Baking Powder Biscuits

 

Ya know, one of the bestest things about this spiffy baking blog is that I finally have an excuse to rip-roar through the myriad of goodies I have always wanted to bake but never had a chance to.

Now I do.  Woot!  So thank you!  Thank you for being here!

Then, eeerrrrtttt, I realized I hadn’t dished out my favorite favorite favorite basic biscuit recipe yet, Baking Powder Biscuits.  Doh!

These tasty buggers are awesome.  And when I mean awesome, I mean, well, awesome.  Light and fluffy.  Buttery sweet.  Pillowy soft and delicately crunchy.  Angelic little clouds of perfection.

I’m already feeling the need to make more of these.

Yes, these do look vaguely familiar, right?  Because this recipe comes from Elizabeth Alston’s* Biscuits and Scones cookbook, the same book as those dreamy Currant Scones.

Ah ha.

Ok.  So these nummy nuggets of joy are pure happiness in a triangle.  Or circle, should you use a round cutter.*  And they come together faster than it takes to preheat an oven.  They are so easy.  SO easy.  And!  

Before you know it, you’re in lil’ biscuit heaven.  

Ultimately, I think when I bought this book oh way back when we won’t even talk about how long ago nope not ever, it was for this particular recipe.  Since, I’ve baked them so many times whenever I open the book, it flops itself right to this recipe.  How I don’t have it memorized, really, beyond me.

These are utterly outstanding with a schmear of butter, or blob of jam, or whatever folks put on biscuits, or even as biscuits for gravy I imagine.  Or just plain shoved directly in your face.  Have I done the latter?  

I’mma not gonna share any dark secrets around these here parts people, ahem.

And I am not kidding in the least about how easy and fast these are.  Want a good baking confidence booster?  Here ya go, Baking Powder Biscuits.  You likely already have everything you need around the house anyway.   Whatcha waitin’ for?!

Ok, let’s do this.  Don’t blink.

Toss the dry ingredients in a bowl.

 

Everyone in the pool!

Add your butter and cut it into the flour with your fingers or a pastry cutter.

A-yup, there’s the butter all cut into the flour.

…..If you remember back to the scones, I had tinkered with the idea of trying a new pasty cutter.*  Henceforth, purchased.

I have to say my friends, the Kitchen Innovations one is quite the surprise, I totally recommend it.  Not only are my hands un-smashed and bruise-free, my arms aren’t weirdly jello-y, and the gizmo made shockingly quick work of the cold butter without getting jammed up. 

Ignore the reviews about a rectangular cutter in round bowl thing, silliness.  I only slipped once strewing flour, unlike with my old rounded one where crap is shooting out all over the darn place every few seconds, my hands are busted up, and I’m a mess.

So if you’re in the market for a new cutter or think you might like to try one but you’re not sure which, give this one a whirl.*

All right, once you’ve got that butter good and cut into the flour mix, pour on the milk (you can also use buttermilk here if you’d like but the one time I did, the biscuits were not as good.  

A little tougher in fact and no, they didn’t result in a flaky buttermilk biscuit either.  But feel free to try it.).

Here’s after the milk is mixed in, pretty clumpy.

Stir everything around with a fork until things get shaggy and clumpy, then dump the bowl contents onto a lightly floured surface.

Bring the dough together with a few quick and easy kneads, nothing major here. 

 

Dough ball.

Now, you can either flatten the whole piece and use a round cutter or chop the dough in half, flattening each into about a six inch round, then slice into six sweet lil’ triangles.  Personally, I opt triangles:  no waste.

Half the dough flattened into a lil’ round, waiting to be all that it can be.

Ready to get baked! Let’s go, mama’s hungry!

Bake time is a brief twelve to fourteen minutes and ta da!, glorious, delectable biscuits in mere moments.  

Why one would ever consider a store-bought tube filled with chemicals, Iiiiiiiii dunno.  Ok I do know, convenience is grand, but seriously, start to finish, these take less time than driving to the store and back and are waaayyyy tastier.  No joke.

Oh yes. Oh. Yes.

One of the hardest things about these cutie pies is waiting a half hour, allowing them cool enough to develop every last smidgeon of flavor.

Yum. Aw jeez, I gotta go, I gotta go make more of these right now.

The other hardest thing, and probably numero uno on hardest part list, is stopping yourself from eating every single one of these Baking Powder Biscuits in a single sitting.
 

Oh for sure, these get the good china.  I mean, look at how fluffy!!  Butter, stat, please!

Later at dinner, Mike is super excited, raises one up smiling, a twinkle in his eye, “I love these, soo good,” as he takes a big ol’ butter-slathered bite.  Aw thanks babe!  Warms my heart.

Gah....drool.

Can you resist that?  Nope, you cannot and you should not.

Get out the good butter, people, it is on!

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Yield

12 biscuits

Prep time

10 Min

Cook time

14 Min

Total time

24 Min

Sweet little wedges of cloud-like perfection, these simple baking powder biscuits are a snap to make and are divine slivers of heaven.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt
• 5 tablespoons (71 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2/3 cup (158 ml) milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F (232° C) and add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl. Lightly whisk with a fork to mix.
2. Add the cold butter and cut it in with your fingers (rubbing and smushing the butter into the flour) or use a pastry cutter until no larger lumps of butter remain, or the butter pieces are around the size of lentils.
3. Pour the milk over the ingredients in the bowl and stir with a fork. The dough will become lumpy and will not hold together.
4. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the contents of the bowl onto it. Keeping your hands off the dough as much as possible to avoid warming the butter, bring the dough together to form a ball and gently knead about 10-15 times.
5. For round biscuits:
6. Flatten the dough to about 1/2”-3/4” thick and cut with a 2 1/2” round cutter or a glass. Bring any remaining scraps together and repeat. Place the circles on a cookie sheet, ungreased, either touching slightly for softer sides or apart for crunchier sides.
7. For triangles:
8. Chop the dough ball in half and flatten each half to about 6” in diameter. With a large knife or a pastry scraper, slice each of the dough rounds into 6 slices. Set the triangles on an ungreased cookie sheet, either touching slightly for softer sides or apart for crunchier sides.
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden.
10. To cool:
11. Place a clean kitchen towel on a cooling rack and remove the biscuits from the cookie sheet to the towel. Cover and cool for about 30 minutes to develop the most flavor.

Notes:

Note: If you replace the milk with buttermilk (or yogurt), reduce the baking powder to 2 teaspoons (8 g) plus add 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) baking soda.

Variation: Exchange one of the cups of all-purpose flour with 1 cup of oat flour (regular oats ground to a powder).

Adapted from Elizabeth Alston’s Biscuits and Scones* cookbook.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

125.82

Fat (grams)

5.26

Sat. Fat (grams)

3.18

Carbs (grams)

16.90

Fiber (grams)

0.57

Net carbs

16.33

Sugar (grams)

0.06

Protein (grams)

2.68

Sodium (milligrams)

218.20

Cholesterol (grams)

13.81

Please see the "info" section for nutrition details.

biscuit

recipe

American

Created using The Recipes Generator

*The round biscuit cutters, Elizabeth Alston cookbooks, pastry cutters, and Kitchen Innovations pastry cutter are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.