Finally, finally, biscuit success has been achieved.
I don’t know what it is about the relentless desire I have had to make these work. Maybe it’s the fact that I am the oldest of three and become a different person when competition is involved (I once kicked my sister off of my doubles team because I thought she was making us lose); maybe it’s the stigma of growing up in the South and somehow feeling I didn’t quite measure up as a cook if biscuits weren’t in my repertoire.
Oh, and it could be the flashbacks of what happened the last time I tried to make sweet potato biscuits; you can check that post out here.
But these-this recipe-is pretty foolproof. Just make sure your butter is chilled, you have a gentle hand when stirring the buttermilk/honey mixture into the flour, and you thoroughly flour your kneading surface. As in, pile the flour up and then shake some more out just in case. I like to keep a small bowl of flour by my cutting board to dip into. And it keeps my gummy hands out of the flour bag.
I was also so intent on making these work that I literally measured out the “rectangle” shape the dough should fit into with white icing. OCD, maybe- but I was determined.
So for all you who are also biscuit-challenged, you can do it. Take heart- and proudly pull these babies out of the oven. They smell amazing. And, success is sweet.
Honey Buttermilk Biscuits
This recipe is adapted from Allrecipes.com Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
What You Will Need:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (This is the best flour to make biscuits with)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces (this butter tastes the best, trust me)
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (I like the full-fat version)
- 3 tablespoons honey (this is my favorite)
What You Will Do:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal, or it is about in pea-sized pieces. Cover and chill 10 minutes in your fridge.
- Combine buttermilk and honey with a whisk, stirring until well-blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Key word: gently stir. If you are one of those people who take out your aggression on your kitchen utensils/and/or recipes, please go stir something else at this point. Then come back to your dough once your issue is resolved.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface (it is better to over-flour here). Knead lightly 4 times. Roll dough into a 1/2-inch-thick, 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour.
- Fold dough crosswise into thirds as if folding a piece of paper to fit into an envelope. You are going to fold the dough towards you like you would if a sheet of paper is in front of you and you are folding it into thirds to put into an envelope.
- Re-roll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds; gently roll or pat to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut and lift dough with a 1 3/4-inch biscuit cutter (don’t twist your cutter as you cut these- that makes the edges rough) to form 14 dough rounds.
- Place dough rounds, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool 2 minutes on wire racks. Serve warm.
