Well I hope not! These are a bit more like scones because it’s not easy to get White Lily flour up here and I’d prefer not to cook with lard. It’s supposed to be a much softer flour creating lighter biscuits, now it could be that I could substitute cake flour but I’ve never bothered to try. I’ve tried many different biscuit recipes and this is the one I’ve finally settled on as being my favorite. I used to make it with about half the fat as shortening but with all the fuss about trans-fat I think I’d rather just eat butter. They’ll be a bit softer if you use the shortening so if you don’t mind cooking with it substitute away.

Mess of Biscuit

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
8 tablespoons butter
2 cups buttermilk

In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Cut in the  butter, mix until you have a crumbly dough. Stir in the buttermilk just until moist. Turn the dough out,sprinkle with flour  and pat out gently to a thickness of about 1/2 inch on a well floured board. Cut out 2-inch circles. Bake on a greased sheet in a preheated 400F oven for 17 minutes. (The time will vary with your oven and bakeware- watch for the browning on top and bottom.) Serve hot with butter and honey.

Until recently I always just used a glass to cut out my biscuits but now I’ve got some fancy dancy plastic biscuit cutters. I don’t like the metals ones, they always bend and rust. I don’t go for perfect circles but just squash the edges in to cut the next one because they really seem much more tender if I don’t reroll. Only the very last biscuit gets sort of rolled into shape.

Also in the week I found time to put together my little birdies from the kit I bought at Rhinebeck.  I am not sure if I’ll hang them in the kitchen pass-through or save them for the xmas tree. Either way they need to stay well away from the cats!