Yummy Buttermilk Biscuits

Posted March 23, 2009

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We used to have a dog-bone cookie cutter, which was my absolute favorite biscuit shape, but it rusted.

We got that cutting tool from the For Small Hands Montessori shop, and it's been really great for Birdy.

Measuring flour. . .

. . . and plenty of salt. (Good girl, Birdy!)

Here's what it looks like when the butter is blended into the dry ingredients. See all those little lumps? They turn into buttery flakes later on.

Patting out the dough. Sometimes Mama has to come in with her big ungentle Mama hands and flatten it out a bit before the tender patting resumes.

Cutting the dough.

Laying the biscuits on the cookie sheet.

Pushing the scraps together before cutting out the rest.

Later there were lentils, but first there was honey.

The Ben, as Birdy calls him. See how his freckled cheek looks just like a biscuit? Go ahead, nibble it--he won't mind.

My children feel about any dinner with biscuits in it the way I feel about any movie with Laura Linney in it: however bad it gets, at least there's that. And so a warm, flaky biscuit with butter makes the kids feel very forgiving towards, say, lentil soup, which is what we were having for dinner last night (again). And these biscuits happen to be extra-delicious: crunchy and wheaty on the outside, tender and tangy within. The original recipe is from Deborah Madison's wonderful Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a book you should buy or check out of the library even if you're not a vegetarian, simply because she has so many wonderful ideas about making easy, delicious, wholesome meals from inexpensive basics like beans and rice, eggs and cheese. Biscuits fall into this category--a cheap thrill that tarts up even the simplest meal. Oddly, the original recipe calls for all white flour--oddly because Deborah Madison really seems like a whole-wheat kind of gal--but that's not how I make them. Try using half whole wheat flour like I do, not just because it's more nutritious that way, but because it actually gives the biscuits a lovely, warm and wheaty flavor without turning them into those puck-shaped anvils that seem to dominate the whole-wheat-biscuit genre. I go even further, and swap in a third of a cup of wheat germ and ground flax seeds, and, again, the flavor is excellent this way, without being too, I don't know, omega-y.

There's also the fact that biscuits are a great project to get your kids in on--what with the cookie cutters and the flour everywhere and the simulation of play-doh, only less salty. Birdy pats out dough with such utter sweetness, like it's a baby animal, that I fall in love with her every time. I actually had to put the camera down so that I could grab her and kiss her floury neck. "Oooh," I said. "You're such a pumpkin!" And Birdy said sensibly, with her small hands still pat-pat-patting at the biscuits, "Well, Mama, like you always say, it's not how I look, it's that I act like a pumpkin." I don't know exactly what it means to act like a pumpkin, but "Pumpkin is as pumpkin does" might just become a favorite saying around here.

Yummy Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes a dozen 2-inch biscuits
active time: 20 minutes; total time: 35 minutes

Adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. If you experiment with the mix of flours, please do let me know how it turns out.

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (or 2/3 cup whole wheat flour plus 1/3 cup wheat germ and/or ground flax seed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick; I use salted), cut into small pieces
1 cup buttermilk (you can, DM says, use plain milk instead and omit the baking soda, but I've never tried that)

Heat the oven to 450 and butter a large cookie sheet. Now mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a fork or a whisk, then add the butter. What you'll see in the photographs is that I do this part in my food processor: I add all the butter, then pulse the machine until it has created an uneven mix of sandy crumbs, with some pea-sized clumps of butter still kicking around. But you can do this by hand too, and that's what I used to do: just add the butter, and toss to coat it with the flour mixture, then take off your rings and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. This is a messy but not unpleasant job: you'll be lifting handfuls of the mixture up out of the bowl, then gently letting it fall through your fingertips as you rub it lightly together. Eventually, you'll have a bowl full of lumpy sandy stuff, which is what you're going for.

Now dump the mix back into the bowl if you used the food processor, and stir the buttermilk in with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened. Turn the dough onto a floured countertop and press it together a bit--your don't want to handle it more than is necessary--then use your hands to pat it out into a circle that's about three quarters of an inch thick. Use a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or drinking glass to cut your biscuits, laying them on the cookie sheet as you go. When you've cut as many biscuits as you can, reassemble the scraps by pushing them together as best you can (if you knead them all up into a ball and then press them flat again, the biscuits start to get a bit tough, which is okay but not ideal--they're more tender if you just kind of shove the scraps together). Cut the rest of the biscuits, then bake for 15 or so minutes until they are golden brown. Serve warm with butter (and honey) and thrill your kids by sending leftover biscuits in their lunch boxes.

(Note: I like to brush beaten egg on the tops and add a sprinkle of celery seeds before baking, but my family likes these plain, plain, plain, so that's how I make them, because I am self-sacrificing like that. I know.)

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Yummy Buttermilk Biscuits

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Atl-Mom says:

April 21, 2009

These are so delicious! We made them tonight and my daughter insisted we use a heart-shaped cookie cutter like the photo. I have to admit when they first came out I had a moment of doubt and feared they would taste like little heart-shaped hockey pucks--you know, the whole wheat thing sometimes looks a little too earthy. But no!! They were tender and moist and we gobbled them up with a little salted butter spread on top. Thanks for another winner!

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Dale_in_Denver says:

April 08, 2009

When I tasted these, I thought it would be too grainy for my kids, but they were a hit last night, and should earn me high marks for today's lunches. I think I'll use these for Strawberry Shortcake - my kids loved taking bites with strawberries on top, so why not? I have also deprived them of the pleasure of French Toast made from Challah (even tho I make Challah for holidays) in favor of whole grain bread. They don't know what they are missing - and need not until they are much older! :-)

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EatItBrooklyn says:

April 01, 2009

Yum! I just made these and the smell of them baking is incredible. Thanks! Great photos, too!

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Dalai Mama Dishes

by Catherine Newman

Catherine Newman cooks for the family

Dalai Mama Dishes

Catherine Newman cooks for the family

Yummy Buttermilk Biscuits

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