It's the Olympics fault...time for the best Biscuits.

I cannot...not...watch hours and hours of TV at night right now.  It's the Olympics fault.  So, what's a sewing/crafting type person to do?  On a normal night, I don't feel the need to sit before the tube, consuming all that London has to offer.  But, I can't resist the lure of the athletes.

So, I hand quilt.  Luckily for me, My Youngest's Quilt is just begging me to finish it.  Since I have sworn off machine sewing anymore of it than I already have, that leaves the simple pleasures of hand sewing it while...watching...(which actually means listening) to the Olympics.   My Youngest has been asking me when I was going to get her new warm blanket done.  I guess I better get my act together.  Good thing the Olympics last about forever.  It should be done in another week and a half I would say.

I wanted to do something kind of fun for the quilting, so I measured 1/2" in from the edge of the hexagon and drew an outline...and then I went another 1/2" in from that and drew another outline.  I like it. 

Now, even though I am not sewing much, we still must eat, and I mentioned a few posts back when I made Bacon Corn Summer Hash that I was going to give you the recipe for The Best Biscuits On The Planet!!!!  Are you ready?  Can you stand it?  It's gonna happen.  Prepare yourself for a revelation of epic proportions...actually, rewind.  I don't know, can a biscuit recipe live up to all that hype?  Yeah...it is the best.

Okay, I don't really make biscuits like you might think of biscuits.  I don't roll out the dough and then use a biscuit cutter and get beautiful, perfectly round bits of flaky doughy goodness. 

Too much work! 

I grew up on drop biscuits (thanks Bisquick) and that's the way I like 'em.  And this recipe is the best.  I have adapted it from America's Test Kitchen which is one of my favorite sources for recipes.  They claim they are drop biscuits as good as rolled and much less fuss.  Now, remember, there is a bit of fuss to make these.  And that's okay.  Even My Sister, who hates fuss, makes these for her family as they have won her over with how good they are...and once you've made them a time or two, you forget the fuss because they really are easy and worth it.  If you are going to make anything from scratch, please make these...and pancakes....and bread...okay, I love making things from scratch, but everybody must make these, at least.

Best Buttermilk Drop Biscuits...made from scratch
adapted from America's Test Kitchen
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. Sugar
1/2 Cup....yup, that's an entire stick of butter (melted and cooled)  Plus....2 Tbl. melted butter to be used at the very end.
1 Cup Cold Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 F.  Seriously, I know it's hot.  Just do it.

Now, the very next thing you must do, before anything else, is get a small saucepan and put your stick of butter in it and start melting it over low heat.  As soon as it's mostly melted, remove it from the heat, pour it into a small bowl, and let the residual heat melt the rest. This will help to cool the butter a bit faster.  I just let it sit in a bowl and wait until I'm ready for it. (if it's too hot I stick it in the fridge).  You want it to be just a bit above room temperature, I would say.  Once you have poured the 1/2 Cup of butter out of the sauce pan, put the other 2 Tbl. of butter in and I just let it sit on the warm burner and melt slowly.  I don't actually turn the heat on again for this step.  You will use this butter at the very end, so just hold onto it.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.

Pour your buttermilk into a measuring cup, then pour the cooled, melted butter into the buttermilk.  Now stir.  You want the cold buttermilk to rapidly cool the butter so that it makes nice hard little chunks in the buttermilk. The reason for this is SCIENCE!!!  Once the biscuits go in the oven, the butter is going to melt and create steam which is going to make for light and fluffy drop biscuits.  It's going to mimic what happens in a rolled biscuit.  SCIENCE!

Now pour your buttermilk/hardened butter chunks into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  This is tricky.  Here's how I do it.  I stir with a wooden spoon and I mix in the dry ingredients.  AS SOON AS ALL FLOUR IS JUST INCORPORATED....stop stirring.   Call it good.

Take a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper on it and portion out the above dough into 12 dough balls.  I like to make them taller versus wider.  This is because when I am splitting the biscuit, I find it's easier.  Just a tip.

Now, I cook mine for exactly 13 minutes.  They come out lightly golden and poofed and wonderful.  Yours might take 11 minutes.  Or 15.  You'll have to pay attention the first couple of times and then just remember.  Place them on a cooling rack. 

For the final step, you could use a pastry brush...but I find that is too fiddly.  You want to pour the last 2 Tbl of butter evenly over all of the cooling biscuits. I just grab a teaspoon and get to drizzling.  If you want to be very fancy, go for it and use the pastry brush.

Then, you eat.  And your husband asks you to marry him all over again.  And your children swear to be angels the following day and not fuss at each other over who gets to play with the pig's tail and bladder...ahem....just teasing.  We're reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder...and those youngins in the wilderness didn't have much for toys.  At least my daughter's now know how to butcher a hog...I think...and maybe they'll appreciate their toys for once.

And then, this is dinner.  Yeah, I said dinner.  I don't do fancy breakfast for breakfast, I find it is under appreciated.  But breakfast for dinner is always beloved.

Thanks for reading, and definitely put these on the menu tonight.

Shared here:
Try New Recipe Tuesday

Heather