If you’re a biscuit lover, you’ll love these. They’re everything you love about a biscuit (buttery, flaky, delicious plain or with your favorite topping) and yet, shhhhh, they’re low in fat compared to all their biscuit companions. Don’t tell anyone. They won’t believe you anyway.
And if you don’t like biscuits, these biscuits could quite possibly convert you into a biscuit fiend. I have had many, many people tell me that they don’t like biscuits, which is something that I can’t even begin to comprehend, but then they obligingly eat these biscuits and their faces light up and they begin to ooh and ahh about how great they are. Sometimes I have to remind them to swallow first and then share their comments. Otherwise, things can get a bit messy.
My husband and I love these plain or with jam. My friends like them with honey (new to me, but hey! I won’t argue!). I eat them for dinner and then reheat any leftovers for breakfast. That is, if there are leftovers.
If you’re cooking for two, as I often do, half the recipe. Then you can justify making fresh biscuits again in a couple days. Nothing beats fresh biscuits.
Above: If you think you’re seeing double, it’s because you are. One day I decided to make these for dinner, but also felt that they would make a great offering at a party the following day. Obviously, I wasn’t going to serve leftover biscuits at the party, so I started two batches and cooked one that night and cooked the other the next day. If you want to do this, do not add the buttermilk until just before baking, and store the flour mixture with pea-sized butter in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
By the way, I shamelessly stole this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated The Best Light Recipe. If you like this recipe, you should check out their book. It is full of delightful surprises like biscuits and cobblers and soups and entrees that you’d never know were low in fat and calories.
Note: Cook’s Illustrated places their biscuits in a 9″ cake pan so that the biscuits have more lift. My hubby and I think the outside of the biscuit is the best part, though, so we traded lift for surface area. If you prefer the soft center of a biscuit or if you prefer tall biscuits, go ahead and follow these steps, but instead of using a baking sheet, drop your biscuits into a greased 9″ cake pan. I recommend trying both methods and seeing which one you prefer!
buttermilk biscuits
2 cups of all purpose flour, plus 1 cup extra
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp double acting baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4″ pieces, plus 1-2 tbsp extra
1-1 1/2 cups buttermilk (as needed… start with the lower amount and add more until mixture comes together)
Preheat oven to 500.
Combine 2 cups flour and remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the butter, and using a pastry cutter or fork, cut into pea-sized pieces.
Add buttermilk and mix just until combined. Do not overmix. Biscuits are rather temperamental. The more you mess with them, the less flaky they will be when you bake them.
Prep a bowl with about one cup of extra flour. Spray a 1/4 cup measuring cup with cooking spray. Measure out 1/4 cup of the wet dough and drop it into the flour. Roll until coated and then place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Add more cooking spray to the measuring cup if your batter begins to stick.
Melt a tablespoon or two of butter and brush onto top of biscuits. I prefer to use salted butter for this!
Bake at 500 for 5 minutes. Without opening oven, lower temperature to 450 and bake for another 15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden and are no longer gooey.
Serve alone or with butter, jam, or honey!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Shirley Madsen // Aug 19, 2009 at 8:08 am
I have been making these biscuits every Saturday and Sunday morning for several years. Dave takes them to the YMCA to share with his friends. The day Dave comes home with leftover biscuits is the day I will stop making them! Dave is known for these biscuits and he does not dare to show up without them. I bake my biscuits in a greased 9″ cake pan as we prefer the softer, taller biscuits.
2 Joy // Aug 20, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hey Paula! Can you put all the biscuits together in a round pan instead of making them separate?
3 paulawong // Aug 20, 2009 at 2:34 pm
yes… see Shirley’s comment above and the note that is located directly before the recipe.
Leave a Comment