added by me, so there was little chance of making it too salty.  I highly recommend this dish.  I give it a 9 out of 10 for being delicious and for the fact that I didn’t burn it even if it was something that I baked.  I gave myself a pat on the back for that.