Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Buttermilk Biscuits - Just like Cracker Barrel!





My daughter, Rebecca has been it again!  She has beat me at my own game!

I consider myself a biscuit connoisseur!  I grew up with only southern homemade biscuits (unless I stayed at my granny's house where we were TREATED with canned biscuits!).  We eat my homemade biscuits (recipe HERE) for breakfast with jelly or white gravy, with supper, for snacks, and my favorite way - for dessert (split, underneath some hot, homemade chocolate pudding -recipe HERE)!

My daughter's favorite biscuits, however, are not mine.  No way!  It can't be!  What's wrong with the kid?  

Rebecca's favorite biscuits are found in, get this... Cracker Barrel restaurant.  Being the adult and grownup that I am, I'm going to admit and put out there that Cracker Barrel has some pretty delicious biscuits!  I'll give her that!  But mine are the best homemade biscuits... that is, until we tried her new recipe!

Rebecca searched online and found a recipe for homemade Cracker Barrel Biscuits.  Are they as good as Cracker Barrel?  You betcha!  Her biscuits nail the texture, taste, and size.  She has outdone her mother in biscuit making.  What's the world coming to?

Rebecca's "Buttermilk Biscuits" are made with self rising flour.  You can find a substitution for self rising flour but I don't recommend it.  Buy a bag of self rising flour and after you taste these biscuits, you will be making them all the time.  (Self rising flour already has the baking powder, salt, and flour mixed together.  It saves lots of dishes and measuring to just keep some on hand.)  I think the self rising flour and the buttermilk give these biscuits their spot on, perfect flavor.  I normally by organic or unbleached flour.  But, I'll be buying myself a bag of self rising flour!

These biscuits also use buttermilk.  Rebecca uses buttermilk found in the dairy section of the store, in a carton.  I cannot be sure these will taste the same if you use a mixture of milk+vinegar or lemon juice (to make homemade buttermilk) or if you use powdered buttermilk.  I think you need to get actual real thing.

I am the first person to play around with recipes.  I will NOT be playing around with this recipe.  They are perfect!

Here's how Rebecca makes Buttermilk Biscuits AT HOME HER WAY:





Buttermilk Biscuits
(just like Cracker Barrel)

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups SELF RISING flour
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 1/4 cup buttermilk (Rebecca sometimes uses 1 cup buttermilk + 1/4 cup regular milk)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Make sure your flour is "fluffed" (not straight from the bag; just dump it in a larger container and stir using up and down motion to fluff it up a little bit-THEN measure out 2 cups). 

Measure flour into a mixing bowl.  Add shortening and cut it until small and crumbly. A fork works fine for this purpose.  Stir in milk and stir with a spoon until all mixed.

Flour a small area on your counter/work surface. 

Work the biscuit dough into one big blob in your bowl (don't you like my official recipe terms?)

Place the dough on the floured surface and press until 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick.  You can roll it a little with a rolling pin but that's purely optional, to me.  Cut with an upside down cup/glass (Rebecca uses a wine glass) like this:



Place the biscuits, close to touching, in a sprayed or greased pie pan or cake pan.  (Makes about 8 biscuits.)

Bake in a PREHEATED oven at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

I took some home with me from Rebecca's house the other night to have with my free soup (made from leftover dabbles  of veges that I keep in the freezer, adding in some canned tomatoes, a few cubed potatoes & carrots, some tomato sauce, and leftover beef.)




Let me know if you think they are as good as Cracker Barrel!



Enjoy!
Gina