Look what I did!

I made biscuits! And they didn't come from a can I bought in the dairy case at Wal-Mart.

I realize more than half the people who read my blog are snickering. I mean more than half the people who read my blog do, after all, live below the Mason-Dixon line and you're saying, "Huh?" Making buttermilk biscuits from scratch is something Southern women do without even thinking about it.

Technically, I'm Southern too. I mean, I was born and raised in Southeast Texas for pete's sake. And one of my fondest memories is seeing my mom standing at the kitchen counter making biscuits from scratch. I believe we called them baking powder biscuits and I remember she used a jelly jar dipped in flour to cut them out.

I also remember that nothing in the whole world tasted as wonderful except maybe her fried chicken.

I did a lot of cooking for my family when I was growing up, so I honestly don't know why I never learned to make her biscuits. And then I left Texas when I was eighteen. And I've lived in Colorado ever since.

What a pathetic excuse, huh?

I've been married almost thirty years (almost forty if you count the nine year mistake I made) and never, not once, have I tried to make biscuits from scratch. 'Cause I was scared. Pillsbury and Bisquick have always bailed me out.

No more. I am officially a from-scratch biscuit maker. Y'all. :-)



I used the recipe I found in this cookbook. I LOVE this cookbook.


From Southern Living,
"OUR BEST BUTTERMILK BISCUITS"

1/2 cup cold butter
2 1/4 cups self-rising soft-wheat flour
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Self-rising soft-wheat flour
2 tablespoons melted butter

1. Cut butter with a sharp knife or pastry blender into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle butter slices over flour in a large bowl. Toss butter with flour. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until crumbly and mixture resembles small peas. Cover and chill 10 minutes. Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.


2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 or 4 times, gradually adding additional flour as needed. With floured hands, press or pat dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 9 X 5 inches). Sprinkle top of dough with additional flour. Fold dough over onto itself in 3 sections, starting with 1 short end. (Fold dough rectangle as if folding a letter-size piece of paper.) Repeat entire process 2 more times, beginning with pressing into a 3/4-inch-thick dough rectangle (about 9 X 5 inches).


3. Press or pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with a 2-inch round cutter, and place, side by side, on a parchment paper-lined or lightly greased jelly roll pan. (Dough rounds should touch.)



4. Bake at 450* for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter.

Makes about 2 dozen.



Here's a tip. If you use a 2-inch round cutter, your biscuits are going to be 2 inches wide. Period. That surprised me. I expected them to get real big. Instead, they got real tall.

Maybe it's because you use self-rising flour, not self-spreading flour. So next time I make these, I'm using a jelly jar to cut them out. My mom's biscuits were HUGE. OK, I'll actually use one of my iced tea glasses because I don't save jelly jars.

These biscuits are little, but they're awfully good.

For my next trick, I'm going to make a hummingbird cake - another Southern classic I've never tried. :-) Hey! Maybe I'll make a pecan pie! And fried okra from FRESH okra instead of a bag of the frozen stuff.

After all, I'm on a biscuit roll here.