I’m not usually one to be intimidated in the kitchen. Not really. I can fry, roast, grill, chop, caramelize, mince, chiffonade, grate, stir, mix…you get the idea. Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m not really good at using my mandolin or my gravy separator, but I’m pretty comfortable cooking just about anything.
Just about.
Tell me I have to make biscuits, though, and I’ll break out in a cold sweat. Biscuits. The quintessential Southern food. Okay– that and corn bread. And fried chicken. And collard greens. And sweet tea. And coconut cake. But they don’t frighten me.
Biscuits. Despite being a good Southern Belle, biscuits freak me right out. They have to be light, and tender, and–well– if they aren’t, then you’ve got hockey pucks sitting on the side of your plate. And, face it, no one wants to eat a hockey puck.
I’ve found a pretty good biscuit recipe, though, And, get this, it’s easy.
That’s right. Easy biscuits.
I adapted a recipe I found at The Kitchn (not my misspelling) for “Butter Dips.” According to those fine folks, they adapted the recipe from the lovely Betty Crocker.
I’ll be playing with this one a little more later. It’s too easy not to, and I can see that it may prove to be one of the most versatile recipes that I could possibly have added to my arsenal.
And, yeah, I did eat a leftover garlic Parmesan biscuit for breakfast this morning. It went surprisingly well with my coffee.
Easy Garlic Parmesan Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, melted & divided
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded
flour for dusting
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder. Gently stir in the milk just until the dough comes together. It is very, very wet and sticky. Fold in the Parmesan. **If I were going to make this with real garlic instead of the garlic powder, I’d fold in 2 teaspoons of minced garlic when I added the Parmesan.**
3. Sprinkle your work surface with a light dusting of flour. Turn the dough out onto the prepared surface, and press the dough into a small rectangle. Fold dough in half, then press out. Fold dough a third time, then press into approximately an 8 x 8 rectangle. Cut dough into equal portions with a knife. My biscuits were about 2 x 2. They don’t have to be perfect.
When I make these again, which I will, I’ll make sure I take some photos for this step. Reading it isn’t quite the same as seeing it.
4. Pour 1 tablespoon melted butter into a 8 x 8 baking dish. Set biscuits into dish. Drizzle biscuits with remaining melted butter.
5. Bake biscuits for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Yield: 12-16 biscuits, depending on how big the rectangle is.
Dry Spell 