Betty the Biscuit Maker

If there is one thing I would like to be remembered for, it is my cooking.
Namely my southern comfort food cooking, because the majority of it requires no recipe.
I like to try new things and then read through recipes, eventually taking ideas from here and there until I have something of my own.

Don't get me wrong, there have been many failed attempts and I am no stranger to starting over.
I am pretty determined though, and typically will try and try until I succeed or Chuck gets sick.

One food item that I have just mastered are my biscuits.
Sure, I know you're thinking biscuits?
Yes, biscuits.

No respectable southern home is complete without fluffy, white biscuits.
I couldn't imagine putting gravy on sandwich bread!
That would be tragic.
We would send you to Idaho.

Anyway, I'm talking made-from-scratch, flaky, buttery biscuits.
NOT from a can.

Imma bit of a 'homemade' food brat.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with pre-packaged food!
Except that I don't like it.

I mean hey, I might use a box of brownie mix in a pinch...but I would rather not.
It's a mix, I don't know what they put in the mix!

Did you ever hear about that guy who opened his can of beanie-weenies and there was a persons thumb in it?
EEEEWWWWWW!

How could that happen?
It is for that reason that I hold my breath when I open a can of beans.
Thank you, beanie-weenie man.

So the ONE southern food staple that has alluded me until now?
It's the biscuits, man.

I have cornbread doooowwwwn.
Biscuits are a science, and I'm not talking 'drop' biscuits.
We are elbow deep in some AP flour and patting these bad boys out.

Simple ingredients; 3 C AP flour, 1 tblsp. sugar,1 tblsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp cream of tartar.....
THEN you do what took me years to catch on to.
You take a cheese grater and grate 3/4 c of butter into the flour mixture.

DON'T you dare say it!
I can't believe you have been doing it this way forever and haven't told me!

The cheese grater method would have saved my past dinner guests a few teeth from misery.
Enter: hockey-puck biscuits.

Once you grate the butter in, you use your fingers to evenly distribute it into "pea-size" pieces.
Then, you quickly add 1 1/4 cups buttermilk until just combined.

Flour your work surface(go ahead and put a cup out there..you won't use it all but it keeps the dough from sticking to Edna), I use a big cookie sheet with a lip, welcome to apartment life.

Pour your dough out, DON'T roll it, just knead it a few times until it's not sticky..incorporating the flour a little at a time.
You want flaky, not hockey, so don't knead for more than a minute

Then, using your hands, shape it into a square, about 1/2 inch thick and cut your biscuits out.

After your biscuits are cut, REFRIGERATE!
You must wait.
You must refrigerate.

Put those warm, bad boys in the cool for about 30 minutes before you bake them.
They deserve the chill time!
Don't rob them of this.
Trust me.


450 degrees for 12-14 minutes and you can butter your biscuit and answer to Betty!

How do you make your biscuits?

Love,
BettyTheBiscuitMakinCowLady