"Touch-of-Grace" Southern Biscuits
Gently stir in the cream, then the buttermilk. Continue stirring until dough resembles cottage cheese.
Spoon 3-4 scoops of dough well apart from each other in flour. Sprinkle flour over each and form into round ball, shaking off the excess flour as you work. Place the biscuits in the prepared pan. Biscuits should be scrunched up against its neighbor, so that they rise and don’t spread out.
Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 425 degree oven, or until lightly golden. Cut and serve immediately. I like eating mine with a spoonful of Stonewall Kitchen’s, Wild Maine Blueberry Jam!
“Touch-of-Grace” Southern Biscuits
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups spooned leveled self-rising flour (low protein Southern U.S. flour like White Lily or any self-rising flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup buttermilk, or enough for dough to resemble cottage cheese (if you are not using low-protein flour it will take more than 1 cup)
1 cup plain all-purpose flour, for shaping
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and arrange a shelf below the center of the oven. Spray an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the self-rising flour, sugar, and salt. Work the shortening in with your fingers until there are no large lumps. Gently stir in the cream, then some of the buttermilk. Continue stirring in buttermilk until THE DOUGH RESEMBLES COTTAGE CHEESE. It should be a wet mess-not soup, but cottage-cheese texture. If you are not using a low-protein flour, this may require considerably more than 1 cup of buttermilk.
3. Spread the plain (not self-rising) flour out on a plate or pie pan. With a medium (2-inch) ice cream scoop or spoon, place 3 or 4 scoops of dough well apart in the flour. Sprinkle flour over each. Flour your hands. Turn a dough ball in the flour to coat, pick it up, and gently shape into a round, shaking off the excess flour as your work. Place the biscuit into the prepared pan. Coat each dough ball in the same way and place each biscuit SCRUNCHED UP AGAINST ITS NEIGHBOR so that the biscuits rise up and don’t spread out. Continue scooping and shaping until all the dough is used.
4. Place the pan on the arranged shelf in the oven. Bake until lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes. Brush with the melted butter. Invert onto one plate, and then back onto another. With a knife of spatula, cut quickly between biscuits to make them easy to remove. Serve immediately.
Yield: Makes 12 to 14 medium biscuits
“BakeWise” by Shirley Corriher