Secret to Little Gray Shack Light and Fluffy Biscuits
Have you ever tried to make homemade biscuits and wound up with flat, hard dough balls? Yep, me too. In fact, when I first started making biscuits for my family, they were so awful that it took years before they’d try any bread I baked.
Over the years, I’ve learned a few tricks. I can honestly say that my current creations are light, fluffy and far better than canned biscuits.
Ingredients
- White all purpose flour (2 cups)
- Baking powder (2 tablespoons)
- Salt (1/2 teaspoon)
- Sugar (1/2 teaspoon)
- Butter or Crisco (1 stick)
- Buttermilk (1/2 cup)
- Parchment paper
Instructions
- Sift dry ingredients together thoroughly. You want to make sure that the baking powder is mixed throughout for even rising.
- Cut cold butter into small cubes and add to flour. Note: it is vital the butter is cold as it will melt during cooking and create these delicious, light air pockets in your biscuits.
- Use your hands or a pastry tool to blend butter into the floor. If doing this by hand, keep squeezing flour and butter together. Eventually, it will start to take on the look of what some people say is like corn meal. The look is not exactly the same, but the flour will no longer look powdery.
- Make a small mound in the center of your dough and pour in milk. Note that you may need to add a bit more until dough forms a lump the consistency of Play-Doh.
- Y'all, I like to just kerplop the mixture onto parchment paper with a spoon. If you want pretty biscuits, you can roll them out on a cutting board and cut with the top of a small drinking glass.
- Cook at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until brown.
Additional Tips
Y’all, I prefer the taste of real butter and real buttermilk for good old-fashioned biscuit yumminess. However, you can also use Crisco (regular or butter flavored). I also think the whole food butter is better for you, but in a pinch use what you have.
I like the taste of buttermilk, but if you’re out of buttermilk, you can try:
- Whole milk
- Heavy whipping cream and whatever kind of milk you have mixed together
- Any ole type of milk
- Water (this is a last resort, but it will work, your biscuits just won’t be as rich in flavor)
Want your biscuits to brown up real “purty”? Melt a little butter and brush them on the tops before putting them in the oven. You can also pull out about halfway through and butter again.
Parchment paper is my secret cooking weapon. It allows the bottoms to get brown, you don’t have to grease the pan and cleanup is a snap. I cook my biscuits on a big ole pizza pan lined with parchment paper.
I like to just kerplop those biscuits on the parchment paper with a big ole spoon. You can take the time to cut them out and make them look at pretty, but if your family is anything like mine they will gobble them up the minute they hit the table and all the effort will be long gone.
Biscuits still not fluffy enough? Check your baking powder. It may not be rising correctly or you may need to add more.
Hope you enjoy these biscuits. Now, I have to go make a pot roast to go with mine.
Love,
Aunt Emma
Photo credit: D’s Biscuits via Holly via photopin (license)
Simple Snow Day Soup
If you are snowed in, school is out and you are wondering how to keep everyone from going stir crazy, making soup can be a family activity that everyone enjoys. Let the kids go out and play in the snow while you gather ingredients. When they come in, make “snow day soup”.
GATHER THE INGREDIENTS
- Egg noodles (you can make these from scratch, but it is easier and less messy if you purchase ready made in the freezer section of your grocery)
- 4 small cans or one large can chicken stock
- 2 chicken breasts
- Salt
- Pepper
- Parsley
MAKE SNOW DAY SOUP
Snow day soup is very similar to chicken noodle soup, but with kids in mind the ingredients are kept very simple. If your children like vegetables, you can easily add carrots and peas to this soup for extra nutrients and bulk.
- Put chicken breasts in a small sauce pan, cover with water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked all the way through.
- While the chicken is boiling, have the kids cut out paper snowflakes to scatter on the kitchen table for when you eat your snow day soup meal.
- Go outside for a snowball fight, while chicken breasts cool (15 to 20 minutes) and then chop chicken into small pieces.
- Bring chicken stock to a boil and add egg noodles. When noodles are soft, throw in chicken, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
Your snow day soup is ready to serve! Please note that if you add additional vegetables, they will need to be boiled at the same time as the noodles in order to make them soft and palatable. The goal with this soup is to create lasting memories for your children, while serving a warming and nutritious meal. Grilled cheese sandwiches go well with this soup too!