Hot from the oven, biscuits taste like a little slice of Heaven. With butter, molasses, or straight up, buttermilk biscuits are a quick and easy homemade treat. Warm biscuits are great with any meal and make a wonderful after school snack. For variety, use cookie cutters of different shapes and sizes. Mini biscuits are great to use instead of croutons on soups as well as salads.
Making biscuits is as easy as having a hot oven, cold ingredients, and a light touch with the rolling pin. Our Basic Biscuits are made with self-rising flour, butter, shortening and buttermilk. Self-rising flour eliminates the need to measure out and add extra baking powder and salt. Unsalted butter gives the biscuit wonderful flavor while the vegetable shortening helps to make the biscuit tender. Buttermilk gives the biscuit a pleasant yet mildly tangy flavor.
Watch the video above to see Taylor get in on the biscuit making fun! I think you will agree that making biscuits is a great activity for the whole family together!
Basic Biscuits
Makes about 10 medium biscuits
3 cups self rising flour (we used White Lily)
4 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (or lard)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk
1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees (you may bake as low as 400 and as high as 500 degrees).
2. Put the flour into a large bowl. Add the cold butter and shortening. Using a pastry blender, 2 forks or your fingertips, work quickly to cut the butter and shortening into the flour. Continue to work the butter and shortening into the flour until it is a coarse, mealy texture. Pieces of butter and shortening the size of small peas are okay. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
3. Pour 1 1/4 cups of cold buttermilk into the center of the well. With a fork or your fingertips, draw the flour in from all sides of the well, creating a shaggy dough. If the dough seems too dry, you may add up to 1/4 cup of buttermilk to the dough. Bring the dough together into a ball, but be careful not to overwork it.
4. Place the biscuit dough on a floured surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour. Fold the dough over and pat out into a rectangle. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out from the center in one direction. Return the rolling pin to the center of the dough and roll it out in the opposite direction. The rolled dough should be about 1 inch thick.
5. Press a floured biscuit cutter (we used a 2 1/2 inch cutter) straight down into the dough. Be careful not to twist the cutter when you are pressing down, which could result in biscuits that rise unevenly. Cut the biscuits close together. You may re-roll the scraps of dough, being careful not to over roll the dough. Place the biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.
6.Remove the biscuits from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Serve the biscuits warm or at room temperature.
©Recipe Sally James Mathis
©Photography Taylor Mathis
Biscuits are one of my favorite things to make. I make them every Saturday! And in my opinion, White Lily is the only flour to use in biscuits!
I WISH I had biscuits every Saturday! Loved this little peek behind the scenes!
We love biscuits and eat them with most things.
My favorite from childhood is a biscuit with butter and honey. MMMMmmmm good.