How to make biscuits

A warm biscuit straight from the oven brings me back to my childhood and my grandma’s homemade blackberry jam. She made the best biscuits and taught me that a few simple ingredients, when carefully mixed together create a soft, pillowy roll of comfort. Biscuits can take on very different meanings in different parts of the world. In North America, they are meant to be a flaky and soft leavened quick bread. Ideally they should have tender flaky layers and an extra buttery taste. An easier alternative to dinner rolls and equally good at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

1. Make sure your butter is cold.

As in FROZEN cold. About 30 minutes before you plan to make your biscuits pop a stick of butter in the freezer. For the perfect biscuit texture we grate our butter into the flour. (Yes, with a cheese grater!) Extra cold butter will ensure it doesn’t melt while you work the dough with your hand. And grating the butter will distribute the butter evenly, making lots of little pockets for it to melt while baking. In other words: It guarantees extra fluffy biscuits.

2. Don’t be afraid to add more buttermilk.

Or less for that matter. A good biscuit maker is someone that can tell what the dough needs past what the recipe says. Unless you weigh out your flour each time, your amount will always vary slightly. Add the buttermilk slowly so that you know if your dough is becoming too wet. If you feel it’s a little too dry add about 1 tablespoon of buttermilk at a time until it feels right. If you’ve already added all of your buttermilk and it’s too sticky add just a bit more flour until the dough is easy to work with. A biscuit dough will be a little drier than you expect. Pockets of dryness while folding are fine. as long as the dough is holding together nicely.

3. Don’t overwork the flour.

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before but it’s still just as important. The more the flour gets mixed and worked, the more gluten develops. And over-activated gluten=tough and gummy baked goods—the complete opposite of what we are going for here. To avoid this problem, you’re to pat your dough a lot while making biscuits. Once you feel the buttermilk is mixed in, use your hands to pat the dough into a rectangle. Your hands will be a much better guide than a spoon or any other tool. When folding your dough, don’t be too tough when flattening it back together. Imperfection is beauty here.

4. Don’t twist your biscuit cutter.

This is a simple yet fatal mistake. When using a cookie or biscuit cutter you’re likely to naturally twist the cutter to make sure it cuts through the dough all of the way. Don’t! Twisting the cutter causes the dough to pinch together and you won’t get a proper rise on your biscuits. Instead, punch straight down and lift. If a few little strands are still connected, take a pairing knife or kitchen scissors and cut them loose. And flouring your biscuit cutter should prevent sticking!

Storing Biscuits

Like most baked goods, these biscuits are best day of and fresh out of the oven. They will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. Re-toast them in the oven for a few minutes to help make them warm and soft again! These also freeze well after being baked. Just thaw out in a 350° for several minutes until warm all the way through for a fresh tasting and buttery biscuit!

Tried making these flaky biscuits? Let us know how you liked them in the comments below.

Editor’s Note: The introduction to this recipe was updated on August 21, 2020 to include more information about the dish.

Nothing beats the smell of biscuits baking in the oven. Let the Good Food cookery team show you how to make a crowd-pleasing batch of biscuits.

Points to remember

• Rub the butter into the flour in a large bowl using the tips of your fingers.
• Add the vanilla extract, egg yolks and sugar and mix to a dough with your hands.
• Bring the dough together with your hands.
• If you have a food processor, you can tip in the flour, add the chopped butter and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks and pulse again until it comes together in a dough.
• Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, forming a sausage shape. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160˚C.Cut the dough into 5 mm thick slices, arrange them on greased baking sheets, spacing the biscuits so they have room to spread a little as they cook.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the biscuits are just turning golden around the edges.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Dust generously with icing sugar.
• The biscuits will keep fresh for up to one week stored in an airtight tin.

VIDEO RECIPE

This video uses our Vanilla shortbread dough recipe to make Sugar-dusted vanilla thins. You can use the same dough to make our Lemon star biscuits. All three recipes are below. This is one method of making biscuits – you can adapt it to make your own flavours.

FREEZING THE DOUGH

Once you have formed the dough into a sausage shape, you can freeze it for up to 6 weeks. To use, remove from the freezer, thaw for one hour or until soft enough to slice into biscuits.

The perfect homemade biscuits are light and flaky

Biscuits are one of the simplest quick breads you can make. A plain biscuit is nothing but flour, butter, milk, baking powder, and salt.

The perfect homemade biscuits should be light and airy, fluffy and flaky, and have an outer crust with a satisfying bite. To achieve these aims, you’ll need to use the right technique. Once you know how to do that, making biscuits will be both simple and easy.

To begin with, biscuits are made from flour. So the first thing you want to think about is what kind of flour to use. Cake flour will give you a lighter, fluffier biscuit, but the outer crust won’t have as much bite to it. Conversely, all-purpose flour will provide more bite, but it’ll be a drier, less airy biscuit.

The solution: Use half cake flour and half all-purpose flour. This combination will give you a biscuit with light and airy interior with a pleasant, satisfying bite on the outside.

Also, sifting the flour and other dry ingredients will give you a smoother, airier dough. You don’t even need a flour sifter to do this. A wire mesh strainer will work just fine.

Once you add the liquid, whether it’s milk, buttermilk or whatever, it’s important to remember that the more you mix the dough, the more you exercise the gluten in the flour, which in turn makes the final product tougher. (This isn’t just the case for biscuits, it’s true for anything you bake with flour.) Therefore, you want to mix the dough just until the wet and dry ingredients are combined and no longer.

Watch Now: Easy Homemade Breakfast Biscuits Recipe

Rolling out the Biscuits

The same goes for kneading and rolling out the dough. The more you work it, the tougher it’s going to get. Additionally, in order to roll out the dough out and not have it stick to your rolling pin and whatever surface you’re rolling them on, you’re going to have to dust everything with extra flour. This extra flour, in turn, dries out the dough and makes a tougher biscuit.

Moreover, if you roll out the dough and then use pastry cutters to cut out round biscuits, you’re going to end up with extra scraps of dough. You don’t want to throw these scraps away, so you simply reroll them and cut out more biscuits, and so on, until you’ve used it all. The only trouble is, the more times you reroll the dough, the tougher it’s going to get. That very last biscuit you make is going to be very odd indeed.

Now, maybe you don’t mind this, and if that’s the case, you don’t have a problem. But if you really want the lightest, flakiest biscuit possible, the best way to form the biscuits is by hand. Just gently shape them into little balls and transfer them to a baking sheet. They’ll bake up into the tenderest, flakiest biscuits you ever had. And it’s faster, too. No rolling, cutting, rerolling, and so on. You just roll the dough into balls until there’s no more dough left, and then you bake them. That’s all there is to it.

Cutting in the Fat

Now let’s talk about the fat. What makes a biscuit flaky is the fat, specifically, how the fat is incorporated into the flour. In terms of flakiness, the best fat for making biscuits is probably lard, and vegetable shortening is the next best. In terms of flavor, however, butter is undoubtedly the best, with lard a close second.

On the other hand, biscuits made with butter or lard won’t keep as long as ones made with shortening—but this shouldn’t really be an issue as the biscuits you make using this technique will be so delicious, they’re going to get eaten really quickly. In any event, our first choice is butter.

To ensure maximum flakiness, you want to make sure you use cold butter. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to chill everything—the flour, the butter, the milk, even the bowl you mix it all up in. Colder butter will produce globules of fat that stay separate from the flour, which is what makes a biscuit flaky. The bigger the globules, the flakier the biscuit.

So, what’s the best way of incorporating the fat into the biscuit? The basic technique is something called cutting in the fat, in which a pair of knives or a special tool called a pastry blender is used to literally cut cubes of fat into the flour, forming a lumpy, mealy consistency. Some bakers do this by hand, by rubbing the lumps of fat into the flour.

The problem here is you have to be really fast. If you’re not extremely skilled, your hands will end up just warming up the lumps of butter and your biscuits won’t turn out right. A pastry blender works well, and so does a food processor. That’s right: the easiest and quickest method of all is simply to put the flour in a food processor, add the butter and just give it eight or ten short pulses until the fat is incorporated.

Biscuit Variations

As we mentioned at the start, the basic biscuit recipe is very simple indeed. But you can vary the recipe in any number of ways, and one of the classic variations on biscuits is to use buttermilk in place of regular milk.

Buttermilk will add a rich, tangy flavor to the biscuits, and the acid in the buttermilk will react with the baking powder, thereby giving the biscuits more rise. You can also make biscuits with plain yogurt instead of milk. Or add grated cheddar cheese or chopped herbs. Here’s a simple biscuit recipe to get you started.

When my friend Libb hosted a southern barbecue on her Chicago rooftop, I decided to bring homemade biscuits with honey butter. Once you know how to make biscuits from scratch, you will want to make them all the time. They take just minutes of active preparation time, and you probably have all of the ingredients you need already.

There is major debate about whether to use milk or buttermilk in biscuits. I used both, and this technique worked well. If you don’t have buttermilk, you could just use milk, or milk with a touch of lemon juice or vinegar instead.

In some ways, making biscuits is like making muffins. Both share the same two secrets to success: letting the dough sit, and baking at a high temperature. If you follow these two rules your biscuits, or muffins, will rise perfectly. You want biscuits to be light and doughy, and not dense and hard.

Mixing up the dough takes only 5 minutes, but you want to allocate 30 minutes for the dough sit before cutting and baking. You need to give the baking powder time to work its magic, otherwise the biscuits won’t rise as they bake. The biscuits bake in 12-15 minutes depending on how large you cut them.

Making honey butter is essential – it is just so delicious that it would be a shame not to go through the minor amount of effort to make it. I recommend mixing up the dough, and making the honey butter while the dough rests. This way the butter has time to solidify before the biscuits are done baking. Since it is a 50/50 mix of butter and honey the butter stays soft and spreadable even after refrigerating it.

I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter, but you could simply slice the biscuits into squares. There is no need to go out and buy a biscuit cutter if you don’t have one already. You could make your biscuits slightly larger or smaller, but you will need to adjust the cooking time.

These from scratch biscuits are moist and doughy and perfect slathered with honey butter. The best part is that the active preparation time is just 5 minutes, and the total preparation time is less than an hour.

Making crunchy biscuits at home is very simple, but there are some important rules to follow, starting with the ingredients. Reduce the doses of foods that retain a lot of moisture, such as eggs, butter, milk or brown sugar. For example, pour seed oil if the dough is very dry and some potato starch if it is too wet. So now let’s see how to make crunchy biscuits at home, with tips to follow and mistakes to avoid.

Making crunchy biscuits at home is very simple, but there are some important rules to follow, starting with the ingredients. Reduce the doses of foods that retain a lot of moisture, such as eggs, butter, milk or brown sugar. For example, pour seed oil if the dough is very dry and some potato starch if it is too wet.

Making crunchy biscuits at home is a great idea to enjoy a genuine breakfast. Whether they are simple, whole, enriched with chocolate chips or almonds, the important thing is that our biscuits are crunchy and crumbly. Very often, however, small mistakes during the preparation of the shortcrust pastry make the biscuits come out of the oven too soft or too frothy. So let’s see how to make crunchy biscuits at home, with tips to follow and mistakes to avoid.

The recipe for making crunchy biscuits

In a bowl pour 300grams (about 3 cups) of type 0 flour, 1 sachet of vanilla yeast powder and 70grams (about ⅓ of a cup) of sugar and mix. Pour 10ml of milk at room temperature, 70ml of seed oil and knead well until a soft dough is obtained.

Roll out the dough on a clean work surface with the help of a rolling pin. Make a thin sheet about 4mm and cut the biscuits of the shape you prefer.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, well spaced from each other, and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes.

Tips

To prepare crunchy biscuits, reduce the amount of ingredients that tend to retain moisture, such as 00 type flour, eggs or brown sugar. Prefer white granulated sugar or corn syrup instead, for drier biscuits.

Prefer type 0 flour, which has a protein content higher than the others on the market, which in cooking makes a more crunchy compactness and a golden appearance.

Prefer butter instead of margarine or lard, because it has a rather low melting temperature, which allows the biscuits to flatten in the oven. In addition, the protein content promotes toasting. Remember to add it to the dough at room temperature and not to work it too much with your hands to prevent it from getting too hot.

If you can, avoid the eggs for the dough. They have a very high moisture rate which tends to make the biscuits “spongy” despite baking. As an alternative to eggs, you can add apple juice to the dough, or preferably a drizzle of seed oil.

Make flattened shortcrust pastry disks, helping you to press them lightly with a rolling pin. In the oven they will swell and the risk is that they lose their fragrance. Bake at a lower temperature but for a longer time, to allow time for the shortcrust pastry to flatten before compacting. In this way, the biscuits will also be drier.

Before baking the biscuits, try to lightly moisten the baking paper with which you have covered the pan. This will prevent the bottom of the biscuits from burning.

Mistakes to avoid

Try not to make the shortcrust pastry too moist while you prepare it. If you find you have a very wet dough, add 0 type flour, or preferably corn starch, potato starch or rice flour, which act as thickeners.

If, on the other hand, the mixture is too dry, therefore it feels dry to the touch and tends to crumble, adjust its consistency by adding some seed oil. Avoid adding butter, which could make the dough sticky.

Avoid using the mixer to knead the shortcrust pastry, because it is suitable for creamy preparations, but not for the dough for dry and crunchy biscuits. For consistent doughs such as in this case, the best thing is to work the ingredients by hand and only at the end, after mixing them, to compact everything.

If the recipe requires a rising time, respect it and let the biscuits dough rest in a warm and dry place, covered with a tea towel. If the biscuits do not sufficiently rise, you may get the opposite effect, and the biscuits will be too dry and thin.

To avoid drying out the biscuits too much, the oven temperature should not rise above 180° degrees C, for about 10-12 minutes, in order not to risk having dry or even burnt biscuits. Just prefer a longer cooking, but at lower emperature.

How to preserve biscuits but still keeping them crunchy

Preserve your dry biscuits for about a week, closed in a tin box lined with parchment paper, or a container with an airtight seal, so that they retain fragrance and crunchiness.

Look sharp!

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How to make high-rising biscuits has been many a baker’s challenge down the years. After all, biscuits are an enormous cultural touchstone in the American South, where cooks are often judged by their biscuit prowess. Even north of the Mason-Dixon line, there’s no denying most of us love a tender, flaky biscuit: stuffed with country ham, ladled with sausage gravy, or simply spread with butter.

For such a basic bread, though, biscuits can be tricky. This simple combination of flour, salt, fat, leavening, and liquid can result in biscuits ranging from light and tender to heavy and tough, depending on what specific ingredients you use, and how you put them together.

And while article after article addresses nuances of ingredients and technique (milk vs. buttermilk; patting vs. rolling), few concentrate on the penultimate step to high-rising biscuits: how you cut the dough.

OK, Grandma always used a drinking glass to cut her biscuits, and they were JUST FINE.

But Grandma had also been baking biscuits for years, and knew the perfect amount of buttermilk to splash into the flour, how to mix the dough without toughening it, and how to gently pat it to the ideal thickness. No matter what cutting implement she used, those biscuits were going to be pretty darned good.

Want to know how to make high-rising biscuits? The secret’s right there in your hands.

Many of us today, though, make biscuits infrequently and our skills may not be the greatest. We need all the help we can get every step of the way — and that includes learning how to make high-rising biscuits by using the proper cutter.

Here’s the dough from our Baking Powder Biscuits recipe, patted out, gently rolled to even thickness, and ready to cut.

We’ll try two cutting implements: a drinking glass, and a biscuit cutter.

How to make high-rising biscuits? Choose the right cutter

The biscuit cutter, with its sharp edges, slices through the dough easily, simply by pushing straight down. No need to twist; in fact, twisting will help prevent a clean cut — so don’t do it!

The drinking glass is more of a struggle; I have to twist it and push hard to get it through the dough.

You can see the difference reflected in the cut dough: that’s a hole from the drinking glass on the left, from the biscuit cutter on the right. See the ragged edges left by the drinking glass? Those are the hallmarks of a rough (rather than clean) cut.

A sharp cutter leaves clean edges

Look at the difference in the actual biscuits, too. The drinking glass biscuit (left) shows obvious signs of its edges being compressed, while the biscuit cutter biscuit (right) shows a clean cut, with very little compression.

Why is this important? A biscuit whose edges are squashed together has a harder time rising than one with cleanly cut edges.

Clean edges = high-rising biscuits

The proof’s in the pudding — er, biscuit! On the left, the drinking glass biscuit; see how much shorter it is than the biscuit cut with a sharp cutter? A good set of biscuit cutters is inexpensive and will last you a lifetime.

Still, if you don’t have biscuit cutters you can easily make high-rising biscuits using a sharp knife or pizza wheel.

Don’t have a round cutter? Cut squares

Instead of patting the biscuit dough into a circle, shape it into a square. Use a sharp knife to trim a thin strip of dough all around the edges of the square; then cut the square into smaller squares or diamonds. Bake as directed.

It may seem wasteful, but don’t neglect to trim those edges of the dough before cutting the biscuits. (The trimmings can be baked right along with the biscuits; they’re perfect for nibbling.)

On the left, a biscuit whose untrimmed right edge prevented it from rising evenly.

See what happens if you don’t trim the dough square’s outside edges? Any biscuits including an edge will be misshapen, sloping down towards their untrimmed side.

Still delicious; just not ready for any beauty shots!

You know what the best part about testing biscuit techniques is?

Ending up with LOTS of biscuits!

Luckily, the day I did this testing I also helped prepare dinner at a local homeless shelter; thank you, King Arthur Flour, for providing every employee-owner with 40 paid hours per year to volunteer. Trust me, all of these biscuits ended up in a good place.

Do you have any favorite biscuit-baking tips — something special Grandma shared with you, or you discovered on your own? Please share in comments, below.

Italian biscotti, Scottish shortbread, American cookies, German Lebkuchen, Australian Anzac biscuits – most countries have a favourite biscuit. The most basic recipes involve flour, butter and sugar but the possibilities are almost endless. Spiced with ginger or cinnamon, decorated with icing, dipped in chocolate, sandwiched with buttercream . . . whatever the variation, almost all of them are completely delicious dunked in a cup of tea.

How to make biscuits

Often biscuits are made from a dough which is rolled out like pastry and then shaped with a biscuit cutter. Batch biscuits like these usually involve basic techniques like creaming together butter and sugar, beating an egg or separating an egg. To learn or revise these basic baking techniques consult our ‘How To’ guides.

Not all biscuits are designed to be uniformly cut, though. The charm of a cookie or flapjack comes from a homemade look which involves ditching the cutters and getting your hands involved. These less stringent techniques range from gently pressing an oat flapjack into a tray to flattening balls of dough into cookies.

At the other end of the scale are intricate and stylised biscuits like florentines or macarons which employ more advanced techniques.

Decoration is a big part of biscuit-making. This could range from glace icing to royal icing to a fondant coating or buttercream filling. It might be drizzled, piped or poured.

The three best indicators for telling whether a biscuit is cooked are colour, consistency and smell. Often a biscuit which started as a pale dough will turn golden when it is cooked and start to colour a little round the edges.

Of course, that isn’t always the case; shortbread remains pale even when cooked and recipes which use brown sugar rather than caster, like gingersnaps, will always turn a deeper golden colour. Frustratingly, lots of fan ovens cook in a lopsided fashion and often trays will need turning half way through cooking to ensure an even bake and consistent colour.

The consistency or ‘snapability’ is another good indicator. Again, this varies from biscuit to biscuit and requires a certain amount of judgement. For example a thick American cookie will be softer than a thin cracker. Most biscuits harden as they cool, though, so bear this in mind. It’s good practice to let a biscuit rest on the baking tray for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and then leaving to cool completely before moving to an airtight container.

The biscuit line-up

Anyone who’s spent time baking biscuits will know that it only takes a slight variation in ingredients to change what comes out of the oven.

Some bakers prefer the rich caramel of brown sugar, some favour extra crunch, while others go for more chew. Then there’s the shape to consider: they could be thin and spread out, or high and compact. But how to get the desired result?

In the name of good taste, Alistair Wise made a control biscuit based on his favourite recipe, then altered it a variable at a time. “My favourite is a 50/50 caster-and-brown-sugar biscuit with baking powder that’s been chilled before baking,” says Wise. “It’s a good one because the dough will give similar results even if it’s been frozen. Just don’t keep it in the freezer for more than two weeks.” Wise has his favourite, but each biscuit has its own particular charms – why choose only one?

More on MSN Health:

Step 1

For the control biscuit, beat 125gm butter and 100gm each of caster sugar and brown sugar in an electric mixer until light and creamy (about 5 minutes). Add 1 egg and continue to mix until smooth, then add 225gm (11/2 cups) plain flour and 6gm (about 1 tsp) baking powder.

© Provided by Bauer Media Pty Ltd Step 1

Step 2

Roll into a log in a piece of baking paper, twist ends to tighten, and refrigerate to chill (about 1 hour).

© Provided by Bauer Media Pty Ltd Step 2.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 180°C. Slice log into 12 biscuits and bake on trays lined with baking paper until golden brown (about 15 minutes).

© Provided by Bauer Media Pty Ltd Step 3.

Variations

100 per cent caster sugar: light golden in colour, this version will run a little larger than the control biscuit and tends to be crunchy.

100% brown sugar: dark golden in colour, this makes for a smaller, chewier biscuit.

Extra flour: this biscuit doesn’t spread much while baking so it turns out smaller. It’s similar to a rock cake with a dense texture.

Bicarbonate of soda: replace the baking powder to get a darker colour and a flavour reminiscent of an Anzac biscuit.

50/50 baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: this version has the flavour of an Anzac biscuit, but isn’t as rich as the pure bicarb version. It has a darker colour, and turns out slightly larger.

Melted butter: great for scaling up to make big batches, this version is especially easy to make at home. Mix the flour and sugar together with either baking powder or bicarbonate of soda. Melt the butter and let cool, then add the egg to the mixture with the butter and mix until the dough comes together. This version spreads out more than the others, and is best when baked straight away and not chilled.

Chilled overnight: chilling the mixture for longer overnight allows for more consistent results because you’re always baking it from the same starting temperature, no matter where you are. This variation is the most fail-safe, and tends not to spread out quite as much in the oven.

New flavour combinations

Add a handful of chocolate chips or coconut flakes for a classic cookie taste, or opt for white-chocolate chunks and roughly chopped macadamia nuts. Dates work well with the brown-sugar variation, and an extra sprinkle of cinnamon sugar teams nicely with the white sugar.

*Orange zest is an excellent addition for a little warmth, while peanuts, or even peanut butter (or pretzels!), adds glorious crunch.

See: 25 Biscuit Recipes That Go with Everything (Taste of Home)

Watch: Here’s how chick-fil-a makes their famous biscuits

The public’s stance on cannabis has significantly improved over the last decade and thanks to this, we now have better information than before when it comes to finding different ways of enjoying cannabis.

While there are various ways you can easily enjoy cannabis, there is no denying the fact that one of the best ways to enjoy cannabis with or without your friends while monitoring your dosage is by the means of edibles i.e. Cannabis biscuits (cannabiscuits) — our main topic of today.

Making cannabis biscuits requires that you have some knowledge of cooking and cannabis in order for you to make the perfect cannabis cookies. That being said, let’s take a look into how to make the best cannabiscuits.

One of the main ingredients of cannabis biscuit is cannabutter . If you don’t have access to cannabutter, you can use THC oil or follow the direction below.

How to make your cannabutter oil for the cannabis biscuits

Recipe

• 2 sticks of butter
• ½ ounce of cannabis (remove the stems and seeds)

First off, you need to decarboxylated your cannabis because if you do not, you will end up with a product without the euphoric high.

Some recipes will advise you to decarb the cannabis directly into hot butter or oven. However, the best way to decarb your cannabis is to use the Nova Decarboxylator — this will ensure zero loss of THC (the chemical compound in marijuana that causes the psychotropic effects informally known as “high”). If you don’t have access to the Nova decarboxylator, you can decarb the weed in the oven.

Once you have decarboxylated the cannabis, then follow the directions below for making the cannabutter oil.

1. Grind the weed coarsely with a hand grinder.
2. Set the low cooker to around 160oF (Heat over 200oF will burn and waste the cannabinoids).
3. Add a little water to avoid scorching.
4. Add your butter and the ground cannabis while stirring occasionally.
5. After 3 hours switch off the crockpot and let the butter cool down.
6. Once the butter is cooled down, strain it using a cheesecloth into a jug or jar
7. Lastly refrigerate your butter overnight, and it will be ready for making the cannabis biscuits.

Making the cannabis biscuits (cannabiscuits)

• Chocolate Chip Biscuits
• Pure vanilla extract – 2 teaspoons
• Brown sugar – 2/3 teacup
• Chocolate chips – 1.1/3 teacup
• Flour – 1.1/3 teacup (all-purpose)
• One egg
• Cannabutter – ½ teacup
• Salt – ¼ teaspoon
• Baking soda – ¼ teaspoon
• Granulated sugar – 1/3

Directions

1. Start by whisking together your flour, salt, and baking soda in the right amount in a large mixing bowl.
2. Then, set this dry mix on the side. Measure out ½ a cup of the cannabutter and mix it with your brown sugar and the granulated sugar using a hand mixer to cream it together. (Ensure that your cannabutter is at room temperature before you start mixing).
3. Once it is well mixed, add vanilla and egg in the bowl with the cannabutter and sugar mixture.
4. Combine all these ingredients and mix them until they form a uniform mixture.
5. Take your chocolate chips and stir them into the liquid ingredients using a spatula or spoon. While doing this, ensure that the chocolate chips are evenly distributed in the mixture.
6. To complete the dough, you have to sift the dry ingredients you prepared earlier.
7. Then, add flour, salt, and baking soda to the wet ingredients.
8. Use a spoon to mix the wet and dry ingredients until they form a dough.
9. Use a non-stick cooking spray to spray your cookie sheet
10. Then place your dough balls evenly on this sheet.
11. It is now time to bake your cannabis biscuits.

Cannabis biscuit is one of the perfect ways to enjoy your cannabis because the effects are slightly more psychedelic when compared to smoked cannabis — the effects come slow, but can last up to six hours. Nonetheless, how do you determine the right dose (of THC) for the cannabis biscuits?

Most folks can find frozen or pre-made biscuits in the grocery store, but these taste a bit odd after coming out of the microwave. Heat them up in a conventional oven, and they often taste dry and hard because all the moisture gets lost.

The classic Southern biscuit is served freshly-cooked, with moisture, taste, and warmth all wrapped inside. And it is a mainstay of Southern cooking that has been in place for decades. Fortunately, they are also really easy to make homemade as well.

Time to Prepare: 20 minutes at most

Cooking/Baking Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Southern biscuits usually get their first exposure during breakfast. People have never had them get offered biscuits as an option with breakfast and they try them in a restaurant. After that, the person is usually hooked. Another common fare tends to be the standard, Biscuits & Gravy, also a frequent order on the breakfast menu for dine-in. At home, however, Southern biscuits can be combined with just about anything.

The nice thing about biscuits of any kind tends to be how easy they are to make. The recipe is straightforward, but it can be added to with additional ingredients if you desire for variations. And, if the biscuit comes out less than perfect, no one really notices much.

They taste so good, even the odd biscuits get eaten pretty quick. And with practice comes perfection and simplicity. The more one practices baking and cooking, the more you will know about the equipment in your kitchen and the nuances that might change a recipe slightly from what you read.

When done right, a good Southern biscuit isn’t greasy or heavy. Instead, it has a lightness to it, feels and tears apart fluffy, and you feel the steam coming out from it as the heat is released. The outer layer can be a bit crispier, the inside is soft and chewy. A lot of those features come about because of how the preparation process is followed.

With normal bread dough, the material is mixed, battered, flattened, and flattened again. All of this abuse is intended to remove the air bubbles from the dough. However, with the dough used in biscuits, the opposite is intended.

The air bubbles are what give biscuits their texture and results. So, you don’t want them to disappear. That means no dough pounding. Instead, the dough will expand and rise, and that in turn will give the soft lightness in the biscuit when fully baked and ready.

The equipment needed is basic. A cake pan, cookie pan, or basic sheet will all work. Some folks even go so far as to bake the biscuits in a skillet because it changes the outside but keeps the inside of the biscuits very soft with steam. In every case, preheating is needed for a desired outer baking.

The type of lard used in the recipe will have an effect as well. Southern biscuits are often cooked with shortening, but butter can be used used as well for the same effect. It often provides more flavor than lard as well. Milk can also substitute for buttermilk. But if you want the biscuits to be completely dead on, buttermilk is the better way to go for taste and flavor.

Instructions on Making Homemade Southern Biscuits

Ingredients

• Three cups of flour
• Four and a half teaspoons of baking powder
• One and a half teaspoons of salt
• One-quarter teaspoon of baking soda
• Three-fourths of a cup of butter in small pieces
• Two cups of buttermilk (or milk)

Step One: Preparation

Preheat your conventional oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Get a large mixing bowl, spatula and a whisk ready.

Step Two: Preparing the Dough

Mix in the baking powder and soda, flour, salt all into the mixing bowl. Mix it with the whisk so that everything is properly blended and not in clumps. Add the butter pieces to the mix as well at this point. Once you have consistency, it’s time to add in the buttermilks while stirring at the same time in a gentle motion. Use a spatula or spoon for this part of the job. Don’t pour it all in immediately. Instead, pour and mix repeatedly.

Step Three: Shaping and Forming

By this point, the dough has formed, and it can be poured out on to a workspace is already dusted with flour. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough gently into a circle. The desired depth is about one inch of thickness.

Step Four: Cut the Rounds

With pre-designed biscuit cutter carve out the shapes of the biscuits from the dough. If you have leftover and can combine it into another biscuit, do so. Place each cut biscuit shape into a baking pan with enough room that the edges are just in contact with each other.

Step Five: Baking

Insert the pan into the oven and bake for a maximum of 15 minutes (your time might vary a bit less depending on your oven). Ideally, the outside of the biscuits should be a light golden brown on the top part and lighter on the sides.

You definitely don’t want a deep brown as by this point the biscuits are burning and will be hard as rocks. Once out and the oven is closed, use a spatula to carefully move the biscuit from the baking pan. Place them in a bowl and serve.

If folks are not quite ready to eat the ready biscuits, just put a napkin over the bowl. This will trap some of the heat until ready. Baked southern biscuits can be eaten with all kinds of toppings, and folks regularly eat them with honey, jelly, jam, gravy, or just plain butter. To each their own, but don’t expect any to be leftover. Cooked biscuits go quick!

Since biscuits are best taken fresh out of the oven; just like most baked goods, keeping them in an airtight container could preserve them for a couple of days. To get the best out of them in this period, re-toast them for a few minutes to get them soft and warm again. Use a temperature of about 350 0 to re-toast to get a fresh-tasting and buttery biscuit.

Side Notes regarding how to bake biscuits:

• Instead of the traditional flour, other types of flour such as wheat flour or almond flour can be used. For every ½ cup of all-purpose flour, replace it with 1 cup whole-wheat flour.
• For sweet biscuits or shortcakes and other desserts, add 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar to your dry ingredients to achieve this.
• If you are out of buttermilk, then you can substitute with a quick substitute made from plain milk and Lemon juice or Vinegar.
• Remember that a very hot oven is a major element of achieving the perfect biscuit
• The trick to making your biscuit even more fantastic is using butter that is very cold; never forget this.

While some people prefer to use cold egg and cold milk in the mixture to preserve the butter from melting, it is an optional thing. As you have noticed we haven’t used eggs and cold milk, but if you think you want to work with these; then use them proportionately. Don’t go all crazy with these.

If you follow the instructions given from this post, you will become an expert on how to bake biscuits.

Also check out our website for other interesting content and recipes.

• 6 Apr 2020, 9:23
• Updated : 6 Apr 2020, 12:31

• Invalid Date,

BAKERS have shared their simple recipe for making biscuits at home if you can’t find any on the supermarket shelves during the coronavirus pandemic.

If you are hankering for something to dip into your tea, the team at The Big Bakes have revealed how to make a classic biscuit using just flour, sugar, butter and some water.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

Head baker Nyssa shared the recipe on Instagram, saying: “Want to bake along with a super easy recipe using ingredients in your cupboards?”

Their method bakes a basic crunchy biscuit, but she said you can add any flavourings you have to hand, such as citrus zest, spices or even some chocolate chips – or leave it plain.

Sharing their step-by-step method online, they said it’s “a super easy recipe for a home baked sweet treat!

“Perfect activity for those who are self-isolating. Stay safe. “

First you need to measure out your ingredients, then pop the flour and sugar in a big mixing bowl.

Add any flavourings you like, then tip the butter in.

Using your fingertips, mix the ingredients to form a “breadcrumb consistency”.

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Nyssa added: “It’s important to use your fingertips because if you use your hands, the palms, they’re too warm, the butter will melt.

“And we don’t want that because we want a nice snappy, crumbly biscuit.”

When you’ve achieved a breadcrumb texture, add in water bit by bit – being careful not to overdo it as you can’t take the liquid out.

Nyssa added to add water slowly until you get a nice soft dough which comes together nicely, and isn’t sticky or too wet.

Recipe for three-ingredient biscuits

• 175g Plain Flour
• 50g Sugar
• 100g Butter

Next pinch off small even pieces of dough and roll them into a ball, and place on a baking tray evenly spaced out.

Pop them in your pre-heated oven, with Nyssa saying she put hers on 160c for around 10 minutes.

Let them cool before eating or decorating them, and pop the kettle on.

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Follow these tips and nothing can go wrong.

Homemade biscuits are a real treat, but can also be a labour of love, so you want to get it right first time. If you’ve ever wondered why your biscuits are too tough and hard, or why your biscuits spread when baking, read on…

Butter is better

Unless you don’t eat dairy, butter makes the best biscuits, so make sure to use it. Margarine doesn’t have the complexity of flavour or give such a crisp texture.

Use the right equipment

Biscuits don’t need to rise a lot and can become brittle and full of air pockets if you beat the dough with a handwhisk.

Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients, or try a food processor – they’re great for mixing without aerating.

Chill it

Do you find your biscuits spread too much? The dough is probably too warm.

Nearly all biscuit and cookie doughs benefit from being chilled before they are rolled out or shaped.

This helps to solidify the butter, meaning the biscuits hold their shape better during cooking. It also stops them from being too greasy.

Don’t over roll
Wondering why your biscuits are too hard? If you’re making shaped biscuits, don’t re-roll the trimmings too many times. Doing this develops gluten and makes tough biccies. If you find the dough is becoming elastic and hard to roll, wrap it in cling film and chill it for 10min to allow the gluten to relax.

Tough stuff

Another reason your biscuits are tooth-breakingly hard might be that you might be cooking them for too long. Biscuits straight from the oven can feel a bit soft even when they’re fully cooked (they firm up as they cool), so that isn’t a good indicator that they’re finished baking.

If the surface feels sandy and dry when you run your finger over them, that’s a better sign that they’re done.

Falling apart

Conversely you might find that your biscuits are too crumbly.

The likelihood here is that your recipe needs a bit more liquid, or your recipe has too high a ratio of flour.

Be sparing with any flour you put on the work surface to roll your dough too. Too much will dry it out and cause the cookie to crumble (so to speak).

Soggy bottoms

If your freshly baked biscuits seem too soft after they’re cooled, then they‘re either under baked, or there is too much liquid in the recipe.

Great shape

When stamping out biscuits with a cutter, you might find that they stretch as you transfer them to the tray with your hands, and become misshapen.

Use a palette knife or fish slice to lift them instead. If you’re making cookies or drop-biscuits, use a small ice cream scoop to portion out the dough so they’re all exactly the same size.

Give them some room

Space biscuits well apart on the baking tray. This allows them to cook evenly, and if they do spread a little, they won’t join together.

Freezing biscuit dough

If you want to make biscuits in advance, you can wrap and freeze the ball of dough, then defrost it and continue with the recipe.

Alternatively, shape the biscuits, then open freeze them on a lined baking tray and bag up once solid.

The biscuits can then be cooked from frozen as and when you fancy (just add a few extra mins on to the cook time). This works particularly well with sturdy doughs like choc chip cookies.

How to stop biscuits going soft
If you find your biscuits go too soft after baking, rethink your storage. Sugar attracts moisture and homemade biccies often contain a lot of it, so they are prone to losing their crunch.

To stop biscuits getting soft, make sure your container is airtight and put a layer of dry rice in the bottom of it to absorb any rogue water particles in the air.

Reviving stale biscuits

To rescue biscuits that have gone soft, pop them on a lined baking tray and bake at around 160°C (140°C fan) mark 3 for a few min, to try and drive some of the excess moisture out of them.

Let them cool on a wire rack. It doesn’t work in all cases, but it’s worth giving a go if you’re thinking of disposing of them.

November 11, 2016

Southern Biscuits are the quintessential bread of the south!

Growing up, I would typically find one or both of the offerings at a southern table, biscuits and cornbread. It was not a meal without them. So over the years, I have tried many and I do mean many, recipes for them both. I have my mom’s recipe that she would use, but they just never turned out like I remember. I think it has something to do with how our ingredients are processed today.

When I lived in England and then Ireland, I missed my southern biscuits so much! That started my search for a biscuit recipe that I could adapt and enjoy as a bit of home loving comfort food. My biggest tip for any kind of baking, is to always you the best quality and freshest ingredients you can get your hands on. If your flours and baking powders or baking sodas have been sitting around for a while, you won’t get the best results. Do an inventory check to make sure your baking supplies are up to speed, then get in your kitchen and enjoy baking.

I’m back in the south now, and have once again, found what recipe works best and what needs to be done to create layers of flaky, delicious biscuits. The key is to layer the dough a few times before cutting out the biscuits and to never ever twist the cutter when cutting (doing so will seal the edges and prevent it from properly rising).

Here are some tasty toppings to enjoy on your biscuits:

• Butter
• Honey
• Jams & Jellies
• Gravy
• Fried Chicken with Balsamic Maple drizzle
• Sausages (great with a bit of grape jelly on there too)
• Steak (Yup!)
• Eggs
• Or just about anything that makes you happy
• Don’t forget that you can enjoy them with Soups and Chili too

How to make vegan biscuits

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN BISCUITS
Add all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
Then add vegan butter and mix it in with your fingers until crumbly.

15 min Serves 8 Medium

Table of Contents

These vegan biscuits are deliciously fluffy and soft and so easy to make. Perfect served warm with some vegan butter or add gravy for a delicious vegan biscuits and gravy treat!

These vegan biscuits are simply divine. They are so soft and fluffy and best served fresh from the oven!

Now I know you might be wondering, what’s the difference between a biscuit and a scone? Cos these also look just like scones right? Right.

There isn’t a huge difference at all between a biscuit and a scone, the main difference is that biscuits are more savory and scones are more sweet. But we’re talking subtle differences here. So while I used a few tablespoons of sugar in my vegan scones, I used only one tablespoon in these biscuits.

And then scones are usually served with jam and whipped cream, whereas biscuits are often served as a side and sometimes topped with gravy too and that’s not something you’d ever do with a scone.

Though you can also eat a biscuit with jam. So basically, same same but different.

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN BISCUITS

• Add all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
• Then add vegan butter and mix it in with your fingers until crumbly.
• Add some soy milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix into a dough.
• Move the dough from the mixing bowl out onto a flour dusted surface and flatten it with your hands. Dip a smooth cutter in flour and then use that to cut out 4 biscuits. Then repeat and cut out 2 more biscuits and then repeat again to get your final 2 biscuits. You should have 8 biscuits at this point, though you may also get 9.

• Place your biscuits onto a parchment lined baking tray and brush the tops with a little soy milk.
• Place into the oven to bake for 15 minutes at 430°F until golden brown on top.
• Let them cool for a few minutes and then serve!

HOW TO SERVE VEGAN BISCUITS

Serve them warm and fresh from the oven with some vegan butter. You can also add jam if you want a sweeter version.

Another option is to serve them with some vegan gravy or vegan mushroom gravy for a delicious vegan biscuits and gravy treat!

STORING YOUR BISCUITS

This is not an ideal recipe for storing as they are really the most delicious on the day of baking. They are edible the next day but there is a significant reduction in tastiness. So fresh is best for these. If you do have leftovers then store them in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy the next day.

MORE VEGAN SIDE DISHES

1. Vegan Scalloped Potatoes
2. Vegan Garlic Bread
3. Vegan Green Bean Casserole
4. Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
5. Vegan Cornbread
6. Vegan Mashed Potatoes

How to make vegan biscuits

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN BISCUITS
Add all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
Then add vegan butter and mix it in with your fingers until crumbly.

Ingredients

• 3 cups (375g) All Purpose Flour (plus more for dusting)
• 1 Tbsp White Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
• 3/4 cup (180ml) Soy Milk (plus more for brushing over the tops of the biscuits)
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 430°F (220°C)
2. Add the all purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
3. Then add the vegan butter and mix it in with your fingers until crumbly.
4. Add the soy milk, lemon juice and vanilla and mix it into a dough.
5. Move the dough from the mixing bowl out onto a flour dusted surface. Flour your hands and use your hands to flatten the dough. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. Dip a smooth cutter in flour and then use that to cut out 4 biscuits.
6. Roll the dough again and then flatten again with your hands and cut out 2 more biscuits and then repeat again to get your final 2 biscuits for a total of 8 biscuits (though you may get 9).
7. Place your biscuits onto a parchment lined baking tray and brush the tops with a little soy milk.
8. Place into the oven to bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top.
9. Let them cool for a few minutes and then serve!
10. It will be helpful to weigh out the flour on a food scale OR make sure to measure using the correct spoon and level method for measuring flour.
11. You can leave the sugar out entirely in these biscuits if you prefer, though even with the sugar they are not sweet.
12. It definitely is 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, don’t worry it’s not a typo. 🙂 This is what makes them really fluffy.
13. You could try a different non-dairy milk if you have an issue with soy, but we have only tested this with soy milk.

How to Make PERECT Buttermilk Biscuits that are tall, flaky, and tender. Just 30 minutes to homemade biscuits your family & friends will love! Download my free biscuit guide here.

Yield: 8 to 10 biscuits

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes

Tessa’s Recipe Rundown.

Taste: Buttery tangy goodness ready for jam, gravy, or honey.
Texture: The outside is slightly crisp while the inside is super light and fluffy with flaky buttery layers throughout. No hockey puck biscuits here!
Ease: Super duper easy and I’ve included tons of tips and insights into the science of biscuits below.
Pros: Quick comfort food.
Cons: Probably not an everyday indulgence.
Would I make this again? I’ve made this recipe many times!

Sadly I didn’t grow up eating biscuits. Really the only time we ate them was when we got a KFC family meal and I didn’t even like those biscuits.

I didn’t learn how to make biscuits until culinary school. Though I certainly wouldn’t have minded having a sweet southern grandma teaching me how to make them growing up.

I’ve come along way since those bland KFC biscuits so today I’m sharing my favorite buttermilk biscuit recipe today alongside all the tips and tricks you need to make tender, flaky, light, and golden brown biscuits. I promise these will knock your socks off!

One of my favorite ways to serve these biscuits is either with some blueberry lavender jam or with some salted honey. They also make for great mini breakfast sandwich sliders!

How to Make Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits

Do I have to use buttermilk?

To create the best flavor AND texture, yes. I’d highly recommend using real buttermilk.

I’ve done extensive side-by-side testing on buttermilk vs. buttermilk substitutes (including powdered buttermilk) or vs. regular milk. You can read about my science of baking & buttermilk experiments here: Buttermilk 101.

At the end of the day, I find nothing quite compares to the tangy taste and thick texture of the real thing.

If you can’t use real buttermilk, you can use this substitute: 1 scant cup whole milk + 2 teaspoons distilled vinegar or lemon juice. If you’re using this substitute then I’d recommend adding some other flavor additions to the dough, such as shredded cheese, diced jalapeno, garlic powder, green onion, or everything bagel seasoning.

How to Make TENDER Biscuits

This all comes down to be super gentle with the dough. I usually make biscuits by hand with a pastry cutter because you’re less likely to overwork the dough and it’s still super quick and easy. I’ve also included instructions for using a food processor in the recipe below, if you’d prefer.

I like my biscuits to be slightly crunchy on the outside and tender and fluffy on the inside, which is what this recipe produces.

However, If you like very tender biscuits, try using a southern-style flour such as White Lilly which has a lower percentage of protein. If you can’t find that, you can create a ratio of All-purpose flour combined with pastry flour to get a similar result.

Whichever flour you use, make sure to MEASURE CORRECTLY. Too much flour will result in dense, dry, and tough biscuits.

Butter or Shortening?

I’ve also done side-by-side testing with biscuits made with butter vs. shortening and found I really prefer the taste and texture of 100% butter.

However, biscuits made with shortening create a more traditional Southern-style texture. If you want, use half shortening and half butter.

How to Make TALL Biscuits

The first step to creating tall biscuits is to do a quick “lamination” of the dough. Basically, you pat the dough out into a rectangle then fold it up into an envelope then repeat that process. I’ve included pictures below.

Now this step is optional if you don’t want to spend the time or energy on it the biscuits will still come out great. However, by taking this extra step you’re guaranteeing the biscuits will bake up tall with distinct layers of flaky goodness.

Tall biscuits require tall dough, 1-inch in height to be exact. You could even pat the dough out to 1 1/4-inches for mile high biscuits but note you’ll end up with fewer biscuits.

Another trick to ensuring you get tall biscuits is to use a metal biscuit cutter. You want to create sharp edges when you shape the biscuit dough so nothing prevents the biscuits from rising. Do NOT twist the biscuit cutter as you shape the dough. That’s why a biscuit cutter with a handle is extra useful.

Baking Biscuits

A great trick to further ensure tall & flaky biscuits is to pop the tray of unbaked shaped biscuits in the freezer while your oven preheats. This keeps the butter extra cold. That way when the biscuits hit the heat of the oven the steam from the water in the butter creates those tall flaky layers. It’s the same idea as pie dough.

I prefer my biscuits to develop a golden crust, but I also know people who prefer their biscuits to be super pale and tender all the way through. Adjust the baking time for your unique oven and preferences. Whatever you do, just make sure your oven is fully preheated and hot enough. This is what helps the biscuits rise tall. Play it safe by waiting at least 10 minutes after your oven tells you it’s preheated.

How to Make Biscuits Ahead of Time

Since biscuits are best served the day they’re baked, use these instructions for making them ahead of time. You can do this with the whole batch of whatever you don’t want to eat in a day.

Place the unbaked shaped biscuit dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Remove to an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake as directed, adding an additional 5 minutes to the baking time, or until golden brown.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and dust the dough with flour. I like to use a powdered sugar shaker to dust the perfect amount of flour without using too much. Gently pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle using your hands. You don’t need to use a rolling pin if you don’t want to!

Fold the dough into thirds like a letter. Don’t worry if it’s not absolutely perfect. You want to be quick and gentle with the dough and only use as much flour as necessary to prevent it from sticking. Adding too much flour will create dense and tough biscuits. A bench scraper makes easy work of moving the dough without having it stick.

Repeat this process two more times, rotating the dough 90 degrees before each fold. By the time you’re done you will have created layers of butter similar to a croissant so the biscuit bakes up perfectly tall and flaky.

Learn the secrets for tender, flaky homemade biscuits.1. To make homemade biscuits, combine flour, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl, and stir until well blended.2. Cut in shortening and chilled butter with a pastry blender or a fork until crumbly. Add buttermilk and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.3. Sprinkle flour lightly onto the work surface, and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. The dough will be very soft. Generously sprinkle the dough and the work surface with flour, flouring your hands, as well.4. To knead, fold 1 side of the dough over, push away, turn dough, and repeat 20 to 25 times. Work in the flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface or your hands.5. Stop a couple of times during kneading to press the dough with your finger. When it springs back, stop kneading.6. Use your fingers to pat dough into a ¾-inch-thick circle, about 8 1/2-inches in diameter. Cut dough with a well-floured 2-inch round cutter. Make sure to cut the biscuits straight down. If you twist the cutter, it will seal the edges of the biscuit, reduce the rise, and cause them to bake lopsided. 7. Place the biscuits on ungreased baking sheets. Use a bench scraper to make fast work of transferring biscuits to the baking sheets. If you like biscuits with crusty sides, place them 1 inch apart on a shiny baking sheet. For soft sides, arrange them close together in a baking pan.8. Knead the remaining dough 3 or 4 times and repeat the procedure to cut out additional biscuits.9. Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter and bake at 500 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes or until they’re golden. Get the Recipe: Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

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2. Cut in shortening and chilled butter with a pastry blender or a fork until crumbly. Add buttermilk and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Sprinkle flour lightly onto the work surface, and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. The dough will be very soft. Generously sprinkle the dough and the work surface with flour, flouring your hands, as well.

4. To knead, fold 1 side of the dough over, push away, turn dough, and repeat 20 to 25 times. Work in the flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface or your hands.

5. Stop a couple of times during kneading to press the dough with your finger. When it springs back, stop kneading.

6. Use your fingers to pat dough into a ¾-inch-thick circle, about 8 1/2-inches in diameter. Cut dough with a well-floured 2-inch round cutter. Make sure to cut the biscuits straight down. If you twist the cutter, it will seal the edges of the biscuit, reduce the rise, and cause them to bake lopsided.

7. Place the biscuits on ungreased baking sheets. Use a bench scraper to make fast work of transferring biscuits to the baking sheets. If you like biscuits with crusty sides, place them 1 inch apart on a shiny baking sheet. For soft sides, arrange them close together in a baking pan.

8. Knead the remaining dough 3 or 4 times and repeat the procedure to cut out additional biscuits.

9. Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter and bake at 500 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes or until they’re golden.

Whether you’re ready to venture away from the can for the first time or you’re just looking to jazz up your tried and true buttermilk biscuit recipe, this is the guide for you.

A good biscuit is a work of art. Whether they’re flakey, buttery, or made with a hefty dose of a tangy buttermilk, there’s nothing like biting into a fluffy biscuit, especially freshly baked. In some families, especially those with enthusiastic cooks, homemade biscuits can also take on a bit of a mythos, turning family meals into competitions to see who has the best recipe. But with plenty of pre-made canned and frozen biscuits to choose from, it’s easy enough for biscuit enthusiasts to make these doughy delights a regular feature of home-cooked meals without ever making them from-scratch.

While we absolutely love the convenience of a canned biscuit, we think everyone should try to whip up their own at least once. The process admittedly takes more time than popping open a can, but the results are well worth it. And the good news is that biscuits are one of the easiest bread products to make at home; it only takes a few ingredients, and you don’t even have to bust out a rolling pin if you don’t want to (more on that later). Use our guide to make your very first from-scratch batch, or to perfect the biscuits you plan to serve at your next brunch.

Cooking dinner shouldn’t be complicated

Step One: Make A Basic Dough

To make a good biscuit dough, you need just a few different elements: flour, a leavener, fat, and a liquid element (preferably containing some more fat) to bring the dough together. That means that if you’re just making your first biscuits, you can throw a batch together using nothing more than self rising flour, shortening and milk, as seen in the Homemade Biscuits recipe above.

However, if you’re looking for a more flavorful biscuit, or one with a more specific texture, you may need to change up your dough formula a bit. Exchanging buttermilk for the milk, and adding in a bit of honey, will take your biscuits to the next level. If you’re looking for extra flaky biscuits, you can cut cold butter into your dough using a pastry cutter (or your fingertips!). You’ll also want to chill the flour after you’ve cut in the butter to better preserve the small butter clumps of you’ve created. Those little pebbles will give your biscuit the classic texture you’re looking for.

As with other baking projects, remember to keep your solid and liquid components separate until you’re ready to bring the dough together. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to stick strictly to commercial white or wheat flour. You can make biscuits incorporating cornmeal, bran, gluten-free flour—really any flour type you like. Feel free to experiment and find out what works best for you.

Tender, flaky, and incredibly versatile.

A good biscuit recipe is a must in any kitchen—they’re a perfect side for Southern dishes, a tender topper for savory casseroles and desserts like cobblers and shortcake, and arguably the most important half of biscuits and gravy, among other things. So we spoke to an expert to get her tips for the best biscuits every time.

Biscuits are many things to many people—round and flat cookies to the British, skinny and crunchy accompaniments to coffee for the Italians—but at Kahnfections in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, the biscuit is something else. Chef-owner Judy Kahn makes a buttermilk biscuit that is familiar to American eaters. And when Kahn turns it into a sandwich special, stuffed with lox and egg, it turns into a destination-worthy treat.

Kahn prefers buttermilk to cream biscuits for the rich, tangy flavor imparted by the cultured milk. To make the perfect biscuits, Kahn offers a few key pieces of advice for how to make fluffy, not dense, biscuits at home.

Start with Great Ingredients

In addition to sweet cream unsalted butter and swiss cheese, each cut into tiny pieces, Kahn’s biscuits include fresh buttermilk, green onions, and fresh dill. “The fat content is not the issue,” Kahn says. What is important is to “make sure all the ingredients taste good before you start.”

A Few Techniques to Make Better Biscuit Dough

Start by adding any inclusions—dill and ground black pepper, in this case—to the dry flour, then incorporate the butter and cheese. Cutting the butter and cheese into very small pieces is important to evenly distribute the fats throughout the flour, but Kahn does leave a few larger pieces. “The larger pieces add flakes and layers,” she says. Her bakery team uses a pastry blender—that U-shaped tool with slats across the bottom—a tool perfectly designed to evenly distribute the fats through the dough.

OXO Pastry Blender, $30 from Sur La Table

Then chill the fatted flour. Yes, this dough needs to chillax. Seriously, after mixing in the salt and leavening, put the dough in the fridge alongside the other, as yet unmixed ingredients: buttermilk and egg yolks. “You want everything as cold as possible,” says Kahn. It keeps the butter from melting when mixing and folding but, more importantly, “if the butter melts, you are not going to get those layers,” says Kahn. Put everything in the fridge overnight and let that dough rest.

Fold like You Mean It—Fold Like a Boss

After mixing in the cold liquids (buttermilk and egg yolks), folding the dough helps build flaky layers. Kahn teaches her crew to do a series of folds and pats, usually four sequences—fold, pat, fold, pat, fold, pat, fold, pat—to bring the dough together, eliminate dry spots, and get the dough ready for cutting.

Avoid Re-Rolling

Round cutters are traditional and many bakeries stick with this tried and true shape. Not Kahn. After cutting, “rounds leave a bunch of scraps which you have to re-roll. You lose the layers when you re-roll and the finished product is not as flaky.” Kahn flattens the dough into a huge rectangle and cuts square biscuits. No re-rolling. No waste. To avoid disturbing the layers you just worked so hard to craft, Kahn recommends cutting straight down into the dough with your pastry knife. Leave the angles to cakes.

De Buyer Square Pastry Cutter Set, $35 from Food52

Get Thy Biscuits to an Oven

Kahn starts the biscuits in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven and reduces the temperature to 350 halfway through cooking. This baking process allows the dough to “rise nicely and brown up but cook all the way through without scorching or drying out.” Once the biscuits have cooled slightly, stuff with scrambled egg, a bit of red onion, lox, and lemon aioli to achieve a near-nirvana mix of savory, sweet, and crunchy. Or stop in at Kahn’s shop on a quiet, industrial street to experience her version. It is worth the trip (and they are delivering during the current COVID-19 crisis).

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I love light and fluffy biscuits with melted butter and jam. For the longest time, I could never figure out the secret to getting fluffy Bisquick Biscuits. This post contains affiliate links.

Growing up in Texas, biscuits have always been a nostalgic comfort food to me. My parents would often make Bisquick biscuits on Saturday mornings. They would call them “bickies.”

I like the flavor of Bisquick biscuits, so I usually make them, but I could never get mine to rise up high and be soft and fluffy. Then, I learned the secret!

What’s the secret to soft and fluffy Bisquick Biscuits?

The secret I found that works every single time is using 7UP and sour cream. I have made Bisquick 7UP Biscuits so many times, and they have never failed me. They always come out beautiful and fluffy and rise up high.

How do you make Bisquick 7UP Biscuits?

This recipe always gives me about 18 biscuits, which is always too many to fit together in a 13 x 9 casserole dish. I can fit 15 in one of those, but not 18. So, I’ve taken to baking them in a deep baking sheet.

I preheat the baking sheet with 1/2 a stick of butter in the oven while I’m making up the biscuit dough.

Combine Bisquick, sour cream, and 7UP all together at once. I find it’s best to just mix it with a fork until it forms a ball. It will be very sticky and very soft and fluffy.

You cannot make this dough with a mixer. I’ve tried. It comes out a mess. I thought it would help be less sticky, and I was wrong.

I keep 1/2 cup of Bisquick or 1/2 cup of flour and sprinkle half of it on the counter or a mat or even some parchment paper. Flour your hands before touching the dough because it is so stick.

I lay out the dough and sprinkle the rest of the flour or Bisquick on top. You might even need more because this dough is so sticky. I need it a few times and then when it’s become less sticky, I start rolling it out.

I roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch high and then cut biscuits with a drinking glass.

This is when I pull the baking sheet back out of the oven. At this point, the butter should have completely melted.

I lay the biscuits right next to each other in lines. I read somewhere that biscuits that cook right next to each other rise up higher, so that’s how I always do it.

Then, bake for about 12-15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. I usually stick with about 14 minutes.

Can I make these Bisquick 7UP Biscuits in the toaster oven?

I prefer the regular oven because I think they cook better than in a toaster oven. But it can be done.

I have found if you use a toaster oven, the time might need to go longer. When I’ve baked these in a toaster oven, I have found that they need to cook longer. When the tops were golden brown, the bottoms were still raw dough. Now when I cook them in a toaster oven, I make sure it’s completely heated up, and I let them go up to 18-20 minutes.

Can you use Sprite instead of 7UP?

Yes! I have used 7UP, Sprite, and even off brand lemon lime soda, and my biscuits have come out wonderfully every time.

Can you use diet 7UP instead of regular?

If you can find a lemon lime soda that is sweetened with sucralose (Splenda) or stevia, then yes, you can use that as a substitute.

But, I would not recommend using diet soda sweetened with aspartame (Nutrasweet or Equal). According to the FDA, aspartame is not heat stable and will separate when baking.

How do you reheat leftover Fluffy Bisquick Biscuits?

I store the leftover biscuits on the counter in a ziplock bag for up to 3-4 days. Usually, they don’t last long as everyone wants to eat the leftovers the very next day.

If you want to reheat the biscuits, 30 seconds is usually just perfect to melt better.

Posted by Sarah Wais | Sep 2, 2020 |

Soft and buttery, there’s nothing quite like homemade biscuits from scratch. This easy biscuit recipe is great for weekend mornings or brunches with friends.

Warm, flaky biscuits are a classic for a reason. Whether you spread them with butter, top them with strawberry jam, or indulge in biscuits and gravy, you can’t go wrong with this easy biscuit recipe!

Made using staple pantry ingredients, these biscuits are quick and easy to whip up. Enjoy them hot and fresh out of the oven, or use them instead of bread for a fun twist on a fried chicken sandwich!

Easy Homemade Biscuit Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional*)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½ in. cubes
• ¾ cup milk, plus more for brushing

*If you’re planning to serve the biscuits as a dessert (or with jam or something sweet), use the sugar. It will add just a little hint of sweetness to your biscuit dough. If you’re serving the biscuits with something savory, such as gravy, omit it for that classic biscuit taste.

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar (if using), baking powder and salt. Using a fork or whisk, mix dry ingredients until combined.

Step 3: Using a pastry cutter, or two forks, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

The coarser the size of the ‘crumbs’, the flakier your biscuits will be. If the butter pieces are small and fine, your biscuits might turn out chewy and have less flaky layers.

Step 4: Add milk to the flour.

Stir to form a shaggy dough. Be careful not to overmix, as you don’t want to develop too much gluten. Just a simple stir to make sure most of the flour is wet. Don’t worry, it will look worse before it looks better!

Step 5: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 3 to 4 times, or until the dough just comes together.

If you work the dough too much, you’ll overdevelop gluten and your biscuits will come out tough. Less is more when it comes to kneading biscuit dough. You just want it to hold together so you can roll it out with a rolling pin.

Step 6: Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about a ¾ in. thickness.

Make sure to lightly flour your rolling pin if your biscuit dough is sticky.

Step 7: Cut the dough using a 2 in. round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, then place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Dough scraps can be rerolled once, but rerolling any more than that might result in tough biscuits, so cut out your circles as close together as you can to get the best use of your dough.

Don’t have a cutter on hand? You can use the rim of a drinking glass or cut the dough into squares or rectangles with a knife.

Step 8: Once all your biscuits have been cut out, lightly brush the tops with milk.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly golden brown.

How to measure flour

While it may be tempting to just scoop and drop the flour into your bowl, this could result in you actually adding too much flour, causing your biscuits to be dry and crumbly.

The best way to measure flour is to use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into a measuring cup, then leveling off the excess with a flat spatula or knife.

Why are my biscuits hard?

If your biscuits come out hard and crumbly, it’s most likely because the dough was overworked during the kneading process. To prevent that, mix your dough just until it comes together. You should still see bits of butter in your dough.

How to make flaky biscuits

The key to a delicious, flaky biscuit is all in the kneading process. It’s important not to overwork the dough. Mix it just until it holds together.

Also make sure your butter is cold when you incorporate it into the flour. If you’re using melted butter or even room temperature butter, your biscuits will not bake correctly.

Why are my biscuits dry and crumbly?

Dry and crumbly biscuits are often caused by adding too much flour. Remember, don’t scoop and drop your flour – use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into the measuring cup, then level it off with a spatula.

You can always sprinkle your dough with additional flour if it’s too sticky, but you can’t take the flour away if you’ve added too much!

Can I make biscuits with baking soda?

Since baking soda needs both a liquid and an acidic ingredient in order to activate, it will not work as a replacement for baking powder in this recipe. Baking powder contains baking soda and an acid, so it only needs a liquid to work, making it perfect for these biscuits!

How to store biscuits

Biscuits are best served warm and fresh out of the oven, but you can certainly store leftovers covered, at room temperature, for 1 to 2 days. If covered and stored in the fridge, they’ll keep for about a week.

How do you like your biscuits? Do you turn it into a homemade breakfast sandwich or enjoy it with peanut butter and bananas? Or maybe you keep it simple with butter and raspberry jam.

Regardless, we’d love to see how you’ve put this recipe to use! Share a picture of your biscuit-baking adventures on Instagram and tag us @wiltoncakes.

Looking for more cooking and baking inspiration? Check out these blog posts!