[D]espite my biscuit binge in the Deep South, I could only resist for so long. Come September and National Biscuit Month, this wee baker’s fancy turned to thoughts of those crisp-edged, yet tender pillows of lofty saltiness that call many of us home.
I’ve made a lot of biscuits, and while I return to the Betty Crocker Cookbook’s version time and again (see blog of 9/12), I’ve found a variation from Cook’s Country magazine that is irresistible as well.
Cat head Biscuits. The name alone is an allure, an homage to down-home, country eating; a sizable interpretation of something that really should (if we were practicing the art of moderation) be small in size, given its proportions of fat-to-flour. Should we really be eating a butter-laden bun as big as a cat’s head?
When they are this good, yes.
Don’t eat them every day, of course (though it’s tempting). Eat them on a Sunday morning, when the air is cool and the kitchen in need of warmth and the mouth is in need of a light, tender flavorful biscuit spread with butter, some jam or honey or even — dare I say it — gravy!
Make a pan of these biscuits and watch them billow up like much-needed thunderheads on a dry day — a day when the heart, too, is in need of quenching.
You will not be sorry.
The biscuits are in “drop†form. No need to flour your board and roll out. You use an ice cream scoop to give them their generous size and uniformity. Their light texture comes from a blend of fine cake flour mixed with all-purpose flour, as well as buttermilk.
They mix up nearly as quick as opening a box of biscuit mix. And what satisfaction! If comfort can be found in any bread, it is surely realized in a biscuit.
Cat Head Biscuits
From Cook’s Country magazine
Makes 6 to 8 biscuits
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter , cut into ½-inch pieces and softened
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening , cut into ½-inch pieces
1¼ cups buttermilk (see note)
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, make clabbered milk by whisking 1 tablespoon lemon juice into 1¼ cups milk and letting it stand until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. The recipe will also work with 3 cups White Lily flour in place of both the all-purpose and cake flours.
MIX DOUGH Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 9-inch cake pan. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Rub butter and shortening into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in buttermilk until combined.
PORTION BISCUITS Following the instructions at left, use greased 1/2-cup measure or large spring-loaded ice cream scoop to transfer 6 heaping portions of dough into prepared pan, placing 5 around pan’s perimeter and 1 in center.
BAKE BISCUITS Bake until puffed and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve. (Biscuits can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.)
Blogger’s Note: I portioned these out using full scoops and ended up with eight biscuits!