Biscuits

I love biscuits. I always have.

I love them with gravy.

I love them with strawberry jelly.

I really love them with sorghum.

Yummy, yummy, in my tummy!

My mom was horrified when all I wanted to take to school for my snack in Kindergarten were biscuits and sorghum. When she grew up, that's all she had to take to eat at school. But I had all kinds of choices and I choose biscuits, because I loved them. I'm sorry I put you through that Mom, but I loved your biscuits.

Mom made them for breakfast or Sunday dinner after church with sausage gravy and fried potatoes, and in the summer, fresh sliced tomatoes.

Mom made them with fried chicken (or fried squirrel or fried turtle) and mashed potatoes and gravy.

Mom made me learn how to make them as soon as I was old enough.

She always used Bisquick, it was quick, easy, and quite reliable, so that is how I've made biscuits for years. But, always the glutton for punishment, I decided about a year ago to master the art of making them by scratch. After trying numerous recipes and not being happy I finally found one I like, is easy, and makes good tasting biscuits, right in my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Let's make biscuits shall we?

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

First, heat your oven to 450 degrees.

Next, mix together with a fork: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Now add in your shortening (I usually use lard or Crisco or even bacon grease):

Mix it together, with a fork or pastry blender, until the mixture resembles fine crumbs (think pie crust).

Now, make a well in the center and pour in your buttermilk. Stir it with your fork until it is blended in and dough is beginning to form. If your buttermilk is thick, you might have to add a little water to get all the dry ingredients wet and sticking together.

Then flour your clean countertop and plop the dough on top.

Now, knead it a bit,

working it into a smooth round ball.

Now roll it out to your desired thickness, Ms. Crocker says to 1/2 inch.

I rolled these out a bit too thin for my taste. Oh well.

Cut with a floured biscuit cutter, push straight down and then turn the cutter.

This is a cutter my mom gave me sometime early in my marriage. It is an old one that will cut doughnuts too if you put in the middle dohicky (sorry to throw in the technical term). Do you see the string around the handle? One day my granddaughter will ask her mother, "Why do you have a string around the handle of your biscuit cutter?" My daughter will reply, "Because my mother did it that way." My granddaughter, ever wanting to learn, will come to me and ask, "Grandma, why do you have a string around the handle of your biscuit cutter?" And I'll tell her, "Because when I was a little girl, my mom liked to collect biscuit cutters and display them. She wanted to hang them on the wall, so she tied strings around them to do so. I just never took it off."

It'll become as famous as why women cut the end off the ham before putting it into their roaster.

Okay enough tangents, back to biscuits.

Put the cut biscuits onto a cookie sheet, fairly close together.

Bake at 450 for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Then enjoy with jelly, or sorghum, or sausage gravy (upcoming post). And if there are any left over they are a delicious snack warmed in the microwave with a slice of cheese on top.

My mouth is watering. Excuse me while I go eat a biscuit, or two.

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make well in center and pour in buttermilk. Stir together until forms a dough, turn out onto floured surface. Knead into a smooth round ball (not too much kneading). Roll to desired thickness (1/2 inch), cut with biscuit cutter, place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 24 biscuits