Baking Powder Biscuits

Years ago, when I was a newspaper reporter in Columbus, Indiana, I would often take my breakfast  at Sap's Coffee House, an old-fashioned diner that made everything from scratch -- including biscuits for its signature biscuits and gravy. (I know this because I overhead a food service salesman fail miserably while trying to sell the owner a ready-made biscuit mix.)

Though the place was literally a two-minute walk from my apartment, I only ventured inside after a boyfriend visiting from California, horrified that I used instant coffee at home, insisted we find a place with the real stuff. While both Sap's and the boyfriend are long gone, they did instill a love of good coffee -- and good biscuits.

I make a lot of biscuits -- very easy and quick to prepare, they are my go-to breakfast accompaniment, especially when guests are expected. My friend Bev stopped by on Sunday morning after her spin class, and what better way to undo an hour of intense exercise than to enjoy some hot-from-the-oven biscuits, along with some fresh brewed coffee.

These are typical baking powder biscuits -- flaky, buttery and delicious. It doesn't get any better than this.

I make the dough in a food processor, because it makes quick work of cutting the butter into the dry ingredients. But you can use a pastry blender, two knives, or even your fingertips. Start by putting all the dry ingredients into the food processor or a bowl.

Then, add the cold butter and process.

The mixture will (or should) resemble cornmeal when the butter is incorporated.

This recipe calls for milk, which I interpret as whole milk. Having none, I mixed half and half and skim milk. Worked just fine.

This dough is very easy to work with, and wasn't sticky at all.

Cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter if you have one. The sharp edges allow the biscuit to rise well in the oven.

A pat of butter (and some jam, if you want) only improve a good thing.

Production notes: I followed this exactly, but substituted unsalted butter for the shortening. And I didn't sift the flour, mostly unnecessary these days (except for angel food cake). I must have made large biscuits, because the recipe yielded nine, not 12, biscuits. I baked these at 400 F.

A Tale of Two Biscuits

A friend* recently asked if I ever did "nothing," i.e., just sit and think.  After I thought about it (for about a minute), I realized I never do. I always am doing "something" and often two things simultaneously.  Not that I'm an accomplishment junkie -- unless one considers playing iPad solitaire while watching the Real Housewives of New York a productive use of time.

But Friday morning, feeling guilty about some rather slothful behavior the day before, I awoke at 5 a.m. and baked two batches of biscuits, and pulled them from the oven in time to roll out my mat for a 7 a.m. yoga class.

These recipes are not from my handwritten collection, but were published in a 1940s Chambers Stove cook book.  My modern oven is still on the fritz, so I'm using my vintage Chambers (below) and figured I'd try one of the recipes from the accompanying cook book.

The recipes -- for baking powder biscuits and soda biscuits (known now by the more appealing name of buttermilk biscuits) -- are simple to follow, take just minutes and deliver a great result.  Why bother with Poppin Fresh when these are so quick and easy?

So, which was the better biscuit?  The DH thought the buttermilk were far superior.  I kind of liked the baking powder ones, probably because they contained a bit of sugar.  Forgot to survey my work colleagues, but trust me, you can't go wrong with either biscuit. (I recently made biscuits from a modern recipe for strawberry shortcake and they were not nearly as good as either of these.)

Place the dry ingredients in a food processor (or a large bowl) and cut in the butter (by machine or using a pastry blender or two knives if you're going old-school).

Add the milk and mix with a spoon.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and pat down to half the size you want the finished biscuits to be -- they will rise in the oven.

Cut with a biscuit or cookie cutter.

Form the scraps back together gently and continue cutting biscuits until you've run out of dough.

Bake in a hot -- 450 or 500 degree oven -- for about ten to 15 minutes.  I used a parchment lined baking sheet.

Both types of biscuits were light and fluffy (buttermilk is on the left).

Production notes: I used butter instead of shortening for both recipes. Don't try to finish these on retained heat if you have a regular oven.  Chambers were specially insulated so that it "Cooks with the gas turned off," saving energy and supposedly freeing the housewife.

*Even though he does plenty of nothing, said friend, a Yale-educated Episcopalian priest and arts genius, still manages to accomplish an enviable amount of things.

Biscuit Amnesia

You know you bake a lot when you can't recall making the exact same recipe for the same guests just a few months apart.

On Saturday, we had a last minute impromptu family (and children's friends) dinner, and I was delighted to come across a hand-typed recipe card for baking powder biscuits thinking I could whip these up for dinner (and later, my blog).

DD, left, and DS, right, enjoy some biscuits with DS's friend Ben (who just got into medical school -- congrats Ben!)

So I snapped a couple of pictures before these were gobbled up, but when I sat down to write the post I realized I had made these for DD and her boyfriend, the "evacuees" we sheltered during Hurricane Irene in August.   I called them Drizzle Biscuits, because the storm in Brooklyn was just that.

But since these are quite good biscuits and can be made while entertaining a kitchen full of guests, wine glass in hand, I thought I'd post them again. I have a dozen or so recipes for biscuits, but I guess this one keeps calling my name because it has the highest fat content (and that's a good thing).  Too bad it doesn't make them unforgettable!

Check out the vintage handmade biscuit cozy (top picture) I purchased at a stoop sale a while back.  What a clever and ingenious way to showcase biscuits (and keep them warm at the same time).

Drizzle Biscuits

There's nothing drizzle-like about these traditional baking powder biscuits, except that I made them this morning during the "Drizzle of the Century," as we're now calling Hurricane Irene's descent on New York City.

But these are so good and so easy to prepare, that there's no need to wait for a storm to make them.   The most difficult part --cutting the butter into the flour -- is easily accomplished using a Cuisinart.  But even if you don't have one, you can do it the old fashioned way:  using two knives or even your fingertips.  The idea is to quickly incorporate cold pieces of butter into the flour until it's a crumbly mixture, a process that makes the dough quite tender and flaky when baked.

I happened have a biscuit cutter, but you can simply cut out the biscuits using a drinking glass, as the c. 1950s recipe suggests.

This recipe makes about ten biscuits, or more, depending on the size of your biscuit cutter, or drinking glass.

These were a big hit, especially among the evacuees (DD and her boyfriend) we were sheltering during the storm.

Baking Powder Biscuits -- Anytime, Anywhere

While in Florida a few weeks ago, I picked A LOT of strawberries and decided to gild the lily by making strawberry shortcake.  Although I once swore off the biscuit in favor of cake in this dish, having access to only my mother's condo kitchen (where the most used appliance is the telephone), I thought the traditional biscuit would be more easily accomplished.  If there's an easier baked good, I haven't come across it.  They require just a few basic ingredients and no special equipment.

Of course, I didn't have access to my ginormous (and growing) collection of hand-written recipe cards, but thanks to the internet, I found a perfect specimen on RecipeCurio.com.

After a quick trip to the market to buy flour, butter, baking soda, milk and heavy cream (for the topping), I put these simple biscuits together in a matter of minutes.

I mixed the ingredients and patted out the dough on a piece of aluminum foil.  At home, I would have used parchment paper, but the foil worked just fine.

I cut out the biscuits with a drinking glass and baked them on a foil-covered baking sheet.

So where's the strawberry shortcake?  Never got that far, for after dipping some of the strawberries in chocolate, and eating the rest out of hand, and then eating the warm biscuits hot from the oven, it wasn't meant to be.  As for the heavy cream, I just enjoyed it in my coffee each morning.