I made THE BEST biscuits the other night. I mean, really. They were the sort of biscuits you brag on the internet about, in fact, they are the reason the internet was invented so that one could brag about these sorts of biscuits. Edie praised them for three days straight. Do you know how awesome something I’ve done has to be in order for her to do that in her thirteen-year-oldness? That’s right, pretty darn tooting awesome.
So what did I do that these particular biscuits were so good? I used cream. Back when I was obsessed with making good biscuits by picking the brain of everyone I knew who made them as well as reading up on them, I seem to remember reading something about the effect of using cream in making your biscuits. I happened to have cream I need to use up, so I thought I’d try some in my biscuits. In mixing fat into your biscuit flour, you want those fat globules to be as small as possible for the flakiest biscuits and by using cream, which has that butterfat already in the small size you want, bingo! Effortlessly good biscuits.
Of course, I used butter in these particular biscuits too, which I took the time to make sure was well worked in (which is key!!) As I was out of any form of whole grain flour, these were made with all white flour – I mixed cake flour with all purpose flour since I tend to not keep White Lily flour on hand. (I wrote a few years ago about how the flour used affects the texture of your biscuit. Soft flour makes for a lighter biscuit and since cake flour is soft, using some in your biscuit mix makes for a better biscuit.) I have since restocked the pantry, so I will be making biscuits with cream and whole wheat flour this week to see how that goes. Stay tuned.
Edie also thought I should share Sunday’s dinner – crepes stuffed with country ham, sauteed brussels sprouts (blanched, then sliced thinly and sauteed in butter in a cast iron skillet) topped with a Mornay sauce with freshly baked sourdough bread on the side. Holy Moly that was a good dinner and I have to give credit where it is due – that filling was entirely Edie girl’s call.
(I know, I go on and on about the biscuits and did not share a recipe. I’ll share it when I nail the whole wheat version. Promise.)
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
Oh, I love me a good biscuit! I love bread period, but have found I have a gluten sensitivity. I will soon be experimenting with some gluten-free flours for breads and desserts. I’m not looking forward to it…it’s been a hard few weeks. I’ve haven’t entirely cut it out of my diet but have lessened significantly.
I hear there are some good gluten free options out there – I’ve thought about doing some playing around with them just for kicks.
Let me know if you come up with some good results.
Oh! The biscuit mothership! Can’t wait for the recipe – butter and cream, hell yeah. Happy to hear about the blueberries, though I hear about snakes getting caught in the netting and I get all wobbly-kneed.
We’ve only ever had birds and chipmunks get caught in it. And we always wait for daddy to come deal with it. We’re wimps like that.
Yes, I’m going to attempt a whole grain, butter and cream recipe – which will be healthy because of the whole grains, yes? My head taster gave me an eye roll as I babbled on about it at the bus stop this morning telling me I spend way too much time thinking about these things. Not that she minds eating them.
Yum! I did a vegan biscuit recipe from Thug Kitchen this weekend. It calls for coconut oil instead of butter and almond milk instead of milk. I guess they were passable if you absolutely won’t eat animal products, but they can’t stand up to traditional biscuits.
I like eating vegan regularly, but only if it’s a dish that makes sense to not have animal products in it. Vegan biscuits I just couldn’t do. But then, I’m the sort of girl who likes to fry her tofu in bacon fat.
That sounds delightful. The biscuits AND the crepes.
Buttery, creamy biscuits? Count me in! I think calling them biscuits is very much an American thing. We call them buns here in Canada but they’re pretty much the same thing. I LOVE them with jam. One day, I’ll jump ship, cross borders and try ’em with gravy.
PS. You “nailed the biscuits” 😉 hahaha. I know, I’m 5.
Flaky, buttery biscuits, like you find in the American South. You really should come visit, because you’d love the food. And with gravy? You’d think you’d die and gone to heaven.
oh my word, and here I’ve been using my hard wheat flour for years in biscuits because I thought they were the sturdy type that could handle that. I DO keep whole wheat pastry flour on hand – next time I make biscuits, I’m using that.
I’ve also made cream biscuits before which are divine. I don’t use butter, just cream and the dry stuff. But they still didn’t look like your photo – that looks like biscuit nirvana pretty much.
It was biscuit nirvana. Hard wheat flour will work – just cut in some cake flour (along with the whole wheat pastry flour) as biscuits like soft flour. I just like to cut the fat with some whole grains.