my favorite buttermilk biscuits
Odds are, however you make your biscuits, you’re making them wrong. Either the flour isn’t right (all-purpose when it should be White Lily, cake flour or something equally delicate), the leavener is unacceptable (commercial baking powder instead of a homemade blend of baking soda and cream of tartar), you chose the wrong fat (shortening instead of lard, lard instead of shortening, butter instead of shortening or lard), you pulsed your fat into the flour instead of rubbed, you beat instead of rolled, you dropped instead of cut, you used a cookie cutter (gasp!) instead of a juice glass. I’m totally cool with this: I make my biscuits wrong, too.
Even by my own standards. There’s a general formula I associate with most biscuit recipes, roughly 2 cups of flour to 5 tablespoons of fat and one cup of milk (or sometimes 2 1/4 cups to 6 tablespoons and 3/4 cup), but despite my every effort to love the results of this formula above all else, I failed, reverting to a random version I’ve been making from a diner in Colorado that I found in Bon Appetit in 2000, nearly as far from known biscuit country as one can roam. Its formula — with two leaveners, buttermilk instead of milk and a much higher proportion of butter — isn’t even close to the classic and it’s not even a little sorry.
Because they are awesome. I mean, every single time I make them, I too am confused as to how I became someone who knew my way around a biscuit. It’s not in my bones, it’s not in my history (yet), it’s and so it must be the recipe, which is the best part: that means they can be yours this weekend too.
Biscuits, previously: Cream Biscuits (the easiest biscuits in the world) and Blue Cheese Scallion Drop Biscuits. Lots of biscuits and scones in the archives as well.
One year ago: Potato Knish, Two Ways
Two years ago: The Best Baked Spinach
Three years ago: Warm Mushroom Salad with Hazelnuts and Coconut Milk Fudge
Four years ago: Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pita Bread
Five years ago: Homemade Devil Dog, Ding-Dong or Hostess Cake, Sweet Potato Wedges, Big Crumb Coffee Cake and Alex’s Chicken and Mushroom Marsala
Six years ago: Red Split Lentils With Cabbage, My Favorite Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes and a Cucumber Scallion Raita
My Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from Dot’s Diner in Boulder via Bon Appetit
I shared these on the site way back in its youth, 2007, but I’d adapted them as chive biscuits and it was buried in a post without any photos of their deliciousness. They never got the spotlight they deserved.
These can be adapted in a lot of ways. You can use (unleavened) cake flour for a more delicate biscuit, add herbs or a little grated cheese for a different flavor profile, and the sugar can be dialed up or down (the original calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons, but I use as little as 2 teaspoons when I want a savory biscuit). You can make your own buttermilk (like so) or whisk together yogurt or sour cream and milk for a similar effect. They can be dropped from a spoon or cut into shapes.
The original recipe has a larger yield (12 standard), but for our weekend needs, but I’ve taken to scaling it to 3/4 of its original volume (shown below), which will yield 6 very large breakfast biscuits (think: egg sandwich, and then invite me over, please) or 9 standard ones, the kind you’d serve alongside other things (although they will totally, unapologetically hog the spotlight).
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons to 1 1/2 tablespoons (10 to 20 grams) sugar (to taste, see note above)
1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder
3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
9 tablespoons (125 grams) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
3/4 cup (175 ml) buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400 °F and cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large, wide bowl. Using fingertips or a pastry blender, work butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, Add buttermilk and stir until large, craggy clumps form. Reach hands into bowl and knead mixture briefly until it just holds together.
To form biscuit rounds: Transfer dough to floured counter and pat out until 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick (err on the thin side if uncertain, as the tall ones will literally rise and then tip over, like mine did the day I photographed these). Using a round cutter (2 inches for regular sized biscuits, 3 inches for the monstrous ones shown above), press straight down — twisting produces less layered sides — and transfer rounds to prepared sheet, spacing two inches apart.
To drop biscuits: Drop 1/4-cup spoonfuls onto baking sheet, spacing two inches apart.
Both methods:Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly, then serve warm, with butter/jam/eggs/bacon/sausage and gravy or any combination thereof. Happy weekend!
Do ahead: Biscuits are best freshly baked. When I want to plan ahead, I make the biscuit dough and form the individual biscuits, then freeze them until needed. They can be baked directly from the freezer, will just need a couple more minutes baking time.
THANK YOU. perfect food for this cold windy week in Baltimore.
Buttermilk biscuits are the best! These are beauties.
Lovely Deb! Now you are obligated to link to your best gravy recipe…
If these biscuits are wrong, then I really don’t want to be right. I’m picturing a biscuit based eggs benedict.
Yum! This (Boston) weather is making me want run home and make these and sit by the fire :) They are beautiful, you look to be more than qualified to make biscuits.
I’m so excited. I have some buttermilk leftover from making cornbread for the snow event that never arrived here in DC, so this is perfect for this weekend! Thanks!
Deb, I was born and raised in North Carolina and learned to make biscuits at my Mama’s knee. These look wonderful.
(And if I can make and talk about matzoh ball soup… and I do…. you can *certainly* make and talk about biscuits!)
If you fold the dough as you’re bringing it together (like you’re folding a napkin) it makes THE FLAKIEST FLAKES known to buscuit-dom. Can’t wait to make these with Spring’s first rhubarb [a la compote!]
Since, I was raised in the south, I will sacrifice myself and make this biscuit recipe. The things I’m willing to do for carbs.
Wow, these look tasty! We love making buttermilk biscuits. We’re definitely going to give these a try.
YUM. I don’t prefer drop biscuits, but am still lazy, so I’ve given up biscuit cutters completely and just use a board scraper now to cut the dough into 12 pieces. Nothing wrong with a square biscuit!
Your timing is impeccable. There are a billion biscuit recipes out there, I was looking for one that is tried and true and loved. Will have to try this recipe this weekend!
Happy weekend indeed! I can imagine a bacon sandwich with these would be totally epic.
Just to clarify, is the recipe shown the “original volume” of 12, or is it your adapted 3/4? Thanks! Love biscuits!! With apple butter, most always.
Delicious. I love your biscuits and scones and are delighted to have another recipe to add to the collection.
Can’t tell you how much we also adore the wild rice, kale, caramelized onion gratin from the cookbook. I seriously make a double batch once a week to keep the husband happy :).
Yum. As someone who didn’t grow up with biscuits either, I’m in favor of making them however they taste the best, traditional or not. Love these! Now I need a biscuit cutter.
I thought you had already conquered biscuits…I love your cream biscuits. how are these different or better?
Biscuits are my weakness and I make them wrong too :) I’ve been doing an egg wash on the tops lately and pretending that somehow makes them more french and refined. Ha! I’m dreaming. These look incredible. I’ve been looking for a good buttermilk biscuit recipe for the next time I make my dad’s sausage gravy.
plus, the cream ones are easy…I *hate* using a pastry blender. my least favorite kitchen tool/task. DESPISE it.
These look wonderful! I am a PA girl who grew up with a British grandmother who made biscuits and I am OBSESSED with Matzo Ball Soup! go figure…
I can’t wait to try these! I’m a recent transplant from the South to Minnesota, and I need to perfect a biscuit recipe. I never did when I lived in the South because I could get good biscuits at dozens of restaurants. Up here NOBODY serves biscuits! I want to become a biscuit evangelist!
The biscuits are gorgeous, of course, but what I really want is that blue mixing bowl, please. Deets?
I see a Chez Pim jam in the background!
NOM! Thank you! Can’t wait for tomorrow morning!
Aha! I’d been racking my brain about which food blogger I’d read who also dealt in homemade jam, and your pic refreshed my memory! Thanks for that! And for these decadent looking biscuits, just in time pour le weekend.
Oh hey, you too use Chez Pim jam! That’s my most favorite ever!
Shiri — It’s my mom’s old Pyrex bowl. She was going to throw it away. Can you imagine?
amy — The cream biscuits are the easiest biscuit. They’re good. But these are my favorite in the classic sense — big crumb, layers that separate, buttermilk tang. I think of the cream biscuits more as dinner biscuits, and a great recipe to have in your back pockets. These are what I make when I want my biscuit ideal.
Katieliz — This is the 3/4 volume. You can follow the link under the title to Bon Appetit for the full scale.
This is the way my grandmother used to make them! There really is no other way then to use buttermilk. Mmmm!
I do love buttermilk biscuits, especially with my homemade jams… Yum. These look great. I make freezer biscuit that are some of my favorites. :-)
Any info about whether these freeze well? I need to finish up a larger container of buttermilk and these seem like the perfect way to do it.
Are biscuits the same as scones? For us in the UK-biscuits are what you call cookies, but these look like scones to me and as an ulsterwoman scones should always be made with buttermilk.
I’ve been looking for the best recipe for buttermilk biscuits since ever, so you can probably imagine how thrilled I am to try yours! I already know this will become my number one, since all your recipes are always soooo good!
Xo, Elisa
Deb, please let your mother know that the next time she wants to get rid of perfectly beautiful old things, there is an entire internet ready to take them.
Yum! These look so good. I’m from Northern NH (not a biscuit making place) and my mother used to make biscuits from Betty Crocker’s cookbook. After reading Natalie Dupree’s The Art of Southern Cooking, I’ve come to learn just how seriously the South takes their biscuit making and that there is definitely a very right way to do it, and it’s not the way I learned haha.
Anyone can make a Biscuit! They are one of the easiest things to make and one of the hardest things to make well. Why don’t you bring your talents South and enter the Biscuit Bake Off at the International Biscuit Festival? We encourage people from foreign lands, like New Jersey, to participate! More info at biscuitfest.com
I’ve been trying for years to re-create my mothers biscuits- unfortunately as many times as I saw her make them, she never actually measured anything, so no real recipe she could give me. I look forward to trying these to see if they meet the mark!
lovely! but looky! jewish southern food is TOTALLY a thing here (in NC, near where you recently toured)! I worked for this publisher. http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-7519.html
Ok, you. Sausage gravy next, please! (I am the southerner who’s still making mine from a mix, hangs head in shame.) If there wasn’t a foot of snow on the ground I’d be headed out for some buttermilk and Jimmy Dean’s so we could have a biscuit n’ gravy dinner!
And anything with Chez Pim jam instantly becomes incredible!
This recipe is a little bit of a pain in the neck, by using just over a stick of butter: 2.25 cups flour and 9tbs flour is 9/8 of what would make it easy. Cutting it to an even stick of butter and 2 cups of flour, though, make a fractions equation out of the rest of the ingredients: 9-18g sugar (2 scant to 3 rounded tsp), 13g baking powder (2 2/3 tsp), 4.3g each of salt and baking soda (2/3 tsp), 2/3C buttermilk (156gm).
You are doing one thing right – mixing in Vintage Pyrex ;) Love it!
Cuisinart with steel blade = perfect cutting in butter every time. It’ll rock your world.
Substituting half whole wheat flour makes the dough incredibly sticky and drier; and gives the biscuits a fantastic nutty flavor afterwards.
When my husband makes biscuits, he insists that grating frozen butter into the flour is the best thing ever. But we all have our little ticks. (Don’t tell him I shared this…)
These look positively fabulous!! Gorgeous recipe :)
I’m with Shiri on the bowl; I never knew Pyrex bowls existed with pour spouts! Now I’m searching ebay to get my own…
I will be trying these for sure! I grew up with your bowls and love them :D I’m now on the hunt for a set!
I’m not really a biscuit kind of girl but these look soooo good! I have to give them a try!
Why make plain buttermilk biscuits when we can use buttermilk to make your maple bacon biscuit recipe instead? :)
Kudos on these pretty things. And if this recipe keeps one person from popping another can of “biscuits” then a job well done. I’ll enjoy mine with that overly sweet peach or strawberry freezer jam, please.
No need for a pastry blender if you grate frozen butter with a box grater and then re-freeze it for 5 minutes. Plus, it makes the biscuits lighter and fluffier!
There’s absolutely nothing I like making more than biscuits! Gotta try this recipe – doing it this weekend!!
I’d say you’re as qualified as anyone to talk biscuits. These look sensational!
I always like a good biscuit recipe…they are so adaptable for any occasion! Having had some legit biscuits (Paula Dean’s at lady and son’s etc), I am always on the look out for yummy ones to make at home that are reliably good.
This shape of Pyrex is called a Cinderella bowl; the pattern is Butterprint.
Perfect timing! I have beef stew in the slow cooker and these will go perfectly with it!
Just bought buttermilk ( I love the REAL stuff) for Irish Soda Bread, and what could be better than having more uses for it all in one weekend??? Serendipity at its finest~ biscuits with jam and soda bread with butter!! Yummo. P.S.”The shark”, by the way is obviously taking his new role very seriously…they never sleep or stop moving, and he seems to be doing admirably with this concept. He is to be congratulated for his authenticity!
Haha–so true about how no matter what you do, you’re probably making biscuits wrong (I feel like pie crust is in the camp too). I have to admit, as someone who was taught by a true Southerner, I did join the whole “White Lily” flour camp. But butter is the way to go, in my books! :)
I may be southern but I’m happy to take biscuit making lessons where I can get them since I grew up on horrid canned biscuits. I’ve made the original Dot’s Diner recipe you posted several times…except I added crumbled bacon and cheddar for divine Bacon Cheddar Chive Buttermilk Biscuits (known by my coworkers as Kitchen Sink Biscuits) They always turn out great and freeze (unbaked) well for months. Thanks for the update and the reminder to make biscuits again!
Have you ever tried Bakewell Cream as the leavening? I first tried it a few years ago making the biscuit recipe on the box – very different flavor, but incredibly light and rose higher than anything else I’ve ever baked! I love fitting the right leavening with the right baked good… :)
I DO have a biscuit heritage. My mother-in-law made biscuits that nearly floated off the plate, they were so very light. You could eat a plate full before you’d realized how many you’d consumed.
This is pretty close to her “recipe” (she never measured–60 years of biscuit making and there’s no need to) except she used Crisco instead of butter.
I never bothered to learn to bake them simple because I knew I’d weigh 300 pounds if I was successful. But, boy, do I miss them.
Wonderful! I must try using buttermilk. Lovely photos.
These are beautiful, Debl! Truly I never met a biscuit I didn’t like. I was raised in the South and saw all styles and forms of biscuits. There is no one single right way to make them. There are so many variations from cook to cook and I think it’s fun to taste and see the differences.
Lisa — Thank you! I have found it nearly impossible to use any other bowl since I rescued it. It’s so light and wide, and the spouts make everything easier (and double as handles).
joelfinkle — Yes, I considered this. In short, I decided that a single extra tablespoon of butter would be less annoying than leavener levels (1/3 teaspoons) that most spoon sets aren’t set to. 2 1/4 cups flour is used in roughly half the biscuit recipes out there, so I didn’t think it would be a concern. That said, no reason not to scale this as it would be easiest for you. Your biscuits will either be slightly smaller or perhaps yield 8 instead of 9.
Biscuits versus Scones — They’re not terribly different. I make scones with cream and a bit more sugar. This is my go-to recipe. Biscuits are usually used for savory purposes — barbecue, eggs, sausage gravy, or as I did, with butter and jam.
More biscuits and scones — A large archive of them, in fact!
Freezing — When making these to eat later, I like to freeze them unbaked. You can bake them right from the freezer for a couple extra minutes when you’re ready to eat them. Biscuits are best freshly baked.
i’ve failed at making biscuits almost more than any other baked good. it’s like you heard my food prayers and answered my latest dilemma. when you were talking about using the right fats – the right flour – the right way to mix it – i’m like me, me, me also! thank you so much. can’t wait to try these. xo
These look great – and are basically scones, right?? I’m never quite sure of the transatlantic translation. I love making scones and have a great old grandmother-approved recipe, but it’s not a very easy dough so this recipe is going on my to make list.
But FIRST I am making a trip to New York next week – and even though your book is now available this side of the sea, I’m excited about going to a bookshop and buying myself your book, as my souvenir!
Thanks so much for the blog. LOVE!
Oh, I love biscuits, and I really love that you’ve scaled down the recipe. How I ended up being the only one in our family of six that loves biscuits is beyond me. No one to share them with! I’m excited to try this recipe – usually I make one with heavy cream as the fat/milk combo and they’re crazy-good. I’m a sucker for buttermilk though – and butter, so, yeah – these should hit the spot!
The first thing I thought when I saw this recipe was, “Gah! Deb and I have the same rooster bowl!” (I actually had a set of 4 nesting, but am sadly down to 2). The second thing I thought was, “Biscuits!” I’ve made the Clinton Street Baking recipe, which is quite good, so I’ll have to try yours to compare. Nothing like a snow day to get us in the kitchen playing with butter and flour!
I’ve been making these since you first posted the chive version – absolutely delicious and they freeze wonderfully so that we can always have “fresh” biscuits when a craving strikes.
That bowl must have been standard issue to Jewish moms in the 1970s, eh? My mom is still clinging tight to hers. (There’s a whole set, by the way.) Purim shark, or just, I feel like being a shark this afternoon, thank you very much?
I’m a bonafide southern girl so I just use self-rising flour (we don’t want to taste the baking powder) butter and buttermilk…but have to agree that making biscuits (and cornbread) is as important as it gets in the kitchen…Thanks for all your wonderful recipes…my son has been learning to cook and you are a go-to source for him.
I live in Boulder and can testify that Dot’s Diner’s biscuits are FANTASTIC. They are my favorite breakfast place here – classic comfort food made by a kitchen staff that is part Nepalese, so if you go for lunch you will eat some excellent curry. I am so, so excited to try these!
Born in raised in GA, I have been making biscuits since I was literally able to read. I have some lessons learned to share, and they may have already been shared in the comments above…
1) the more blended your butter (or chosen fat) is in the flour mixture, the more the biscuit comes out tasting like a pie crust (i.e. buttery and flaky), less blended = fluffier biscuits (obviously you don’t want to put a full pat of butter in there and think your done :-)
2) I typically use a knife to chop the butter into the dough until the butter is in pea sized chunks in the flour, then add the desired milk.
3) if using butter milk (the best in my opinion) add baking soda (my ratio is 1/2 tsp to every “1/2 cup” of butter milk ( I use the “1/2 cup” because I don’t measure the amount of milk used, i just pour)
And most important using a glass IS the best way to cut out a biscuit!!! :-) P.S. I love your site!!
These look amazing! I will trudge home through the slushy streets to make them right away! May I ask where the wooden dish is from? I had dinner at a wine bar last weekend and they also used them. I love the way they look.
I recently saw a biscuit recipe [Tupelo Honey Cafe's famous biscuits] that asked you to freeze your butter and then grate it, frozen, on a cheese grater. My hardest trouble with biscuits and pie crusts is getting the butter appropriately small enough while still letting it be “bits” of butter. Do you think the shredding butter suggestion would work with these?
They look so light and fluffy! Delicious!
These look great, Deb, and not terribly dissimilar to the basic formula in Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything,” which we eat with dinner probably once a week. I often take his suggestion on flour-swapping and use half AP, and the other half is some combination of whole wheat pastry flour with a tablespoon or two of buckwheat flour, flax meal, or anything else I have around. Certainly not traditional, and a bit denser than ideal, but I don’t hear any complaints about them!
So excited to see this post! I too stumbled across Dot’s Diner’s biscuit recipe on Epicurious years ago, also having no family biscuit knowledge to draw upon as a New England native. I loved the results, and knew it was a winner when my Atlanta-raised friend converted to using this recipe. I’m so glad your research confirms my experiences with it being a classic. In addition to being delicious, they’re so easy! I recently made mini-biscuits (cut-froze-baked) for a birthday brunch, and served them with spiral ham and a choice of strawberry jam, dijon, or caramelized onion jam. Yum!
This dough sounds like an awesome candidate for savory tarts. I was going to try an onion tart this weekend, and will definitely try it with this dough. Will add a homemade kefir instead of buttermilk.
Grating the butter — I have heard a lot about this technique (from you guys!) over the years and it sounds brilliant. Personally, it’s not for me because my hands are so warm, the butter is mush by the end and it makes a mess. I imagine it might also work to use a food processor to mix the dry ingredients, switch to the grating blade then stirring in the buttermilk (in a bowl). But given all of those parts you’d end up using, it should be little surprise that I prefer to use just my pastry blender and one large bowl (that I also use to weigh ingredients).
Wooden plate — I don’t remember where I got them but I’ve seen them at a lot of kitchen stores. Definitely helps to oil them from time to time, and only wash them with a damp cloth. I think they’re bamboo, so a bit flimsy.
Oh, I love the blue bowl! I have a nesting set of my mom’s in the same shape (from before I was born!), but in the more ubiquitous green-and-white flower pattern. The spout/handles are genius. And I’m almost tempted to crawl out of my rats nest of pillows and make these biscuits right now. But it’s raining and the couch is so cozy…
This is my favorite biscuit recipe, too! And I was just on my way to the store to pick up some buttermilk so that I can make them this weekend. (I made a giant vat – make that TWO vats – of marmalade yesterday, then realized that I have not a crumb of bread in the house…) I do them as drop biscuits, but your photos have me curious to try cutting rounds instead. Have a great weekend, Deb.
Another great recipe Deb – will be giving the, a go this weekend for sure! Was excited when I saw the Pyrex bowl – I have two of the same vintage in green. Love using them for just about everything!
Deb, you are the biscuit whisperer! Can’t wait to make these…
I’m super-curious about the merits of store-bought buttermilk versus the ol’ lemon-juice-curdle approach. Has anyone noticed a difference or have a preference between the two when comes to a final product?
(And a moment of silence, please, for my favorite 2-Quart Square Flowers Pyrex that met her end in dishwashing accident this week. She is survived by her sisters, Square Flowers Blue 1-Quart and Springblossom 4-Quart)
I usually use the fork and knife to do my cutting, because I gave away my pastry cutter years ago. I’d try the food processor, but it is my least favorite dish to wash.
I’ll have to try these. My mom’s baking powder biscuits are my go to, but I am always available to try new things as long as they are carb based. Yum! And I imagine that the buttermilk biscuits, especially with a little dial up of the sugar would be a perfect base for strawberry shortcakes.
Oh my, haven’t made biscuits in years. But they are one of my husband’s favorite foods. (Especially if served in an Idaho diner with pan gravy.) Will try them this weekend. Thanks!
Somewhere I learned to grate frozen or very cold butter instead of using a pastry cutter. I find it to be AWESOME. Have you tried this? And do you think it would work for this recipe?
Beautiful biscuits, especially for a northern girl :) They look just like my mothers. She made fabulous buttermilk biscuits all of my growing up, but it has taken me about 5 years of experimenting on my poor hubby to finally get them just right! My recipe is very similar to this one. Quick fact u may enjoy, Around here, some of the old timers call these ‘cat head’ biscuits cause they are “as big as a cats head’. I always found that a funny thing to call them. One of my favorite touches to do with my biscuits is to cook them in a very hot buttered skillet. It kindof fries the bottom and makes it just as good as the top. Yumm!! P. S. we here in Arkansas love you too, and would love to serve you some southern cooking in exchange for a book tour appearance :)
these look wonderful. As a Jewish girl from Toronto, I also don’t know the first thing from biscuits and am happy to learn – and to figure out how these might be different from scone recipes I have.
About a month ago I was researching buttermilk biscuits like it was my job. Got totally overwhelmed with choices and just used my buttermilk for banana bread :) The biscuits look wonderful and I can’t wait to try them! The fact they’re your fave says it all!
Hahaha, I love this post. I’m so going to try making biscuits your wrong way :)
I ate my way through multiple hangovers on these biscuits when I went to college in Boulder. I can’t believe that a recipe for them has been floating around for so long and I didn’t know it. Hallellujah and GODBLESSYOU for posting this!!
I cheap badly even on the wrong way. Since I don’t own a pastry cutter, I melt the butter or even use olive oil and just mix. Scoop and bake. So far no one has noticed the difference. I like the buttermilk recipe though and I’ll try cheating with it tomorrow. thanks!
Scones! (Basically.) I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but just wanted (because I am a busybody) to emphasise the importance of mixing and handling the dough as little as possible. I think the main mistake people make when they start out is overkneading, because they just can’t believe that the dough’s meant to be that soft and sticky and still have visible bits of butter in it. Then they end up with a big biscuit (by which I mean a cookie) rather than a scone (by which I mean a biscuit). I pretty much just push mine together once it’s formed big lumps and knead it as little as possible.
Oh, and also the best way to get a nice tall scone is to roll the dough thick so that your rounds are good and high. I find that increasing the leavening just makes the scones taste of leavening, without really increasing the rise.
My name is Katy and I’m an Englishwoman obsessed with scones. Hi.
How did you know I had some buttermilk in the fridge that needs to be used?! (Will be trying these tomorrow for sure! Thanks!)
This Connecticut Jew loves biscuits and gravy!
I AM from biscuit country and you should feel proud of these! They are beautiful and I can’t wait to try your recipe! Thank you!
That NYT article made me laugh so hard. My mother (the daughter of a southerner and a German immigrant) used to say that biscuits weren’t worth the trouble because it was impossible to make them right. Now I know why she always said that. I can imagine my grandmother looking sideways at my grandfather (who was a chef in Germany before the war) and giving him his bad news about the biscuits (my grandfather did all the cooking and my mother learned from him). Thanks Deb, for all the great recipes!
I love your cream biscuits. They are what I make when we want something extra delicious. I imagine these will be just as tasty.
I have the set of bowls, too, in lovely avocado green…so 70′s, but those bowls are very easy to use…light, nice shape, and easy to clean. The spouts are so workable that I am surprised that no company has copied them. Your blue looks pretty chic, but my avocado sort of hides out in the cupboard! Perhaps, retro is the best I can say about them.
I’ll make absolutely anything that includes buttermilk. These biscuits look flaky and so wonderful!
Hi Deb, If you use milk and sour cream instead of buttermilk, what are the proportions of each? By the way, I live in an RV with a samll kitchen and make your receipes all the time. The cookbook is the best!
These look perfect! Like they could be the photo in the dictionary under, biscuits, U.S style…My own biscuits improved dramatically when I switched from adding liquid to yogurt instead. I ran out of milk one day and figured the yogurt would be liquidy enough and better than just water – and what do you know, it radically improved them! Wonder if it’s the acidic nature of yogurt and buttermilk and that’s why they work so well?
As the granddaughter of a woman who–at age 90– still makes biscuits in her wooden bowl, I love that you posted a recipe for them. They need more love in the food world.
I don’t have any strong allegiances to a particular fat or cutting tool, but I have a suggestion. (Something I thought I would never type here–I consider your recipes near perfect.)
If you want really beautiful layers, fold the dough repeatedly as you are flattening it. (i.e. Flatten it gently, fold in half on top of itself, flatten out again, repeat. The more folds, the more layers.) And my mom often makes a huge batch of dough, bakes whatever she needs for that morning, then adds a little extra baking powder to the rest of the dough, lets it sit a while and then rolls out more biscuits to freeze. It helps the frozen biscuits rise as nicely as the fresh-baked ones. BTW, I got my tickets last night to your talk in Louisville. So excited!
Oh biscuits. Oh how we love thee. And oh how they can go tragically wrong. I fear trying new biscuit recipes now since Alton Brown ruined christmas with his recipe. http://fatgirlscanrun.com/2012/10/03/how-alton-brown-ruined-christmas/
I am always trying different biscuit recipes. The one I make the most is a drop biscuit with 2 cups (10 oz) flour and 8 tablespoons butter and 1 cup buttermilk. It was published in the Nov/Dec 2007 Cook’s Illustrated. I originally had to try that one because you start by melting the butter.
Since I have a pint of buttermilk waiting I think I will try yours this weekend.
Oh my. My very first comment on this site was on the chive biscuits from 2007. I couldn’t not comment because those Dot’s Diner biscuits were my first successful biscuit and are still my favorites…plus, I thought that alone made us (strangers) kindred spirits. Both are true (well, in my mind, anyway!) This biscuit recipe taught me that sticky, wet biscuit dough, folded over and over on itself, is how you get tender, fluffy and light biscuits. They are the best.
As if the biscuits weren’t good enough on their own, you have to show that BOWL. My mom has one too but she still loves it so I’m not getting it any time soon. Biscuits and Pyrex nostalgia….thanks for the post.
I hope you enjoyed your time in Minneapolis! I wasn’t able to attend your book signing, but a friend had you sign her knitting pattern for me. Thank you!
Deb- your cream biscuits are so good that it is my go to recipe for biscuits. My husband loves them. But I will try this new recipe because you always have such great recipes. I made your blueberry muffins this morning but instead substituted cranberrys and orange rind, this is the best recipe. I freeze half of the recipe for later in the week such a treat fresh muffins. You are the best.
I’m not a fan of the pastry blender and generally prefer to grate frozen butter, but the other method I love is to dump the dry ingredients onto the counter and cut the butter in with two dough scrapers. It makes you feel a bit like a biscuit ninja. Then you can just pile it up and add the buttermilk, mixing it right on the counter.
Yay!! Saturday breakfast!! And maybe again on Sunday!! Thanks!
I pulled this recipe out from its original 2007 post and copied into my recipe book about a year ago, and I’ve been making it for Sunday breakfast ever since. We love this recipe! Great idea to give it it’s own post.
I, like a couple of the above uk commenters, am always a little (pleasantly) surprised to read a title containing “biscuits” and then see something more resembling what we in Australia call scones.
You’ve definitely inspired me – I’ve got some pumpkin in the fridge that will now be pumpkin scones by this afternoon :)
Hi!
Just made these – fantastic! Very similar to what we in Sweden would call scones (which are not like Brittish or American scones…). But, is there a way to get away from the slightly bitter aftertaste that I assume is coming from either the baking powder or the soda?
These look really nice. In England we call them “Scones” and they are also baked with buttermilk! What we call biscuits are flat and crispy! All countries have their specialities and names which makes it more fun! Thank you for sharing yours here!
I’m making biscuits this morning for a breakfast meeting with someone from the southern US (we’re in Sweden). I was going to tinker with a Swedish scone recipe and add in whole grain flours and things like that, but you’ve made me realize these are clearly the biscuits I should be making instead. Thank you.
Your biscuits look perfect! Are they the same as English scones?
Now I can see what Sandra writes above, they are. In Poland, we call flat and crispy cookies biscuits, these would be closer to buns.
I love your book Deb! All the best:) Maja
They are pretty similar to Australian scones.Down under we would use self raising flour and about 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (bicarb soda) and about half the amount of butter then you would have the classic Australian buttermilk scone which are awesome with jam and cream.
Call me crazy, Deb, but my favorite biscuits are the “tipped over ones” from cutting them too high, my mother was a terrible cook, bless her heart, and hers were always tipped over, and now I know why, lol, I always gravitate towards those when choosing the one I want to eat, thanks for the recipe, and the wonderful memories, B
I too am in UK but used to live in New Jersey, so am familiar with biscuits being identical to our scones. Am always searching for the perfect scone recipe, so shall be trying these over the weekend.
Amazed to see that bowl – I got one as a wedding gift in the 1960′s when I lived in East Africa. It had a metal holder to clip on the side, which held a smaller matching bowl, which I also still have. Not sure what that idea was all about!
I was planning to make buttermilk pancakes for my family this morning, but woke to find your post in my inbox. Instead I whipped up a batch of these biscuits and made bacon and egg sandwiches out of them. Yummy! http://instagr.am/p/WocpmvJu7z/
I have almost that exact same Pyrex bowl…inherited from my very southern grandmother who DID make biscuits in it. I love the white interior or mine, and the different sized “handles” that both act as a spout. Your biscuits look GREAT…the are one of my favorite foods!
I love this whole post so much! First of all, my mom had and now I have that bowl!! It is huge and turquoise and I love it- it sits in my cupboard and I think of my mom several times a day when I see it.
My mom (talk about the “wrong way” to make biscuits) frequently made hers out of Bisquick!! GASP! lol. I haven’t used that product since before I got married in 1980, but that’s ok. The poor woman had 4 kids in 5 years, if she wanted to make things from Bisquick, so be it!
My own personal barometer for thinking I had good cooking skills was my mastery of using a pastry cutter!! I feel just a bit triumphant when I break it out of drawer in which it resides. I have been known to cut out biscuits from the rings for canning jars, or a dedicated biscuit cutter (depending on if my own boys had recently used the biscuit cutter for playdoh) or a cleaned out tuna can- any port in a storm!!
THANKS for a post that is chock full of memories- I may be making biscuits to bake and freeze this weekend! :)
Hey just found you for the first time and your recipes are amazing i love the pictures and the quality of the recipes :)
Thanks for this recipe (and your blog)! I just made these this morning, but the biscuits didn’t quite rise up like yours did. Any suggestions on what I did wrong??
By the way, they’re still delicious :)
Hi Deb, do you think that this recipe for biscuits would be okay to use for monkey bread? Otherwise, do you know any from-scratch monkey bread recipes – most of the ones I’ve seen call for store-bought bake-ready biscuit dough and I don’t get those here in Australia. Thanks and these make me want scones for breakfast tomorrow haha.
Um. Nevermind. I just realised I’ve actually seen a from-scratch monkey bread recipe here! Taught me to never comment on stuff past midnight.
Hi Deb,
I really love your blog!!! Being a Jewish kid from Westchester, I too understand that the “making biscuits” gene is just not in our DNA. I will once again attempt to make biscuits using your recipe this time. Maybe now that I live in the “South” (does South Florida count really?) the recipe will magically work… kind of like osmosis :-))
… oh and I forgot to mention that I have the exact same mixing bowl that you used in this recipe. It was my Grandma Teddy’s and it used to have a “friend” that was white with a blue design that nestled inside it. I dropped that one a few years back and completely lost it. My Grandma Teddy was very dear to me. So, when I saw the bowl on your blog, I realized that it was a sign from my Grandma that I needed to try out your recipe :-)
Happy Saturday!!!!
planned to do some computer work this morning before my 3 littles woke. but this was the first email i opened. so now, 15 minutes later, the biscuits are baking up. food first. work later. mmmmm. perfect for a Texas saturday morning.
It’s discouraging. . .you, a sweet, bright, 20-something Jewish girl from New York, a foodie for sure, but with so few years under your belt. And me, an older (okay, old) foodie of 67 years who has cooked all of her life, and you teach me something nearly every time I come here; I never thought to use a shaker with a perforated lid to sprinkle flour on the counter, something so obvious! Thank you. I know these will be grand. I just made biscuits last night (not these). I got the recipe years ago from my mother-in-law from Maine, where biscuits are as popular as they are down south. They use a leavener called Bakewell Cream, instead of baking powder. But I always deviate from her recipe and use buttermilk and pastry flour, and it really makes a wonderful difference. Incidentally, if you want to go a bit healthier, you can use up to half whole wheat flour without compromising quality or lightness. Wish you lived next door–we would have such fun!
My Grandmother made awesome biscuits ! They were ALWAYS cut with a Carnation Milk can, that she had carefully cut one of the rims off of, for a sharp edge, and punched holes in the top, so air could escape. Then, when all the biscuits were snuggled on the pan, with their sides touching, she would pour a little evaporated milk into her hand, and pat some on each of the biscuits before putting them into the oven. The resulting golden crust was incredible. She also made the same biscuits, adding enough sugar to the dough to make a really sweet tasting dough, baked them, and they were her base for strawberry shortcake. I recently did an estate sale for an elderly couple, (they were both in their 90′s !),and, when the Husband found out who my Grandparents had been, he totally surprised me by telling about a day,”when he was about 10 or 11 years old”, his Father had taken him to my Grandparents place. It was a hot day,(we’re on the Gulf Coast of Texas),and he had been served the most wonderful sweet tea, and strawberry shortcake, that he had never ever taseted the likes of again, his entire life. When I told him how she had made them, he was bowled over ! What a wonderful memory he gave me ! Thank you for your biscuit post.
As a French girl, these weren’t part of my growing-up either, but I love almost any kind of homemade breads, so I’ll have to give these a try; however, I wonder what the results will be if I use healthier ingredients like a whole-wheat pastry flour and whole sugar. Looking forward to a new challenge :)
These look absolutely delicious! I’ve been looking for a good biscuit recipe, and these look easy and so tasty – thank you!!!
Thanks for posting this. As a southern girl and avid baker, you would think I would know how to make a biscuit. Alas, no:(. So intimidating! I want to try this ASAP! Btw, I have tickets to come see you in Louisville march 27. My friend and I are huge fans!
Dear Deb,
I would LOVE to “invite you over, please”, but can you fit in a visit to Arlington, VT with snow still on the ground for sledding and a Golden retriever to play with, and my 3-year old grandson and my 2-year-old granddaughter and a grand front porch, and a big kitchen for us to play in? It would be heaven for all!
These look great and I’m definitely going to try the recipe. I have to suggest, though, that rolling & folding makes a fantastic biscuit. After the dough is made, I roll into rectangle, fold in thirds, do a quarter turn and repeat. I do this 4-6 times and I end up with mile-high biscuits with wonderful flaky layers. It’s not as hard as it sounds with terrific results. Works with any biscuit or scone recipe.
Wait, I am 100% Jewish as far as heritage, and both my grandfathers were big fans of buttermilk: straight up with breakfast!
This reminded me of a friends first try at making biscuits many years ago. You could have broken a plate glass window with them. I couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong because she swore she followed the directions on the box of Bisquick. Turns out she interpreted the “roll out the dough” as making a roll or rope. By the time she cut that into pieces the dough was worked to death and probably had too much flour in it. The devil sure is in the details.
Aah! I went to Dot’s Diner many years ago during a visit to Boulder for a friend’s wedding weekend, and I still to this day remember how good the biscuits were — even though I couldn’t remember the name of the diner. This Southern girl is so, SO glad to have found this recipe. Thanks for posting!
Biscuits!
As others have said, for flaky biscuits, all you really need to do is fold the dough. When I make biscuits, I find it’s best to work with a fairly moist, soft dough, so it’s easy to fold.
Oh, and yeah, I think most biscuit recipes are far too lean.
At our house, we’ve always used a recipe that goes like this:
2 cups self rising flour (Gold Medal, if you’re curious)
3/4 cup milk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
Cut the butter into the flour, then add milk and stir to make a moist dough. (add extra milk if needed. Roll out fairly thin and fold the dough over on itself, and repeat several times (letting the dough rest if necessary so it won’t spring back when rolled).
Cut with a sharp edged cutter (I think ours was a doughnut cutter without a center hole) and bake in a hot oven. Come to think of it, we made two sizes. Small, which we baked up crispy, more like crackers, great with soup, and larger, flaky ones, to devour with jelly or whatever else.
My mom and dad would always take the last few (usually tough, re-rolled) scraps and make a cathead biscuit, but since I always work with a fairly wet dough, I can usually manage to roll out the last few and cut them as usual, making one last small one using a smaller cutter as a template for the shape.
Cooking breads, rolls, and biscuits of all kinds are inspirational to me! These look fantastic and I can’t wait to try them! The smell alone must be heavenly! Thanks for the easy to follow steps!!
My mother had a set of these Pyrex bowls. They came in graduated sizes and colors. I was seven years old and thought they were so “modern”. When I got married in 1964 I bought a set of BRIGHT orange Melamine (sp.? it’s a strong, light type of plastic). Loved them because they were light and orange was THE color in the 1960s. I used them to death and they lasted forever. I think I finally chipped one after 40 years. I now use a hodge poge collection of stainless steel mixing bowls. Some I found at Walgreens for $1 a piece. Two huge 6 quart bowls I bought at the supermarket for $6 (each?). Of all the different bowls I’ve used my favorites are the stainless steel. Like they say: The one constant in life is change. I wonder what the bowls of 2050 will look like? p.s. It would never have entered my mind that the Pyrex colored bowls from the 1950s would today be collectors items!
All this freezing the dough/baking from the freezer talk is blowing my Southern mind. My family didn’t make biscuits when I was a kid but as an adult, I pride myself on mine. I am always open to a new recipe though and can’t wait to try these, especially after reading the comments.
Does anyone care to reveal how they freeze their dough? Do you put the cut biscuits between wax paper or the like, and then in a Ziplock bag? I feel silly asking but the disappointment I would feel if I found them all freezer-burned and janky after craving fresh biscuits would be too much to bear.
Biscuit Bliss! Couldn’t stop dreaming about these after reading the post last night (it was the gorgeous photos that did it) and now all that’s left are crumbs and greasy grins from all the locally churned salted caramel butter we slathered on top. (oh yes we did! from cascobaybutter.com) We used yogurt & milk in place of buttermilk, and a mix of oat and quinoa flours along with the white. Not quite as towering as yours, but crunchyoutside with pillowy layers of goodness inside. Thank you for the inspiration!
Just took these out of the oven. They taste great and are nicely browned but they hardly rose at all! I followed the recipe exactly so I don’t know where I went wrong…
The ultimate comfort food (along w/pasta of course)…and buttermilk for texture and flavor, along with minimal dough manipulation makes them perfect every time. Nice recipe!
There ain’t nothin’ like a hot buttermilk biscuit. These look amazing. Totally putting them on my to-make list (I even have buttermilk in the fridge)!
I love biscuits but I am definitely biscuit-challenged. I’ll give them a whirl. I made the cream biscuits and they are a fav. I also love the comments about the Pyrex bowl. I, too, have the same bowl. It was my mother’s. Now that there are no kids left at home, the bowl doesn’t get used as much because it’s the noodle dough bowl, cookie bowl, biscuit bowl, etc. Love reading about memories of the bowl and biscuits. It’s a universal love!
My grandma made the best biscuits on Earth. I use all the same stuff but I can’t get them the same. Something in the way she held her mouth or arched her eyebrows that I’m not getting.
These definitely look fantastic. Both of my parents grew up in the south, Georgia, and Florida, however, Mom made 2 types of biscuits, the small, thin biscuits that are rolled out and cut with a cutter, I think are known as party biscuits, perfect for little ham sandwiches and the like. The other is simply drop biscuits, that I think come from the Bisquick box. I know she made a fabulous cheese biscuit whereby it’s the same recipe, but added cheddar and parm cheese to the batter.
As for that mixing bowl, Mom had the white with blue version of that set, though she got rid of hers as it was in terrible shape when she got rid of it 30 years ago but do remember her using the set though, and I think it’s made by Corning, not Pyrex. I have the Pyrex colorware set that dates to the 50′s that I need to use more often.
But what I want to know is what is the speckled modern looking dinnerware you have (the lavender set) that seems to come in other colors too as I’m in need of new dishes, 2 of the four plates have broken, and one has fissures in it currently, and 2 of the 4 breakfast/salad plates remain, and most have at least one chip but do have all four bowls and mugs though.
I have never been a dough cook. That was my mother’s realm, so I did everything else but that (and ironing.) Remember when people sprinkled their clothes and then had ironing day?! Yikes… Anyway… I need to know – do I roll out the dough as many describe? You use the word “pat”. I am not sure how to translate that when you are working with a ball. Do I push and flatten? Knead and fold? Use a rolling pin? I like the big craggy kind.
Also, can I just keep the cut uncooked biscuits in the fridge if I am going to cook them the very next day? I hate to freeze for just 24 hours. In fact, I hate to freeze period. I consider it the lost pit… Incredible what I drag out of there after 2 years…
By the way, do not use sugar. Sugar is an abomination in both biscuits and cornbread.
I love, love, love biscuits! I must have at least a dozen recipes for various iterations, but the one I go back to is the one published in the Iranian-American Women’s Club Cookbook that was my bible–along with “Joy of Cooking”– when I lived in Iran in the mid-70s. I was a good cook for my tender age of 25, but hadn’t packed any cookbooks. I will make these ASAP.
Thanks!
ps–I still have fond memories of your signing in Santa Cruz and tell the story of that wonderful event to appreciative audiences.
Hi I followed the instructions, however, the dough was dry and not all of it was incorporated. When I tried rolling it out flat it was hard to do and I worried that I had over mixed it. Any suggestions for how the dough should be?
Thanks for this timely recipe. Sometimes I feel like you are reading my mind. I was just thinking yesterday morning that I wanted to find a good biscuit recipe. This morning I find your in my in box. This happens very often. Thanks for all your good recipes:)
Deb, can I just say, in the name of all the European cooks out there, THANK YOU for posting the metric measurements! Ant these will get done very soon, i suspect sometime tomorrow :-)
Oh, you’ve done it again! My biscuits have never turned out so good! Good writer, great recipes, super cook!
I have been making biscuits from scratch from a small child as my grandmother taught me how to make biscuits at 7 years old. I make them somewhat similar to what you have here, with the exception of using self-rising flour instead of all purpose flour. I have not ever had success with adding the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I DO have success with dumplings using this for my chicken and dumplings, so perhaps I will try this again. My grandmother would use whatever she had in the cabinet for the fat part, meaning butter or Crisco.
If you really want to spread your wings and try something from the Southern part of the US, next time you make these and you have access to homegrown tomatoes, slather your hot biscuits with butter and put a nice thick slice of tomato inside of it. That is some really good eating here in my corner of the world, but of course you have to like tomatoes. :)
My grandmother would also make chipped beef milk gravy to go with her biscuits. She would serve it up with sliced tomatoes, sliced cantaloupe in season, and sometimes scrambled eggs depending on the crowd she had to feed. This is totally wonderful Southern fare though.. so your mileage may vary where you are from. I know that if you love tomatoes, you will love this combination. I hope you will give it a try!
Linda in North Carolina
@Marion #122 — your wedding present bowl was a Chip ‘n Dip! The smaller bowl was meant to hold dip, for the chips in the large bowl. Pyrex made lots of those in the ’50s/’60s… I can never resist buying them when I encounter them in thrift stores (charity shops).
I love biscuits! Gotta try this! I have never made them from scratch before…
Kathy — I would freeze them, even for a short period of time. Once you mix everything, the baking powder is activated. Freezing slows it down the most so it will still work when you need it (in the oven). I meat pat it out, as in, instead of using a rolling pin. Biscuits are rustic.
ciddyguy — Our plates are a mix of colors (but mostly a sage green that’s closer to gray, and probably does look purply in the cool afternoon light) from Calvin Klein, I think the khaki cargo collection; however they’re not being made anymore.
Miriam — You might prefer to seek out a baking powder that is aluminum-free. Many brands are these days, and it’s usually noted front and center on the canister.
Ann — That was fun! I think I seriously had a dream about knitting after that. :)
These were great, except for the slightly bitter aftertaste from either the baking powder or soda. Did I do something wrong? Can it be avoided?
I have two sets of the bowls (one set was my husband’s Grandmother’s and the other I bought from a charity shop). They are fabulous for baking and so are excellent for making biscuits as they keep the butter cold.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. They’re so tall and flaky!! Apparently I’ve been making them wrong, as well, but not wrong like you – so maybe two wrongs will make a right? :)
make these(almost anyway) at least once a week–I use a mix of butter/home rendered lard and White lily self rising flour(until the supply runs out anyways)–these are great with savory additions too–garlic cheddar etc
First of all, that CorningWare bowl just about made me cry! Second of all, when I saw that the post was about buttermilk biscuits, it just about made me cry! Now that I’m all worked up, I simply HAVE to make those biscuits. Thank you. Oh, and thanks for the tip to press STRAIGHT DOWN when cutting. I did not know that!
Yum, yum, yum! Love the simplicity with the fabulous results! Made egg and ham sandwiches for the kids on these for lunch… Because I needed a reason to make them! My husband got a serving of your beer braised short ribs in top of one with the gravy poured over it! Soooo good!
Oh, my — I just realized that bowl is Pyrex, not Corningware. My 1960s/1970s upbringing was all about Corningware, so one can understand my oversight. So nostalgic. All that’s missing is a set of Scooby-Doo drinking glasses obtained from the local gas station!
This recipe is very similar to Martha Stewart’s recipe from her 2000 cookbook, which is my favorite biscuit so far. I’ve tried many recipes and the only time I ever made a bad biscuit was when I forgot to add salt. It’s amazing how important that little bit of salt is! I grew up in the north, but with southern relatives, and believe you me, I really do know my way around a biscuit. My grandma never measured anything, but always used shortening. Buttermilk if she had it ( she added a little soda to the baking powder if using buttermilk), and always baked them in the upper third of the oven at a high temperature (400-450). When I first started making biscuits I used the recipe out of the Betty Crocker cookbook, which said to knead or fold the dough over about 10 times, which according to everything I had ever heard about treating biscuit dough very tenderly and never, ever kneading it, became quite the revelation. That biscuit dough is tougher than we ever gave it credit for. I realize I’m rambling here, but to get to the point, there are a lot of good biscuit recipes, and they’re mostly good! One interesting thing I learned recently, is make a shallow thumbprint in the top of your biscuit, and they won’t ‘lean’ as they’re rising. My Grandma was an excellent cook and made excellent biscuits, but I should add that she ate many biscuits at my house that I had made, and declared them some of the best biscuits she had ever had. : )
I use two biscuit recipes depending on if I have buttermilk on hand or not. The one with buttermilk is similar but no sugar and the other one has flour, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, butter and milk. Not really sure what the cream of tartar does, do you know? You can tell me when you are here in Louisville! Ordered tickets even before you announced it! So excited!
Will the drop biscuits from this recipe work as the dumplings in chicken & dumplings?
I just drop biscuit dough on top of the chicken & veg stew & steam them, but I’ve been using Bisquick so would love to use a from scratch recipe like this one.
Hey Marian – those two bowls you have are a chip and dip set. Little bowl for dip and big bowl for chips, or vegies if you’re being healthy.
I like my biscuits large so I don’t use either a biscuit cutter or a jelly jar but an old 6 oz. tuna can (before they converted to the ridged permanently sealed bottoms) where I removed both the top and bottom “lids.” It’s just the right size for making English muffins and big cookies also. Alton would be proud of me. :D
Deb – these look good, and I certainly wouldn’t turn one down if offered.
However, as a Midwesterner living in AL for 25 years, I’ve got to say that the 2 secrets to biscuits are Southern flour and wet dough. I made plenty of biscuits growing up, but until I tried White Lily and a wet dough I didn’t know what biscuits could be. My easy biscuit is James Beard’s cream biscuits. I use White Lily, and the recipe calls for 1 C heavy cream to 2 C flour. That’s not enough: I add at least 2 T of milk to make a softer dough.
Your biscuits sound great – very similar to my grandmothers. For all those who are saying that northerners didn’t grow up with biscuits, I grew up in Maine and my grandmother and all my aunts made mile high biscuits. In our family, Dad made the biscuits, the only thing he ever cooked. He learned how in the Army and never forgot.
Better go make me some biscuits in the morning!
So many memories stirred up by one simple recipe. I grew up in California, but both of my grandmothers were transplanted from Texas, so, yeah, we ate biscuits. One of my grandmothers had a deep “flour drawer” in her kitchen–I’ve never seen another one.
Bruni’s comment (140) about misunderstanding “roll out the dough” reminded me of a friend’s story. Her husband said he needed to take something for a potluck at work the next day. She was busy, so she said there was a box of brownie mix in the cupboard and he could make them himself. All went well until he got to the instruction to “mix by hand.” As soon as he plunged in his hands he realized that was not exactly what they meant.
This is exactly the kind of recipe I’ve been looking for to complete my breakfast ritual! Even though I have a bakery close to me, I still prefer to make these kind of bakes myself. Perfect for a late sunday breakfast!
Love Love Love it :) Have to try this soon
Picture perfect. Nudged my sweetie into making these biscuits instead of crepes… we were all so glad he did. They were flaky!!! And not too sweet… not too salty… simply perfect… and with his uncle’s homemade elderberry jam and some sharp 5 year old cheddar… mornings don’t get much better.
We substituted one cup milk, half cup yogurt since we didn’t have any buttermilk on hand.
I have been using this biscuit recipe for years, it’s my favorite too! When I have time, I put it together with a technique from Peter Reinhart’s Crust and Crumb. You leave larger butter chunks and fold the dough like a letter, then rest it in the fridge for 20 minutes, then roll out and fold like a letter and rest again. You fold it a third time, roll it out and cut your biscuits. The biscuits often rise to three times their original height, sometimes they get so tall that they fall over! It’s like a puff pastry biscuit.
I would flatten them out and make duck confit flatbread with merlot.
Until yesterday, my (wonderful) go-to biscuit was the Cook’s Illustrated recipe (very similar to this but with less sugar and less leavening). I made a version of these yesterday and they were perfect! For those who are wondering, I made three modifications: 1) I used the food processor as in the CI recipe (pulse dry ingredients, then pulse in the butter), 2) after removing the butter/flour mixture to a bowl, I added yogurt. With my homemade yogurt (slightly less thick than commercial), I used a full cup to get the right consistency), and 3) I folded the dough a few times as suggested by other commenters. Easy and fantastic– everything a biscuit should be!
as always, a perfect turn out from your recipe. followed exactly. these biscuits out do any other, including the ones in your book.
thank you so much. a writer and cook i can always depend on.
ps, i think i ate all of them too!
Woke up this early Sunday morning , saw this recipe and treated my family to some mighty fine biscuits. My father proclaimed them ‘Perfect’. Thanks! I used cake flour and weighed everything and used a cup of whole milk with vinegar in lieu of buttermilk. I will definitely make these again.
can you substitute the buttermilk with anything else?
i live in Venezuela and there is no buttermilk :)
Thank you! I have been looking for a new biscuit recipe!
I love biscuits. So quick and easy to make! I make them to serve with dinner and as dessert with my sliced strawberries. Thanks for the new recipe!
I swapped in 80mg of barley flour and they needed a little extra buttermilk but they turned out so delightfully nutty.
They look delish. I’m so doing these soon…
As always, loving your recipes.
M.
So confused! Are “biscuits” really “scones”???? Here in Australia, a biscuit is what you would call a cookie, so are these “biscuits” really “scones” or “rolls”???
I hoe this is okay to post here. I made the butter blueberry cake from your wonderful cookbook this afternoon and am wondering whether the recipe printed is entirely correct. I checked it after the prescribed 35 min and it was still jiggl; it needed another 45. I know my oven temp is right, having set up an oven thermometer recently. I’m wondering whether there’s too much flour listed, or berries, or something? The batter was so thick when I scooped it into the pan that I’m really not surprised it took longer.
I stopped by here just a few days ago looking for a buttermilk biscuit recipe, I wound up making a lackluster recipe from elsewhere. Now the question is whether or not it is acceptable to make biscuits twice in one week…
Thanks!!!
My husband has been talking about biscuits for months because he just recently had some that addicted him so this recipe couldn’t have been more timely! I made them tonight and we have officially included this in our list of staple recipes in our household. we had them with local honey. we had them with sausage gravy. we had them plain. I did what others suggested and tried them folded for flakiness and i also spoon dropped some. they were all yummy but the spoon dropped broke apart differently, i would eat those plain or with jam versus the folded which we ate with sausage gravy. so good!
Kate,
American biscuits are very similar to British scones, and were probably born out of the British scone during colonization. Though biscuits can vary in texture, I liken them to slightly less crumbly scones; they tend to contain more leavening than scones, therefore have a bit more rise to them.
Hope that helps!
I’m pinning them and they look awesome, but I really just wanted to say – oh! that bowl! I grew up with that one and my mom still has it :) Bless her heart, I can guarantee the only biscuits made in it were of the Bisquick variety!
Loved how you identified so many of the quirks of biscuit cooks! I only started to make biscuits again after the first time I made them for my new husband that were not light and fluffy! Hockey pucks were more like it. And I am a southerner and my mom made wonderful biscuits at least once a week or more! So I have mostly avoided them until recently with mediocre results. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Yes, we have two of those Pyrex spout-bowls, of different yet complementary shades of avocado green. And proud of it.
These are epic. One question. Can you put cheese in them?
Oh biscuits! I am so craving for some to be had with nutella and a dab of butter and jam.
I’ve only learned how to make biscuits in the past few years…my Italian nonnative never made them! My recipe is similar..
Half the fat I use is frozen butter that I grate into the flour.
I use buttermilk but self rising flour.
Other than that we are along the se lines!
Biscuits n gravy for all!!
I feel ya, as an Egyptian Australian, biscuits (which we call scones) were no where to be seen in my household. Then I tried one hot and smothered with jam and cream and haven’t looked back since! It’s actually been a while since making my last batch in favour of healthier breakfast options, thank you for reminding me, these looks fab!
I’ll have to try this recipe (though I just made your blue cheese-scallion version for dinner) – I’m always rather amazed at the sheer variety of flour:fat ratios I’ve seen in biscuit recipes. More fat certainly makes them easier to handle and tastes oh so good.
There’s one thing that my husband enjoys the most — and that’s a good, flavorful and flaky crumbly biscuits! Yum :)
I tried this recipe immediately on Saturday morning, full batch for my little family of two and a little two year old – the biscuits were all gone in the evening. Being from Germany, I had never made nor heard of this kind of biscuits before. Now that I’ve come back to let you know, I am impressed by all the memories this recipe (and the bowl) seem to cause. I really like this aspect of food blogs, that I get to know new recipes and bits of the culture they belong to, not only through the posts, but also through the commentaries.
can’t wait to make these–and…i have that bowl! never seen it anywhere else before. i grew up learning to cook in it, and finally made my mom surrender it–love the handle/pouring sides.
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I missed this posting last Friday … as I was completely engrossed in your cookbook which I had just received as a birthday present (we made the wild rice gratin & it was delicious)! I will have to try these biscuits this coming weekend!
I just finished reading Debbie Moose’s cookbook Buttermilk and have an even greater appreciation for buttermilk and especially buttermilk biscuits. Thanks!
This is the biscuit recipe I have been making for over 30 years and it has never failed me.
Love the idea of freezing the individual biscuits – makes them easy to prepare on week nights. As always, great recipe!
Thank you for this! I’m not much a baker, as my attempts usually fail, but this was easy AND easily the best buttermilk biscuit I’ve had. My girls loved them, too, despite the fact that I forgot to add the sugar. (Hmmm… could explain why I’m not a good baker!)
So proud of you for making buttermilk biscuits, but being the good southern belle that I am…I almost fainted when your biscuits were not touching each other while baking.
Bread is just about my favorite thing in the world, but biscuits take the cake. One Thanksgiving my brother and I had a biscuit eating contest to see how many we could eat (I won). These look sooo good!
i’m always on the hunt for the perfect biscuit recipe, and this seems super easy. can’t wait to try and slather everything on them
These look great. I just made the maple bacon biscuits (with turkey bacon) from your book and they were crazy good! I can’t wait to make them again!!
I made these for breakfast Sunday morning. They were yummy. I had to add a little extra buttermilk to get them to come together but they were worth the effort.
And foolish me passed on the bottle of buttermilk at the supermarket last night because I didn’t have a plan for it. Sigh. perhaps I’ll correct that…
I’m completely enamored by Katie’s real buttermilk–actual leftover liquid from making butter. I’ve made buttermilk ranch dressing and buttermilk pancakes with it that have far outshone the same recipe with “cultured” buttermilk or the milk/vinegar or milk/yogurt versions.
Funny, I felt like making biscuits this weekend too, and saw your post after I had made some GF biscuits to go with some chicken soup on Sunday. Cheers!
Hi- I didn’t see anything in the comments on how to keep them soft for later. The fresh baked/warm ones were delicious, but once cooled they were REALLY hard. Any suggestions for storage on already baked ones? ( or maybe I did smthg wrong?) Thanks!
Hi! I am new to your blog and just wanted to say how much love I have for your blue ceramic bowls.
I had some buttermilk I wasn’t sure how to use up. This was perfect timing! They turned out awesome!
Thrilled to see my Grandmother’s bowls in your post. I have the 4-piece set. Love!
Take care of your bowl.
I just love buttermilk biscuits. My husband is from new Orleans and they are among our staples! I sometimes add parmesan and rosemary. They’re perfect served with a soup. I think I still have buttermilk in the fridge…
Oh my goodness these biscuits were perfect! I used vinegar with milk for my buttermilk option vs. lemon. I think the vinegar reacts better with the baking soda (or maybe that is my crazy volcano experiment showing from childhood!). But seriously, thank you so much for this recipe – so easy and my husband is demanding more!
The best thing about making biscuits “wrong,” is them STILL being ever so right. As a Southern woman; those are still beautiful.
Oh goodness, I didn’t realize how much I miss biscuits until I saw this post (my doc informed me about a year ago: Congratulations! You are gluten intolerant). I will try these with gluten free all purp this weekend. Any tips for making these sans wheat flour are hugely appreciated!
Made Them. Love Them. Making more to freeze!! Now I can but the cream biscuit recipe to rest for a while. THank YOu!!
For Marion, and any others who don’t know what the small bowl and metal frame were for, the metal frame perches on the edge of the big Pyrex bowl, and holds the little bowl up. Potato chips go in the big bowl, and dip goes in the little one. Back in the 1960s, dip made from Lipton Onion Soup mix and sour cream was a “must have” for home entertaining. So exciting, especially if you got fancy ruffled potato chips that didn’t break so easily when you scooped up the dip. I don’t know what happened to my mother’s set of white and blue bowls, except for the largest blue one, which I dropped while making my grandmother’s doughnut recipe. I still feel guilty about this.
Wow!! These are just like my mom used to make. They will be made many a time. Thanks!
I just love warm biscuits! Thanks for the recipe! Last night I just made the brownie roll out cookies from your cookbook! They were fabulous!!
I had issue with these baking in 15 minutes. I used a cup of whole wheat flour, and so it was slightly harder to tell if they were golden brown, but I took them out at 15 minutes anyway, and when I cut into one they definitely weren’t done. I put them back in the oven for about 7 more minutes til I thought they were brown enough..I’m currently waiting for them to cool off enough to cut into :). Hoping they’re okay now, as it was an easy recipe to make, and my 22 month old is waiting patiently ;).
Just made them 10 minutes ago for breakfast. They are absolutely fantastic! Thank you very much for the recipe!
Perfection. I’ve never made such wonderful biscuits, and they were so fast and easy. I LOVE that I can freeze these pre-baked too! (Although I put half the batch in the freezer and then 30 min later pulled them out so I could bake the rest. They are that good.)
We love biscuits in my house! Thanks for the great recipe!!
As a Californian who moved to Georgia as a 20 year old, I understand not doing biscuits right. This is awesome. Thank you.
A few mentioned grating the butter (frozen or partially frozen) into the flour mixture. This really works well. I grate some butter, then gently fluff the flour over the butter, repeat until all of the butter is grated and fluffed. Also, someone mentioned folding the dough creating layers – again good move. I gently fold the mixture on the counter a few times before cutting the biscuits. The biscuit guys in Portland even spread melted butter between each fold. Haven’t tried that because I’d like to keep a few arteries flowing, but boy it sounds good…
There were sooooo fabulous! I have tried to make biscuits in the past and they always turned out to be little hockey pucks. I added fresh ground pepper to ours for a little savory taste. I made the larger 3 inch biscuits and baked them for 12 minutes on our pizza stone. They were flaky and so absolutely delicious.
As a Southerner, buttermilk biscuits are served with most meals. They are great for with ham or chicken. Alittle jelly or honey makes a quick breakfast!
Hi,
thanks for the recipe. I love biscuits and especially with ham. A delicous breakfast. Thanks once more for this nice recipe.
Peter
I can’t believe the coincidence. That Dot diner recipe is the only one I have ever used! But I’ve been thinking they only were for drop biscuits. (Silly me.) I’m so glad you enlightened me. I can’t wait to go buy a cutter and try this weekend.
Someone commented upthread that as a New Englander, she didn’t have biscuit making in her blood…. I’m a New Englander, and biscuits like these are the only acceptable base for a strawberry shortcake! I’m looking forward to trying this recipe tomorrow.
Oh how I wish you lived just down the street from me, especially with this biscuit recipe. I would invite you and the little one over for coffee – bring the biscuits and excuse the mess, I just had twins, and we would talk for hours about food. I read the article in Creative Loafing from when you were here in Atlanta recently, and it was a delightful read. I am enjoying your website and want to cook more once the twins are a little less hands on… (ha ha I know to the less hands on part).
Oh, you should experience the aroma in my kitchen! I have these biscuits in the oven and I can barely wait the last eight minutes! I am taking a Food Photography course and needed a simple subject to shoot. I saw this recipe and thought that they would photograph beautifully with some jam on top to catch the highlights. Hmmmm, I wonder if there will be any left to photograph?
Thanks for the inspiration. Your cookbook, in a beautiful stand on my counter, gives me inspiration every day.
I made this last weekend, and they were a hit! Don’t tell m husband I have two stashed in the freezer. It’s a pregnant women’s prerogative.
Quick, easy, delicious. And I wonder why I can’t lose the last 5 lbs of baby weight.
Methods and what people consider “right” certainly do vary. But, hey, if you like them the way you make them, that’s all that counts. Your biscuits look lovely and yummy.
We use Southern Biscuit (Tenda Bake) flour for biscuits. Like it better than White Lilly although WL is better than many. Although we use King Arthur for other things, it’s SB for biscuits! I cut equal amounts each of butter and Crisco into small cubes and pop them back in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes while I mix the dry ingredients. Mix everything by hand as I can feel when it is ready. I grew up with a mother and grandmother who made biscuits without recipes and just knew by look and feel when they were right. We always put the biscuits touching one another as we find that they rise higher that way.
Someone up-thread asked about milk with lemon juice as a substitute for buttermilk. I didn’t read all the postings so I’m not sure if that was answered. In a pinch, I’ve used milk with vinegar (1T to 1C) in my biscuits and you really can’t tell a difference. It doesn’t always work as well with other recipes but it does work well with biscuits.
Thank you Deb. That’s all I have to say after baking these absolutely perfect biscuits. Thank you so much.
All your recipes I’ve made (and I’ve made quite a few) have turned out suberb. Which is even more wonderful if you know I live halfway across the world from you. This is why blogging was invented.
But for now, thanks again. Really.
Ihave that same bowl. It was my grandmother’s. I love it.
Just made the drop biscuits and they were amazing! Thank you for another simple and delicious recipe.
Couldn’t help but notice that you use mason pint jars for baking soda and powder. I do this as well. Your blog is so inspiring, by the way! Cannot wait to try these!
I was just trying to decide what special treat I was going to make for my daughter Meggie after school tomorrow. Something out of the ordinary for her “double digit” birthday (10). I clicked on your site before turning of the light and there it was. The perfect treat that i will top with whip cream! She will love it!
Ummm….LOVING your pretty blue bowl, and loving these biscuits even more! Biscuits are one of those foods that I rarely make since I am completely, utterly, weak around them and will eat about 10. Now you have me craving them :)
I just tried the recipe again…the dough was not dry, I folded it into thirds once and just barely twice then I cut out using a mason jar lid and just cooked…good flippin DIETY…they were soooo flaky and moist and no funny after-taste…just perfect! I used them in a peruvian eggs benedict dish I created :) Thank’s soooo much for the technique!
So glad I came across these…I’ve purchased a jar of sweet pepper jelly and I’ve been buying cans of Trader Joe biscuits and they just aren’t the same as homemade! I’ll have to try these this weekend – thanks for the recipe and photos!
Oh my goodness! My biscuits have always been dense, dry, and never risen. I don’t know what’s different about your recipe, but dang! These biscuits turned out perfectly! No more Pillsbury in my house! I love them! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Deb, if you ever feel like you want a biscuit but don’t want to bake, Hill Country Chicken in the Flatiron neighborhood, has fantastic biscuits! I was just thinking about them and this I saw your post. I think this means I have to make these biscuits now.
Made these at the weekend for lazy Sunday breakfast and they were WONDERFUL. Can’t work if the ones I froze are calling to me to be baked or having a party in the freezer alongside the woefully few remaining favourite choc chip cookies I made last week (divine).
Regarding alternatives to buttermilk, I used a mix of milk and yoghurt in equal proportions.
Fresh homemade biscuits really are the best, and so simple to make! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I made the chive one last week! Even, buried I reference them a lot. ;)
Thanks for a new post with even more pictures!
Its difficult to find buttermilk in Mallorca (Spain). Is there any substitutive?
I’ve been making biscuits for over 60 years and these are absolutely the best. I’ve always made great biscuits but these are amazing. My partner said, these are wonderful. Use this recipe for now on. I agree and thanks, Deb, you too are amazing.
These look great. They look like they could hold some gravy. So I have to second the call for your favorite cream-gravy recipe. I used to live down the road from Star Seeds Cafe in Austin, TX, and I swear to God, I survived near solely off of their “Eye Opener” — two biscuits piled high w/ scrambled eggs, sausage and gravy. mmmmmm…
If I want biscuits the next morning, I will make them the night before, stopping before adding the buttermilk. I don’t have to measure before the coffee kicks in, and the ingredients chill together.
On a totally separate note, I just made the plum muffins from the SK cookbook with the intent of using up three different charosets I had made for kids and parents to sample during a program I ran. The three had apples, prunes, poppy and toasted sesame seeds, dried figs and dates, oranges, cinnamon, a teeny bit of cayenne and cumin. My sons and I were so pleasantly surprised at the results. Thanks much!
Love these! I just made these but with a slightly different technique. I’ll have to try this one as well to see if there’s any difference in texture but I found that using a bit of cake flour as well as AP flour made all the difference in producing a more tender crumb. I tried about 10 different variations on the classic buttermilk biscuit recipe before coming up with my recipe. You can see my technique at http://www.crumbsandtales.com/buttermilk-biscuits/ – thanks for posting ‘SK’!
I woke up waaaaaaaay too early today, so what better time than this to bake biscuits? These are simply divine! Thank you.
O.M.G. These biscuits are amazing. Deb, thank you for sharing the joy with us. I’ve been making biscuits from an old book my grandmother gave to me when I got married. They’re really good biscuits, too. Never found one that’s better. And then there was your blog. I have to admit that the addition of sugar, buttermilk (even if it is just the buttermilk substitute that I always use) and those few tablespoons of butter, took my old biscuits to a brand new level and my biscuit life will never be the same. Thank you much. I’m looking forward to these “new” biscuits with sausage gravy. The tad bit of sweetness will go so well with the salty happiness of the gravy. And… that blue bowl is amazing. I agree with Shiri. :)
Lovely! I am going to use your recipe this weekend. I love the vintage mixing bowl. A friend gave me the same pattern/color of a casserole dish. I am in the process of baking challah right now with your fig, olive oil, and sea salt recipe. Blessings!
You didn’t link your recipe for sour cream and cheddar biscuits from the “chili shortcakes” entry! Those are my favorite biscuits, and I spent five yrs living in the Southern Appalachians! (Plus I always have plain yogurt in my house, and don’t always have buttermilk, so I can make those with yogurt in place of the sour cream anytime I want!)
Deb – those must try biscuits look delish! And the bowl….sigh…brings back fond memories of childhood. My mom had the exact same bowl and many a yummy baked goodie started in it. My sister is now putting it to good use for the same thing. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :)
My brother taught me a great trick, which is to flatten the dough to half the thickness you want it, and then fold it over and press lightly so the biscuit breaks easily into two even halves after it comes out of the oven.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, my Protestant mother never made us homemade biscuits. Ours came out of a blue Pillsbury can. I am thrilled that you shared this biscuit recipe, though, because I have been to Dot’s Diner in Boulder and they truly make the BEST biscuits I’ve ever tasted. I’m usually not so into biscuits because white flour makes me feel bad but holy moly, those are worth it. They make their biscuits gigantic, almost as big as the plate, and just plop them right on top of the meals. So glad we stumbled upon that place when we were in town for my friend’s wedding!
Love the recipe. Buttermilk rules! But I hate re-rolling scraps after cutting round biscuits. I divide original ball of dough into several balls. Press into discs and cut into wedges. End of story if you don’t mind wedge-shaped biscuits.
The vintage pottery–love it! That is the one thing that is right here! My mother had a set of these and the various sized bowls were of various colors. It think it is still over in her house–stored away, of course.
As for the biscuits–all white flour–unhealthy. Butter/margarine–unhealthy. Baking powder–unhealthy! So its okay to enjoy once in a “blue moon” but not every Sunday.
It worked! Just made them for breakfast and they came out perfectly–and I followed your recipe to the T.
I married a Southerner, and while I’m a fairly competent baker for some reason my biscuits always came out too hard, or never rose, or otherwise failed. I’ve literally tried a dozen recipes and even used Bisquick on occasion! All to no avail.
Until now! This New Yorker (and her husband) thank you profusely!
;)
Oh golly…can it be?? This is almost the same recipe that I learned as a child from my grandmother on the family ranch in southwest Colorado! The picture is what initially caught my eye….they look exactly like the biscuits that pop out of my oven on a regular basis. I have tried a myriad of other recipes, but not say ‘home’ to me like these! I adapted this recipe many years ago to a scone and got rave reviews for them in the coffeeshop that I owned, Now, I bake the scone for a coffeehouse here in Oregon, and they sell out before the second round of coffee drinkers make it to the counter. Your site rocks, girlie!
Omg this looks so tasty! I am totally drooling right now :P
as a southern transplant living in a new england city, big fluffy biscuits with butter and jam are in my bloodline and i am drying up inside without them as non of the breakfast staples i’ve found here offer biscuits. and my own homemade renditions often fall flat (they don’t seem to rise enough?). will MOST ABSOLUTELY be trying this soon. i am wondering if you can tell me if there is a big difference between using real buttermilk versus its substitution (milk with a tablespoon of vinegar). perhaps that is my problem?
Droooooool— need I say more?
I made these today for some bacon egg and cheese sandwiches and they turned out awesome. I took some photos here: http://imgur.com/gallery/oi0md
This has been my go to biscuit recipe since I started to trying to woo my southern boyfriend (now fiancee! it worked), by waking him with Sunday breakfast. You are right, Boulder is probably not ground zero for best biscuit recipes – but they are delicious. And I use a food processor (just a few pulses) and they couldn’t be easier!
I am not good at making biscuit but this looks delicious I will try to make it and see if I will have the taste that I am feelingl by looking at the picture. Thank you for sharing this.
Made six of these for dinner this evening and froze six more for later. Really tasty with a nice crispy edge and layered interior. Great way to use up left over buttermilk from the St. Patty’s day soda breads.
Love these!! They are gorgeous!!
Made these with plain yogurt mixed with a bit of milk. Used a little over a cup of the yogurt/milk mixture and they turned out awesome! Yay!
I love buttermilk biscuits too and always enjoy testing out new recipes. Can’t wait to give these ones a go!
Julia — Be careful with those! I made the mistake of using matching ones. Way too easy to put the wrong lid on each, end up using baking soda when you meant to use baking powder. Plan to switch to non-matching jars. ;)
Oh I can smell the aroma already just by looking at your tempting pics. Got to try your recipe!
I made several batches of these biscuits and they are fantastic! I used a buttermilk substitute (regular milk + vinegar) and I subbed about 1/2 c of the white flour for whole wheat flour and it worked great. I will say that the first batch I used my trusty standing mixer because I felt lazy. The biscuits were fine. However, when I made subsequent batches using hand-kneading only, the results were predictably much better.
I have already made these twice and my husband thinks they are the best biscuits he has ever tasted! He can’t wait for me to use this recipe for strawberry shortcake. Thank you for including metric measurements because in Budapest it is important.
Deb, I got this email and thought the recipe sounded and looked delicious! I tried it last night and the taste was sooo good but my biscuits really didn’t rise much. They were pretty flat and no layers. What did I do wrong? Thanks, Diana
Diana — Did they spread? What size did you cut them to?
They didn’t spread much at all. My biscuit cutter is 2 3/4″ and I rolled them out to about 1/2 ” maybe a tad thicker. They did taste amazing but they just didn’t look like yours in the pictures did. I tried not to handle them too much as I know they won’t be tender and flaky. Thanks for your help.
Diana — Rise or spread? Did they stay flat or did they just not grow at all? Hope to help.
Really its all looks nice dishes and i know it would be tasteful as well. But to make like these dishes there should be comfort space in the kitchen…
I love biscuits! These sound delicious. I can’t wait to try them. P.S. Love the bowl. Beautiful! :)
A tip/trick for all those that hate the pastry blender step (me too!!)… freeze your butter and then shred it right into the flour with a hand grater and then give it a quick stir
Deb-
I just made these biscuits this morning! I followed your steps, did not change one thing, and they turned out perfect! So tasty and very easy to make!
HELP! I cannot make a biscuit to save my soul.. and while I had high hopes for these, once again, my efforts end up a near failure. They taste great, have a great crumb, but are as flat as they were when they went into the oven. Does anyone have an idea??? Why won’t they raise?
I’ve been trying to use up the flour in my freezer since I’m planning to go on a paleo type diet but don’t want to throw good food away, so I made these biscuits with 160 g whole wheat flour, 40 g whole wheat pastry flour, and 80 g millet flour, and I threw in some brewer’s yeast for experimenting’s sake. I wound up using a bit more buttermilk as well. They were definitely not traditional biscuits and didn’t rise as much, but they were tasty with honey. The brewer’s yeast lends a particular flavor that I enjoy.
You did not say how long to bake the biscuits. May I have original recipe.
This is a great recipe, we love it. I did notice though that the biscuits I’ve frozen when I bake them, do not rise at all. I’m not sure if that’s because I ought to let them thaw or what. I have my preschool students who are preparing for Kindergarten make these (of course I handle all the truly hard parts like the oven), as a way to keep them busy but also get them involved in baking. They love it, it’s better than the Betty Crocker recipe we’d been using. My boss, who’s a total biscuit snob, LOVED these.
Thank you so much for your recipes! This site is culinary inspiring, delicious and always a joy to search through! Thank you!
Mary — The second to last paragraph has a baking time estimate.
I just made these for breakfast – biscuits and bacon gravy. Yum! This is my first time making biscuits and your directions were super easy. I got 8 good size biscuits out of them. My 1.5 yr old who usually turned his nose at soft non crunchy type bread (it’s a texture thing) actually ate four bites. Thanks!
If you intend to freeze biscuit dough, you need to be sure you’re using double-acting baking powder. One of the chemicals in double-acting baking powder is activated by moisture, another by heat. I freeze baked biscuits. Zap them 45 sec in a microwave and they’re great!
I’m a true Southern, but never have been able to make good biscuits. I just tried this recipe and they turned out fantastic. I’m freezing most of them and I’m going to use them like shortbread with strawberries and cream for Easter dinner.
These look fabulous! I have to share that I clicked on the link expecting something entirely different as I’m Australian so to me these are scones and a biscuit is what you’d call a cookie! My most favourite way to have scones is hot out of the oven with a pot of tea, lashings of whipped cream, and strawberry jam. I’m quite intrigued by the idea of scones for breakfast with eggs and gravy!
Fantastic! At 5 pm my hubby and I decided to make Easter dinner our way on Saturday since his family would be doing it their way tomorrow…we threw together a bourbon mustard glazed ham with a sweet potato, apple & bacon hash and I made these biscuits….mmmm mmmmmmmmmmm! And Jackson (my 22 month old) will love the biscuits freshly baked (I froze all but 4 as you suggest) in the morning.
I think you are the best!!
Tried making these today and it turned out fantastic! Thanks so much for the simple yet awesome recipe!
Dear Deb,
You never cease to amaze me. Just took a couple of “samples” out of the oven in preparation for Easter dinner later – the rest are in the freezer. Amazing! On weekend mornings when I was a child my father made biscuits (and put butter and bacon on them, oh my). Sorry to say he should have had this recipe. Despite my fear of dough, and some scary moments when I couldn’t get it to hold together, these are delectable. Looking forward to making them a little sweeter to use for strawberry shortcakes this summer.
These were great! I made them the day before Easter, froze the dough, and then baked them for Easter dinner (16 min). Like Mitzi, mine didn’t rise. I read in CI that biscuits should be baked immediately and leaving them standing will decrease the leavening power so perhaps A.A. Bruisee’s suggestion would combat that? Nothing was wrong with the taste, though, so next time I will probably just roll out the dough b/w 3/4″ and 1″ since 1/2″ was a little skimpy.
We made these this morning and has the same problem as another commenter that they had a bitter aftertaste. They tasted metallic to me and just off in general to my husband. We used all the same ingredients we usually use and never have a problem with so I assume it was either the sheer volume of baking powder and soda or the mix of the two together. We also had to add more buttermilk just to get them to come together at all. Overall these were just ok. I think we will e sticking to our tried and true biscuit recipe from the Grit cookbook.
Just made these for breakfast with my son while on spring break. Holy deliciousness! Perfect biscuits. We ate them in slow motion, they were sooooo good! Thanks for a keeper recipe, I will be making them again.
Jill — Do you use aluminum-free baking powder? If not, seeking some out can really improve the taste (and get rid of that metallic taste associated with) of baked goods high in it.
Omg Deb, these biscuits are amazing! They were so good on their own, I almost felt sorry to sandwich them with an egg. And they were really easy as well! I was making just 4 biggish ones, since I was short on butter, so I just divided the dough and shaped the biscuits individually.
Having recently tried biscuits for the first time, I’ve been looking for a good recipe for homemade buttermilk ones. Thank you!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe, as always! I have made many a-Smitten Kitchen recipes, all without fail… except this one. It wasn’t really a fail, but the dough was very wet and sticky, and the end result stayed as a lump shape and didn’t rise high with layers. The second time I tried it, the dough was similarly wet and sticky. But this time I lightly sprinkled the patted out dough top with flour, then folded the dough onto itself both width-wise and lengthwise, flattened it out again to 1/2″ thickness, and cut rounds. This resulted in a beautifully risen biscuit with layers, just like in your photos. I would recommend trying this method to any of your commenters that had a similar issue I had.
Oh I forgot to mention that I also froze the biscuits both times, and baked from frozen. Only the second time did the biscuits rise. Again, it may have to do with the folding step.
wow great little recipe. i omitted the salt entirely, and used my kitchenaid for the whole process except cookie cutting.. perfect! Another great one. xo
I made these biscuits this afternoon with my 12 year old daughter. She learned how to use a pastry blender for the first time. Each biscuit morsel turned out moist and buttery. Although not a southern biscuit, these biscuits were perfect for jam, honey or molasses! A LOVELY TREAT!
I have made them twice for my knit group meeting and they were a smash hit both times. The first time I kept them neutral, but the second time I added a lot of thyme and cherry tomatoes on top before sticking them in the oven. Came out perfect and moist both times and people loved them. Thank you :)
Posted a picture of the last batch on our tumblr
http://hellbentonknitting.tumblr.com/day/2013/04/10/
Hi Deb! Have made these biscuits three times but have experienced the same problem as Diana twice– not much rise/puff. Didn’t really spread or flatten out. They seem to be losing a lot of butter during baking– butter is pooling around them, resulting in a chewy bottom. The flavor is there but they aren’t as satisfying (or beautiful) as a puffed biscuit. Any idea what I need to change/do better? Incorporate the butter more? Fold my dough before cutting? I would really appreciate any advice as I love these biscuits and want them to work. Thanks!
Congratulations on winning the Julie Child Award on your cookbook!!!!!!
Hi Deb! I’m a frequent visitor to your blog, but this is my first post. I’m going to be making this (amazing sounding) biscuit recipe quite soon for my boyfriend’s birthday because he loves biscuits and gravy. You mention your father’s sausage gravy recipe in the post–I’d love it if you post that sometime soon! It would be a great addendum to the biscuit recipe.
Deb, when cooking my frozen biscuits, they never to rise as much and the texture seems to change. Should I allow them to come to room temp before cooking? Any other ideas? Thanks
Randy
Randy — Try letting them defrost before baking them and see if it improves their height. (I don’t think getting it fully to RT should matter; it might just mush the butter into the flour, so you’d have less layering.)
These are some beauties. Biscuits are such a comfort food for me that this post is causing high cravings!
I cheat instead of cutting individual biscuits, I make one giant biscuit. I still take the biscuit dough and put it on a floured board, then I take melted butter and pour it in a round cake pan. I then put the dough in the pan and flip it making sure both sides are covered with butter and then spread the dough out to the edges of the pan. I bake it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Enjoy! Oh yeah I use butter flavored crisco instead of butter.
I just ran across your blog for the first time just now when I visited Tablespoon.com to vote for my friend and neighbor, Hugh Acheson, for best chef. Having perused Smitten Kitchen, I’ve voted for it as the best food blog. Well done.
I have made them twice for my knit group meeting and they were a smash hit both times. The first time I kept them neutral, but the second time I added a lot of thyme and cherry tomatoes on top before sticking them in the oven. Came out perfect and moist both times and people loved them. Thank you :)
Ah!! its look great. i think it will be a fun to make these tasty biscuits. i just want to taste it now as it is looking so delicious.Everyone should try this recipe its very easy and simple.
That blue bowl is awesome. I’ve been to a few antique stores recently, and those things are everywhere! Selling for more than they did originally, I’m sure.
Hey! That Bon Ap recipe is the one I use. You’re right – the biscuits are incredible and my husband is always “please, can you make some biscuits, please?”. Now that I know you can freeze them. . . thanks! I always drop rather than roll and I usually end up adding about 1/4 c more buttermilk.
Thanks, but just a heads up, the cups to grams conversion for flour is way off, 280g = ~10 oz or 1.25c. Made some pretty gross biscuits using way too little flour.
Hi SC — The weight is correct. Each of my cups of all-purpose flour clock in at 125 grams or 4.4 ounces.
Hi Deb, these scones come out perfectly for me every time! We have fallen in love with them and they’re so easy to make. Thank you!
I just made these tonight and followed the recipe to a T! They came out nice and golden brown and smelled great. However the consistency was off, it was a strange crumbly texture when you ate it, verses a layered more biscuit-like consistency. It gave a strange flour-like flavor to it. I’m thinking next time I’ll either add 2 tbsp extra butter or do a milk/sour cream combination in place of the buttermilk as it just needs a little more density to avoid the crumbly texture.
These are so easy my 3 year old made them last night!! One of my favorite recipes for getting kids cooking in the kitchen. Thanks!
We found these off. We could taste the baking powder it tasted like the butter burnt. It was very strange. Thanks for sharing. I might use the recipe with lard and cut back on the baking powder a 1/2 tsp at a time until they don’t taste like it anymore.